Photo Courtesy of Carlos Suarez / Creative Commons
Massachusetts remains close to a national outlier on the issue of revenge pornography — the Bay State and South Carolina are the only states that don’t ban it.
However, a pair of lawmakers recently filed a bill (HD.83/SD.724) that would outlaw the practice: state representative Jeffrey Roy (D-Franklin) and state Senator John Keenan (D-Quincy).
Under their bill, posting revenge porn of someone would carry a penalty of up to 2 1/2 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000. The bill offers a less strict punishment for minors: a fine of up to $500 and up to six months in a juvenile correctional facility.
Revenge pornography consists of “sexually explicit images of a person posted online without that person’s consent especially as a form of revenge or harassment,” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary’s web site.
Banning revenge porn was a legislative priority for Charlie Baker when he was governor of Massachusetts. A previously proposed ban hasn’t become law, but the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 154-0 to approve a bill (H.4498) sponsored by the House Ways and Means Committee that would have banned revenge porn, on May 26, 2022.
The bill never came up for a vote in the Massachusetts Senate and died last legislative session.
Keenan explained his support for the ban in a speech on the Massachusetts Senate floor on August 2, 2022.
“We probably all have stories, but the fact is, there is not much people can do now under existing law,” Keenan said at the time. “It’s a loophole we absolutely should close. We should close it on behalf of all the victims who’ve come forward, and all the victims who have not.”
Last year, Karyn Polito, when she was lieutenant governor, told NewBostonPost she hopes to see the practice outlawed in the Commonwealth.
“The sexually explicit visual materials and revenge porn is a very important priority, especially to the governor’s council to address sexual assault and domestic violence,” Polito told NewBostonPost in an interview on August 2, 2022. “We’ve advanced this bill. As you’ve noted, 48 other states have adopted a revenge porn law, and Massachusetts is a laggard and needs to do so. I know the legislature has taken it seriously. They’ve held hearings and we’re at the state now where it really ought to pass and get done.”
A 2014 study by the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative showed that 93 percent of revenge porn victims have suffered “significant” emotional distress and 41 percent have contemplated suicide. The study also found that 90 percent of the victims of revenge porn are women.
Defendants in revenge porn cases have argued that revenge porn ought to be covered by freedom of speech as protected by the First Amendment of the federal constitution. So far, those arguments have not been upheld by courts.
Roy and Keenan could not be reached on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.
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Photo Courtesy of Carlos Suarez / Creative Commons 
