Addison Hawkins and his ex-girlfriend dated for two years in high school. Their social media photos show a smiling, silly couple—two teenagers in love.
During their relationship, the two also took intimate photos of each other, a common occurrence amongst teenagers in the era of smartphones.
"They were for my eyes only and her eyes only,” Hawkins said.
But then the two broke up. It wasn’t on good terms, according to Hawkins, adding his ex-girlfriend's anger towards him kept building.
“I was at home and someone called me and said, 'Hey, you need to look at her Twitter,’” Hawkins said.
What he found shocked him: She had posted one of their intimate photos.
Hawkins said he asked her to remove the photo, but she wouldn’t. Feeling helpless, he went to police and pressed charges.
"I felt like she needed to answer for it," Hawkins said.
Across the country, 34 states and Washington D.C. have criminal laws against revenge porn.
She was charged in adult court with unlawful disclosure of intimate visual material, commonly known as revenge porn, a Class A misdemeanor in Texas. If convicted, she could face up to one year in jail. Because she's 17, we chose not to identify her.
Hawkins' ex-girlfriend said she spent two days in jail during the booking and bonding process. She said she didn't know posting the photo was a crime.
“I didn't even know I was getting in trouble for it until they arrested me," she said. "For what? For a picture? For a picture.”
REVENGE PORN FACTS
- More than 30 states have laws against posting revenge porn.
- Illinois recently has such a statute which has penalties of 1 to 3 in prison and up to $25,000 in fines.
- However, revenge porn is not illegal in Missouri according to state laws.
- A proposed statute was introduced in 2014 in Missouri but has since stalled.
'End Revenge Pornography - Missouri & Kansas', a Facebook page started by a Missourian who was victimized by revenge porn, was created as both a support and educational site.
On the other side of the Mississippi River, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative serves as a national awareness building and support group that was instrumental in the passing of Illinois laws against revenge porn.