Revenge porn victim, 24, who tried to take her own life after her photos were shared online and sent to her entire family reveals trolls claim she’s ‘not a real victim’ after joining Only Fans to ‘take back control’
- Megan Sims fell victim to her nude photos circulating without consent at age 19
- 24-year-old from Ireland, reveals experience and bullying led to suicide attempt
- She has since set up an Only Fans account to take control of her images
A woman who attempted to take her own life after her nude photographs were circulated online without her consent, claims sharing the images on her own subscription page has helped her to regain control.
Megan Sims, 24, from Limerick, explained that she was flooded with abusive messages on Facebook after explicit videos and photos of her were leaked on sites including PornHub when she was 19, and sent to her entire family.
The teenager received more than 400 messages on Facebook telling her to kill herself, which led to a suicide attempt.
She said other women who live in Limerick also had their images exposed, but the police claimed they were unable to help.
The content creator took time away from social media and started campaigning and petitioning for revenge porn to become a criminal offence.
Megan Sims, 24, (pictured) from Ireland, claims she has been trolled since setting up an Only Fans account to regain control of her image
Megan told Evoke that thousands of women contacted her to share their own experiences, leaving her ‘traumatised’ by how their images were traded ”like Pokémon cards”.
She explained that she decided to join Only Fans during the first lockdown to gain financial freedom and regain control of her image.
Joking that she deserves to earn from her photos circulating, Megan said: ‘My photos were sent to me a lot to try to shame me. S***w this, you can’t shame me for it if I do it myself. I just had to own it!’
The 24-year-old added that some people have called her ‘not a real victim of revenge porn’, arguing that she can’t campaign for image-based sexual abuse while on Only Fans.
Megan (pictured), whose photos were circulated without her consent at age 19, claims legislation against revenge porn wasn’t pushed through until thousands of women were affected
‘It’s all about consent. I consent to people to see my photos on that platform. I didn’t give you consent to take those pictures and send them to all your friends,’ she said.
Megan claims the need for legislation against revenge porn wasn’t pushed through until thousands of women affected went public with their experience – despite victim Dara Quigley taking her own life in 2017.
Dara had discovered that a member of the Gardai had recorded CCTV footage of her walking on a street in Dublin naked before her tragic death.
Megan (pictured) said the trauma victims of revenge porn experience makes it difficult to be proud that she’s inspiring women to speak out
The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, came into action in February 2021.
The legislation makes distribution and publication of content without consent punishable by imprisonment as well as fines.
Megan admits that she has struggled to be proud of how she has influenced people to speak out about their experiences because seeing revenge porn continue to spread is ‘upsetting’.
She added that it’s constantly traumatising for victims and the misogyny is overwhelming.