Sexual violence is serious crime experienced by a significant number of the population. Advances in technology and the corresponding increase in online dating provides perpetrators of sexual violence with greater accessibility to victims and more anonymity than ever before. Recent evidence shows that one third of users of online dating apps have experienced in-person abuse from someone they met on a dating app with online abuse (e.g., unwanted sharing of explicit images) occurring at even higher rates. The plethora of online dating apps appearing and the high uptake from users has implications for policing and the reporting of sexual violence. How the emergence of online dating apps has facilitated sexual violence (online and in person), and how the current NSWPF response can be improved.
NSWPF is particularly interested in research into:
6.1 What a direct relationship between NSWPF and dating app companies might look like in preventing incidents of sexual violence and/or investigating perpetrators.
6.2 From the moment a victim reports sexual violence to the NSWPF through to the investigation and, where applicable, through the court processes, how can the victim experience be improved? Does the victim experience differ when the abuse was initiated through a dating app?