WASHINGTON D.C. — Washington D.C. has no elected representation in the U.S. Congress, so the mayor of the nation’s Capitol is amongst the most important local officials elected anywhere in the country. With election season starting to heat up, it’s looking like “Revenge Porn” may be part of what decides this year’s election.
Muriel Bowser is the mayoral nominee of the Democratic Party who recently beat current D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray in the primary election. Now she appears destined to win the general election with strong support from both women and young voters.
Ms. Bowser is presently on the Ward 4 City Council, and on Tuesday she introduced legislation that specifically targets predators who willfully distribute sexually compromising images without the express consent of the individual depicted.
“Revenge porn is the kind of abhorrent behavior on the Internet that we must do all we can to stop,” Bowser said in a press release. “Protecting our residents from serious harm and maintaining their privacy on the Web is an important priority of mine. This bill provides significant penalties that we hope will deter this offensive practice. I look forward to working with my colleagues for its swift passage.”
The proposed legislation is titled “The Relationship Privacy Protection Act,” and carries a penalty of up to a year in prison with a $2,500 fine per incident. The legislation follows in the footsteps of recent laws enacted in California and New Jersey, with legal scholars debating the far reaching impact of cumulative punishment on site owners who publish many images or videos in the revenge porn genre.
Bowset is facing off against David Catania, [I] who was a Republican recently but has now aligned himself as an independent in the dark blue demographics of D.C. politics. In fact, the Democratic primary winner has gone on to be elected in every general election since the District began electing a mayor, but pundits predict a tight race between Bowser and Catania, who has a credible 16-year history on the D.C. Council.
Both women and young voters continue to grow more important in D.C. elections. The timing of addressing “Revenge Porn” right now may seem self-serving, but advocates agree that any time is a great time to take care of an issue that needs to be addressed politically.
