Glossary

Artificial intelligence, or “AI,” refers to the intelligence of machines (e.g., a computer or a robot) as opposed to the intelligence of animals, including humans. There are many subfields of artificial intelligence, including machine learning, robotics and neural networks (see the A to Z of AI for examples). Artificial intelligence is the ability of machines to perform complex tasks that typically require human intelligence (e.g., such as playing a game of chess).

A bystander is someone who observes or witnesses an event but is not directly involved as the instigator/perpetrator or target/victim of the behaviour.

A chatbot is a computer program that simulates conversation with human users. Chatbots are commonly powered by artificial intelligence using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. A chatbot is not human.

Child sexual abuse happens when “an adult, adolescent or child uses their power or authority to involve a child in sexual activity” (Kids Helpline, 2022). This can include a range of physical, verbal and/or emotional behaviours. Child sexual abuse is against the law and a serious crime. “Child pornography”, “child sexual abuse material” or “child sexual exploitation material” refers to the visual depiction of minors, or individuals who appear to be underage, engaged in sexual activity or being abused by an adult. Child abuse material more accurately reflects the nature and harm of the abuse as many consider “pornography” to be a term used for adults engaging in consensual sexual acts.

A cisgender person is someone who identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth.

Consent generally refers to free and voluntary agreement. In sexual encounters, consent can be expressed through words or sounds, or through body language or movement. Positive or affirmative consent, which is a step beyond “ordinary consent” (e.g., free agreement), is concerned with both parties taking “active steps” to find out if the other person is consenting (e.g., asking the person if they are ok to continue). Consent to one act does not mean consent to another act, and consent can be withdrawn at any time.

Cyberflashing occurs when someone sends unwelcome or unwanted sexual images to another person. One common example is the sending of unsolicited “dick pics” on dating platforms or via mobile phones. Cyberflashing can happen in private or public places, by people you know or by strangers.

Cyberstalking is a pattern of persistent behaviour where technology is used in some way to engage in unwanted requests for intimacy, or to monitor or harass a victim in a way that causes fear or apprehension.

The Dark Web (or Darknet) is a network of websites that use a range of tools such as encryption, virtual private networks (VPNs) and proxy servers to hide the nature of content, locations of internet traffic, and other information about users and their devices that might otherwise be identifiable.

Deepfakes refers to the use of artificial intelligence (computer systems that “think” like humans) to create fake videos that look real. Computers, for example, can be trained to “stitch” the face of one person onto the body of another to make it look as if they’re in a video. There are many fake videos made of famous actors or politicians, but most deepfake videos on the internet are pornographic. There’s also morph porn or fake porn that doesn’t use deepfake technology but digitally alters images to make them look pornographic.

The deep web is generally hidden behind logins or search queries (that is, content that is not accessible through a surface web search of Google or other public search engines). Examples of deep web content include academic databases, medical records, legal documents and organisation-specific repositories. 

Digital platforms are online websites, services or applications (“apps”), including: search engines, like Google, Bing/Microsoft and Yahoo!; social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat; messaging apps, like WhatsApp and Telegram; pornography websites and apps, like PornHub and xHamster; and content-sharing platforms, like OnlyFans.

Digital technologies are electronic tools, systems and devices which find, generate, store, analyse, process and communicate data. They include: the internet (including online social communities, gaming sites/apps, programming tools, social media sites and software applications); mobile technologies (including camera-enabled smartphones and apps; tablets); compact cameras with internet access; and cloud computing.

Distribution means sending, supplying, exhibiting, transmitting or communicating content to another person in person or by electronic, digital or other means.

Domestic and family violence describes a pattern of behaviour by an intimate partner, ex-partner or family member, which can include physical, sexual, technological, financial or psychological abuse.

Down-blousing refers to non-consensual intimate images (photo or video) being taken down another person’s top.

The term "images" refers to either moving or still images, including video, photography and screenshots (including digitally altered images).

Image-based abuse, or image-based sexual abuse, refers to the taking, creating or sharing of intimate images without the consent of the person depicted in the photo or video. It can also include making threats to share intimate images, sending images that are unwanted and unwelcome, or pressuring or coercing another person into taking or sharing images. Some forms of image-based abuse are also known as “revenge porn”, “non-consensual pornography”, “non-consensual intimate image” or “non-consensual sexting”. 

The Image-Based Abuse Scheme, under the Australian Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), allows people to report image-based abuse to the Australian eSafety Commissioner. The Commissioner is Australia’s independent regulator for the online safety efforts of the Australian government, industry and not-for-profit community. The Scheme is a civil, or non-criminal, law scheme. You can read more about the Scheme here.

"Intersectionality is a way of seeing or analysing the dynamics of power and social inequality in our society. It can be described in different ways: as a theory, an approach, a lens, a framework and so on. What is essential to the idea of intersectionality is the recognition that inequalities are never the result of any single or distinct factor such as race, class or gender” (MCWH 2017: 5).

An intervention order aims to protect a person from physical or mental harm caused either by a family member or someone who is not a family member. Depending on where you live, an intervention order might also be known as an “apprehended violence order”, a “domestic or family violence order”, a “protection order” or a “restraining order”. The order, which is made by the courts or police, sets conditions around how the respondent (the person who the order is made against) can behave towards the applicant (the person who the order protects). 

Intimate images, in Australian criminal and civil law, can include photos or videos that show or appear to show: a person’s genital or anal area (whether bare or covered by underwear); a person’s breast or breasts; a person engaged in a private act, such as bathing, showering, toileting, or engaged in an act with another person that might be considered by them to be private;  a person engaged in a sexual act with or without another person; or a person without items of clothing that they normally wear in public that are of religious or cultural significance.

LGBTIQA+ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender diverse, non-binary, intersex, queer, asexual and aromantic (ace and aro) people. “Sistergirl” and “brotherboy” are terms used by First Nations/Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to describe gender diverse people.

Machine learning is a subfield of artificial intelligence - "a process that starts with a body of data and then tries to derive rules or procedures to explain the data or predict future data. The function of a machine learning system can be descriptive, meaning that the system uses the data to explain what happened; predictive, meaning the system uses the data to predict what will happen; or prescriptive, meaning the system will use the data to make suggestions about what action to take” (Malone, Rus & Laubacher 2020: 6).

Natural language processing, or “NLP”, is a sub-field of machine learning. NLP “is a recent advancement in speech recognition that enables AI to draw on grammatical rules and analyze live speech in order to better understand the complex ways people speak. This helps AI systems to grasp how something such as tone or humor might alter the meaning of a sentence” (A to Z of AI 2022).

An offence is a specified transgression or wrongdoing in legislation or other regulation. In Australia, a “Commonwealth Offence” is a criminal offence against a Commonwealth or Federal law, as opposed to a criminal offence under a state or territory law (CDPP 2022). A “summary offence” is a less serious criminal offence that may be dealt with by a Magistrates or Local Court. An “indictable offence” is “a serious criminal offence that is usually heard in a higher court before a judge and jury” (CDPP 2022).

A perpetrator is someone who carries out a harmful or illegal act.

Pornography generally refers to the representation (videos, photos, writing) of sexual activity for the purpose of sexual arousal, however, there are differing opinions on what pornography is.

Sexting refers to the sending or sharing of sexual content, including images (photos or videos, also known as “nudes”), messages or texts through mobile phones, email, websites, applications (“apps”) or other digital technologies. It can be consensual or non-consensual. Non-consensual sexting involves the sharing of intimate images without the consent of the person shown in the image (also known as image-based abuse).

Sexual extortion (or "sextortion") is form of extortion or blackmail. It occurs when a person threatens to share intimate images (photos or videos) of another person to gain something, including money, more images or to force them into an unwanted act.

Sexual harassment is commonly defined as unwelcome or unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that causes a person to feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. Examples of sexual harassment include: staring or leering, unwelcome touching, suggestive comments, taunts, insults or jokes, displaying pornographic images, sending sexually explicit emails or text messages, and repeated sexual or romantic requests. Sexual harassment in some countries (such as Australia) is an "unlawful" civil (as opposed to criminal) act under human rights, anti-discrimination or equal opportunity legislation when it occurs in a specified area of public life, such as the workplace, educational settings, the provision of goods and services, and accommodation. Sexual harassment may be a criminal offence if it meets the definition of a sexual assault, stalking, indecent exposure, image-based abuse or another criminal offence.

Sexual violence is an umbrella, non-legal term to describe physical and non-physical forms of violence of a sexual nature, including: rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, unwanted touching, sexual coercion, sex trafficking, female genital cutting, child sexual abuse, child marriage, enforced sterilisation, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, and forced pregnancy.

Rape is usually defined in criminal law as sexual intercourse or penetration (of the vagina, anus or mouth) without consent. In most Australian states or territories, sexual assault refers to non-penetrative offences in criminal law, whereas in other laws (e.g., NSW), sexual assault is defined in the same way as rape. Outside of law, "sexual assault" and "rape" are often used interchangeably to refer to penetrative or non-penetrative sexual offences.

Revenge porn is a media-generated term used to describe the non-consensual distribution of nude or sexual images after a relationship breaks down, but which has also come to mean broader forms of image-based abuse, for instance, when a perpetrator creates, distributes, or threatens to distribute, nude or sexual images for a variety of different motivations.

A transgender person is someone who identifies as a gender to the one they were assigned at birth.

Upskirting refers to the taking or recording of a non-consensual intimate image (photo of video) from up another person’s skirt or shorts. 

Voyeurism is intentionally watching or spying on another person or persons, including where they are naked, getting undressed or engaged in a sexual act.

A victim-survivor is a person who has experienced harm or injury as a result of the actions of another person or persons. Some people prefer to be identified as a “victim” while others prefer “survivor” and some do not use either term. The term “victim-survivor” acknowledges that it is a person’s right to choose.