🔗 Share this article Transitioning from BDSM Practitioner to Technology Entrepreneur: An Unconventional Battle To Combat Intimate Image Abuse Madelaine Thomas states her personal experience of experiencing her intimate images shared without consent gives her a distinct perspective as a technology entrepreneur. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your standard tech founder. After multiple occurrences of individuals leaking her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and looked to tech solutions for answers. "Those were striking images, I'm unapologetic of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the way that they were used against me by someone who I have never met," explained Madelaine. Madelaine has received multiple accolades including the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a major industry conference. Little over a year since launching her venture, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to identify perpetrators, has won several awards and was recommended as best practice in an government-commissioned study earlier this year. This represents quite a departure from her previous career in offering BDSM services, working with clients in the realms of BDSM. A Widespread Issue The non-consensual sharing of private images, commonly known as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison. It is far from an issue exclusively faced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A report indicates that around 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by this form of abuse each year. Madelaine, 37, said victims lived with shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will say, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted. "I expect dignity, I expect respect, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she continued. "The fact that those images could be then shared where I live or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse." Madelaine aims her tech will prevent potential intimate image abusers without consent. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and always found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said. "People think it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an financial advisor providing a service," she added. She welcomes being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it required someone who has experienced it firsthand to know the loopholes and the modifications that needed to happen," she explained. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was managed to build her company after a lot of sleepless nights, investigation and "bugging people" who know about tech. Understanding the Tech Solution Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks and online sites. When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker which is unique to them. This covert marker is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being altered and being re-captured with a secondary device. It means that if you discover your image has been circulated without your consent, as long as the service you used has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow. Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with several more. Proven Technology, New Application "This technology is already in use in the film industry, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine. "We have validated it, we're collaborating with a firm that has decades of expertise in developing technology so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added. She said she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be perpetrators. Changing the Narrative An expert from a leading helpline commented she had seen directly the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse inflicted on victims. "If that self-blame is compounded by a misinformed friend or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be deepened so it's crucial that the support somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she stated. She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, saying: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort." Both women have been victims of having their private photos distributed without their consent. TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her youth that would later inform her advocacy work. "It took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess. She too is passionate about removing the stigma of this crime from the victims to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to consensually send an image to someone," said Jess. "But it is a crime to distribute that without consent and I think that should invariably be where the responsibility is," she affirmed.