Women speak out after being shamed on sick Facebook revenge porn page

MADELEINE was just 15 when she unwittingly fell victim to a predatory, middle-aged photographer.

The man offered her the promise of a modelling contract, before taking her to his home for a photoshoot and eventually making her strip naked to take what he assured her would be tasteful nude shots of her.

The end result was anything but.

Five years on, the 20-year-old is reliving the nightmare again, only this time, the pictures have been posted to a vile, porn-sharing site and are being ogled by thousands of men.

And the young administration assistant is powerless to have them removed.

“It will never go away,” a tearful, distressed Madeleine , which changed her name to guard her identity.

“I’m scared my boss might see, or future employers. I’m ashamed. I’m worried. I’m upset.

“It’s disgusting and vile. What is wrong with people? Don’t they care about other people’s feelings?

“Stuff like this could push someone over the edge.

“Does someone have to kill themselves for something to happen?”

Like 18-year-old Tiahna Prosser, the attractive 20-year-old was unknowingly being “hunted” by men on the site.

Both she and her sister were named in their suburban area as prey for users of the site to share any nude images they had of the pair.

It was only a matter of hours before two of the 2011 photoshoot pictures appeared.

For many other women, the photos have been shared by friends and former boyfriends.

People they once trusted enough to send racy images, who are now committing an act of enormous betrayal.

It was not until contacted by news.com.au on Wednesday afternoon that Madeleine became aware of the existence of the site.

In the ensuing 24 hours, the 20-year-old has been harassed by men via Facebook Messenger, who tracked her down after seeing her named on the site.

It has caused tension with her partner.

She could not even escape it at the gym.

“I don’t even feel comfortable going to the gym because people have asked if the person in the photo is me,” she said.

She’s worried about the health of her relationship.

“It’s embarrassing for us both. Who wants their friends or family to see their girlfriend naked?” she said.

She’s exceedingly concerned about her future employment prospects, so much so, that she thinks it will prevent her from moving on from her current role.

“I’m scared of applying for new jobs … honestly, who would want to employ someone who is on a (degrading porn) website?”

But mostly, she is angry that the Australian authorities are letting her and so many other girls and women like her down.

The Australian Federal Police said they are powerless to shut the site down, as it is hosted in Russia.

“Why can’t they shut it down? I think it needs to be shut down before someone takes their own life,” she said.

“This is the most embarrassing thing to happen and it makes people very vulnerable.”

State and Federal police have warned Australian users of the site they can be prosecuted for sharing images without the subject’s consent but as news of that spread on Wednesday, users were quickly posting instructions for others on how to avoid detection.

The massive storm of publicity appeared to have no impact on the men using the site, with a new wave of name requests and explicit photos rapidly being posted on Thursday.

When news.com.au broke the story that girls, predominantly schoolgirls, were being targeted by the site right across Australia, it was met with a huge wave of anger.

Schools, in particular, seemed to be targets, with 70 identified across the country on Tuesday and the list growing in the days that followed.

An online petition calling on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield to intervene to have the site shut down has reached more than 25,000 signatures in less than two days.

It has been actively used in Australia since at least December.

Thousands of explicit images of young girls have been shared without their knowledge, while others have had contact emails, Snapchat names and phone numbers shared beside non-explicit images, urging others to “hunt” them.

Users identify specific towns or schools and the names of girls they want naked pictures of.

Men get “wins” for posting nude pictures in their possession, which, in exchange, others post any they have.

Competitive bodybuilder Ms Prosser was one of the first to publicly say she was named as “hunted” on the site, with “bonus points” offered for the 18-year-old by site users.

On Thursday, one of them delivered, with Ms Prosser soon after declaring, “They got their bonus points.”

For Madeleine, however, a shy, young 20-year-old who abandoned any modelling dreams she had after her experience with the photographer five years ago, the appearance of her nude photos has had a damaging impact on her.

In addition to the embarrassment, it has forced her to relive a shameful experience she has spent five years trying to forget.

The middle-aged man had insisted on picking her up before the photoshoot and driving her to his house.

“I wanted to be a model and I had this photo shoot at his home,” she said

“He said he knew some people and thought I would make it big.

“He wouldn’t let me get dropped there, he had to pick me up.

“Then he kept asking me to take more and more clothes off and I did because he was my lift (home) and I just wanted to leave, so I did what he said.”

As a terrified teenager, she did not report the photographer to police back then.

“I was young and didn’t want people finding out,” she said.

It was not until Wednesday that it returned to haunt her — and thanks to the vile, porn, sharing site, may continue to do so.
*Name has been changed.

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