Skincare is a frothy, enjoyable, OTT thriller – however it’s additionally an vital reminder of the specter of deepfaking abuse in the direction of girls

Picture-based abuse is a broad time period that covers a variety of dangerous actions involving nude or sexual photographs. This consists of the non-consensual creating, taking or sharing of intimate photographs and digitally altered photographs, also called ‘deepfakes’; coercing, blackmailing or threatening to share these photographs; requesting the creation of those photographs; cyber-flashing; and upskirting.

A complete report into deepfakes in 2023 decided that 99% of these focused by deepfake pornography are girls.

And Skincare portrays the influence that such abuse can have on one girl with devastating impact. From the second she is focused, we see Hope’s psychological well being quickly spiral out of all management as she turns into paranoid, unhinged and finally will get concerned in a homicide.

Certainly, as GLAMOUR’s objective editor, Lucy Morgan, who’s spearheading our marketing campaign, says: “Having spoken to many image-based abuse survivors, it really can take over their life and take a great psychological toll; dealing with it is like having a second job and they can get overwhelmed, stressed and burnt out.

“Therefore it’s great that this film is showcasing what can happen when these technologies are abused to target a woman.

“It’s also interesting that it shows that these technologies were available and already being used over 10 years ago. But no one knew how to really deal with them, let alone legislate against them.”

And that is one other crucial level raised by the movie. When Hope makes an attempt to get the police concerned in her case, pleading with them to take her significantly and take into account the proof she has compiled towards whom she believes is sabotaging her, the LAPD officer dismisses her.

“I still don’t think any of this is life-threatening,” says the police officer. “Well maybe that’s because it’s not your life, it’s mine and I feel very threatened,” she screams again. “Unless you can prove to me that this person is wilfully and repeatedly harassing you,” continues the officer, “I’m not sure we can be of any help at this time.”

As Lucy factors out, despite the fact that Skincare portrays a fictionalised model of real-life occasions, the police response to conditions like that is nonetheless typical within the UK as properly. Even at present.

“Based on survivor testimonies, police in the UK still approach image-based abuse as a grey area.” says Lucy. “Victims essentially have to do their own investigative work and build their own case to present to the police, which is obviously traumatising and wouldn’t happen in any other crime. In fact in most other crimes the police actively advise you not to do your own research.

“Most survivors of image-based abuse aren’t sure if a crime has been committed and when they go to the police, they aren’t sure either.

“This is because the legislation can’t keep up with the rate at which technology is developing in this area. But some legislation is there and there are gaping holes in it. And this is why it needs to change.”