Judiciary Committee Considers Rep. Marilyn Ryan’s Bill to Crack Down on Non-Consensual Pornography

HELENA—Today, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Rep. Marilyn Ryan’s (HD-99, Missoula) bill to protect the privacy of Montanans and crack down on non-consensual pornography.

H.B. 192 would make it a felony to distribute or publish sexual images without the consent of the person in the images. This measure is a critical step towards combating the growing epidemic of “revenge porn,” where former sexual partners distribute sexually explicit images without the consent of the subject to violate their privacy and publicly embarrass them.

“What do you do when your image—however it was obtained—is suddenly put up on the internet, sent to your family members, and there’s nothing you can do to take it down?” said Rep. Marilyn Ryan of Missoula. “The people affected by this are affected for the rest of their life. It destroys your feeling of dignity, you feel vulnerable, and there’s no place to hide. This bill provides the tools to stop it.”

Montana is one of just a handful of states that does not criminalize the distribution and publication of non-consensual pornography.