ABSTRACT

This article addresses the legal treatment given by the Brazilian legal system to revenge pornography, observing that it is a phenomenon that has increased statistically due to the technological advances and transformations in social relationships in recent times. The theme has its origin in the culturally entrenched differences about gender, in view of the patriarchal social structure. In the field of civil law, the damage suffered by the victims and the forms of compensation provided for are addressed. In particular, the pertinence in the recognition to the denominated existential damage or damage to the life project is analyzed, considering the seriousness of the consequences that, as a rule, affect the victims. In criminal law, recent legislative changes have been emphasized that have introduced specific criminal types into which pornographic revenge falls. However, one should not lose sight of the fact that Law is insufficient to solve or improve the problem addressed, as it is necessary to adopt preventive public policies, as well as allowing the insertion of women in society, under the condition of effective parity, in order to deconstruct the patriarchal culture, based on gender education, and other measures of interdisciplinary bias, with other branches of knowledge.

KEYWORDS
Erotica; Sex offenses; Gender; Sexuality

Introductory notions

Encouraged by technological advancement and by increasingly weakened social bonds, on a daily basis, there is a raise in the number of nudes, sexting and revenge pornography. Nude is the exchange of images containing nudity. Sexting occurs in the face of the exchange of textual or image messages or audios of erotic content between intimate partners. Revenge pornography is a species of the non-consensual pornographic exposure genre, and the motivation that leads to unauthorized disclosure must be investigated for its configuration¹1 Sydow ST, Castro ALC. Exposição pornográfica não consentida na internet: da pornografia de vingança ao lucro. Belo Horizonte: D'Plácido; 2017..

There will be a context of revenge or retaliation if the intention in the dissemination of the material, without the partner's consent, is the victim's exposure, subjecting him/her to moral lynching, causing him/her social and emotional setbacks, through the rapid viral publicity of the content²2 Buzzi VM. Mulheres na rede: a pornografia de vingança como instrumento de violência de gênero. In: Gostinski A, Bispo A, organizadoras. Estudos feministas: por um direito menos machista. Florianópolis: Empório do Direito; 2016..

As a rule, the consequences arising therefrom are serious, not only for women, but also for their circle of affections. They generate emotional distress, decreased self-esteem, damage to full development, anguish, fear, sadness, anger, anxiety, stress, headaches and stomach pain, sleep and appetite disorders, humiliation and guilt. Furthermore, when it does not drive its victims to marked changes in their routine, it can reach the root causes of suicide³3 Silva AS, Pinheiro RB. Exposição que fere, percepção que mata: a urgência de uma abordagem psicosociojurídica da pornografia de vingança à luz da Lei Maria da Penha. Rev Fac Direito UFPR. 2017; 62(3):243-265..

The concept of health proposed by the World Health Organization, although it has suffered severe criticism over time, fits the purposes of the present work: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not, simply, the absence of disease or illness”⁴4 Batistella C. Abordagens contemporâneas do conceito de saúde. In: Fonseca AF, D'andrea Corbo AM. O território e o processo saúde-doença. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz; 2007.⁽⁵⁷⁾.

In this sense, revenge pornography, more than offending the intimacy, honor and private life of women, affronts health itself, considered in the individual biopsychosocial sphere⁵5 Heilborn ML. Gênero, sexualidade e saúde. In: Silva DM, organizador. Saúde, sexualidade e reprodução: compartilhando responsabilidades. Rio de Janeiro: UERJ; 1997., as an intense affront to the victim's human rights.

A survey by the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative of the Department of Psychology at Florida International University, which runs the EndRevengePorn.org website (https://www.cybercivilrights.org), in 2017, with 3.044 participants in the United States, reveals that, among people who suffered disclosure or threat of disclosure of intimate material, the number of women (15.8%) is greater than that of men (9.3%).

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Safernet (https://helpline.org.br/indicadores/), which assists victims and monitors human rights violations on the internet, together with the Federal Police and the Public Federal Prosecutor's Office, points out that, in 2018, the largest number of requests for help was related to the unauthorized exposure of intimate images (n=669).

Of this total (n=669), 440 were women, while 229 were men; in 2017, the total number of assistances on the topic was 289, of which 204 came from women and 85 from men. In 2016, of the total requests (n=300), 202 were from women, and 98 were from men.

These statistics suggest that the unauthorized exposure of intimate material and, as a result, revenge pornography are intimately connected with the gender differences present in society.

Gender is a concept of the social sciences and is linked to the social construction of male and female: while the word sex designates the anatomy and physiology of beings and sexual activity, the concept of gender is related to the social aspect⁶6 Foucault M. História da sexualidade: a vontade de saber. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra; 2017..

The complexities of gender are intimately linked to those of sexuality, which, according to Foucault⁶6 Foucault M. História da sexualidade: a vontade de saber. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra; 2017., is an instrument socially and historically elaborated, based on multiple discourses about sex, which are reflected in bodies, behaviors, social relations, and not power relations.

Sexuality, and especially that of women, has been used as a form of social control throughout the course of history.

The notion of social control is associated with the concepts of power and political domination, constituted by mechanisms that discipline a society and that subject its individuals to standards and principles. It can be formal, exercised by the State, or informal, carried out by social groups⁷7 Sabadell AL. Manual de sociologia jurídica: Introdução a uma leitura externa do direito. São Paulo: Revista dos Tribunais; 2017., the latter being eminently addressed to women, and largely due to their sexuality, in the family and educational scope⁸8 Baratta A. O paradigma do gênero. In: Campos CH, organizadora. Criminologia e feminismo. Porto Alegre: Sulina; 1999..

Patriarchy, on the other hand, is a system of male domination, an expression of political power, which incorporates the dimensions of sexuality, reproduction and the relationship between men and women, and permeates all social structures. One of its pillars is the control of female sexuality⁸8 Baratta A. O paradigma do gênero. In: Campos CH, organizadora. Criminologia e feminismo. Porto Alegre: Sulina; 1999..

The constitution and maintenance of patriarchy are related to the many forms of violence, interpreted by common sense as the rupture of any form of integrity of the other: physical, psychological, sexual or moral⁸8 Baratta A. O paradigma do gênero. In: Campos CH, organizadora. Criminologia e feminismo. Porto Alegre: Sulina; 1999.. It is worth saying: patriarchy uses violence, which is inherent to that.

Considering that the same fact can be understood by a woman as violent, but evaluated as normal by another, Saffioti⁹9 Saffioti H. Gênero, patriarcado e violência. São Paulo: Expressão Popular: Fundação Perseu Abramo; 2015. proposes to use the concept of human rights to investigate the existence of violence against women.

Symbolic violence, in turn, is a concept that addresses a form of vis exercised by the body without physical coercion, based on the continuous fabrication of beliefs in the socialization process, which induce the individual to position himself according to the dominant discourse, legitimizing it.

For Bourdieu¹⁰10 Bourdieu P. A dominação masculina. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil; 2014., male domination is equivalent to symbolic violence in the social construction of genders and legitimizes the supposed male superiority to the detriment of female inferiority.

In this scenario, when women rebel against the patriarchal system, due to a conduct that disregards the behaviors expected from them, including breaking an affective relationship or exercising their sexuality freely, the social environment admits a way of punishing her for the alleged deviation, through the use of violence. In revenge pornography, such violence consists of publishing intimate material without consent.

The social control of women's sexuality, which for many years was carried out under the religious and medical-hygienist prism¹¹11 Pedrinha RD. Sexualidade, controle social e práticas punitivas: do signo sacro religioso ao modelo científico médico higienista. Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris; 2009., starting with the sexual revolution of the 20th century and in view of the advancement of technology in contemporary times, is nowadays carried out by more subtle and technological mechanisms, so characteristic of the society of control proposed by Deleuze¹²12 Deleuze G. Conversações. São Paulo: Editora 34; 1992..

In the age of consumption, social relations become impersonal and superficial, with the trivialization of sex; partnerships are exchanged as if they were consumer goods¹³13 Bauman Z. Amor líquido: sobre a fragilidade dos laços humanos. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar; 2004., mediated by the exposure of identities and the spectacularization of the intimacies inherent to the society of the spectacle¹⁴14 Debord G. A sociedade do espetáculo. [S. l.]: eBookLibris; 2003..

We live in a risk society, an expression that describes the way the social group seeks to respond to the risks arising from technological and industrial advances in recent years and that affect the political, social, economic and individual fields, without being sure about the results that may result from it¹⁵15 Beck U, Giddens A, Lash S. Modernização reflexiva: política, tradição e estética na ordem social moderna. Oeiras: Celta; 2000..

Among the contradictions that flow from the risk society is the difficulty for institutions to keep up with news in view of the speed with which they occur.

Revenge pornography is very closely linked to technological modernities, being deeply related to those risks, especially in the face of the difficulty for political, social and legal institutions to keep up with changes, and to provide the satisfactory responses they demand.

The social environment, therefore, favors the growth of the practice of pornographic revenge, while the institutions have difficulty in responding to the problems caused by it.

Revenge pornography under the Brazilian legal system

The treatment of pornographic revenge by the Brazilian legal system must be contextualized from the recognition of human rights by international law, which begins with the Charter of the United Nations of 1945¹⁶16 Brasil. Decreto nº 19.841, de 22 de outubro de 1945 [internet]. Promulga a Carta das Nações Unidas, da qual faz parte integrante o anexo Estatuto da Corte Internacional de Justiça, assinada em São Francisco, a 26 de junho de 1945. Diário Oficial da União. 23 Out 1945. [acesso em 2018 mar 9]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/1930-1949/D19841.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/dec... and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948¹⁷17 Organização das Nações Unidas. Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos adotada e proclamada pela resolução 217 A (III) da Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas em 10 de dezembro de 1948 [internet]. [acesso em 2018 mar 9]. Disponível em: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000139423.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf... .

International human rights treaties are incorporated into the Brazilian legal system through approval in each legislative house in two shifts, with a qualified quorum, from which they will be equivalent to constitutional amendments (paragraph 3 of art. 5 of the Constitution of the Republic¹⁸18 Brasil. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil [internet]. Brasília, DF: Senado Federal; 1988. [acesso em 2018 set 15]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/con... ).

These are two of the International Conventions of greatest importance for women in Brazil: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw)¹⁹19 Brasil. Decreto nº 4.377, de 13 de setembro de 2002 [internet]. Promulga a Convenção sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação contra a Mulher, de 1979, e revoga o Decreto nº 89.460, de 20 de março de 1984. Diário Oficial da União. 14 Set 2002. [acesso em 2018 mar 11]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/2002/D4377.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/dec... , approved by the United Nations (UN) in 1979 and ratified by Brazil in 1984, and the Convention of Belém do Pará or Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, approved by the Organization of Member States in 1994 and entering the Brazilian system by Decree nº 1.973/1996²⁰20 Brasil. Decreto nº 1.973, de 1º de agosto de 1996 [internet]. Promulga a Convenção Interamericana para Prevenir, Punir e Erradicar a Violência contra a Mulher, concluída em Belém do Pará, em 9 de junho de 1994. Diário Oficial da União: 2 Ago 1996. [acesso em mar 8 2018]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/1996/D1973.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/dec... .

The latter adds, in art. 1, that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms and an offense against human dignity and is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between women and men. It establishes as violence against women any act or conduct based on gender, which causes death, damage or physical, sexual or psychological suffering to women.

The Universal Declaration of Sexual Rights of 1997²¹21 World Association for Sexual Health. Declaração dos direitos sexuais [internet]. [S. l.]: [S. n.], 2013. [acesso em 2019 nov 27]. Disponível em: https://worldsexualhealth.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/declaration_of_sexual_rights_sep03_2014.pdf.
https://worldsexualhealth.net/wp-content... , established in Valencia – III World Congress of Sexology – recognized sexual rights as human rights, and declared the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free from coercion, discrimination or violence and that everyone has the right to control and decide on issues relating to their sexuality and their bodies. It highlights the right to privacy related to sexuality, sexual life and choices, preventing arbitrary interference; and recognizes the right to control the dissemination of information related to sexuality.

Internally, the Constitution of the Republic of Brazil¹⁸18 Brasil. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil [internet]. Brasília, DF: Senado Federal; 1988. [acesso em 2018 set 15]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/con... has as one of its foundations the dignity of the human person and provides for equality between men and women (arts. 1, III; art. 5, I). It repudiates domestic violence (paragraph 8 of art. 226), providing for the creation of mechanisms to repress violence in the context of family relations, which was mainly brought about by the Maria da Penha Law²²22 Brasil. Lei nº 11.340 de 7 de agosto de 2006 [internet]. Cria mecanismos para coibir a violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher, nos termos do § 8º do art. 226 da Constituição Federal, da Convenção sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação contra as Mulheres e da Convenção Interamericana para Prevenir, Punir e Erradicar a Violência contra a Mulher; dispõe sobre a criação dos Juizados de Violência Doméstica e Familiar contra a Mulher; altera o Código de Processo Penal, o Código Penal e a Lei de Execução Penal; e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 8 Ago 2006. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Lei/L11340.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... .

The article 5 of the Maria da Penha Law²²22 Brasil. Lei nº 11.340 de 7 de agosto de 2006 [internet]. Cria mecanismos para coibir a violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher, nos termos do § 8º do art. 226 da Constituição Federal, da Convenção sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação contra as Mulheres e da Convenção Interamericana para Prevenir, Punir e Erradicar a Violência contra a Mulher; dispõe sobre a criação dos Juizados de Violência Doméstica e Familiar contra a Mulher; altera o Código de Processo Penal, o Código Penal e a Lei de Execução Penal; e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 8 Ago 2006. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Lei/L11340.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... foresees as domestic and family violence against women any action or omission based on gender that causes death, injury, physical, sexual or psychological suffering and moral or financial damage, within the scope of the domestic unit, the family or in any intimate relationship of affection, regardless of cohabitation.

The intimate relationship of affection is understood as marriage, coexistence, dating or any casual, occasional or temporary relationship, according to Statement 21-003/2015 of the Copevid of the National Council of Attorneys General: “The Maria da Penha Law applies to any intimate relationships of affection, even if occasional and/or ephemeral”²³23 Mello AR. Feminicídio: uma análise sociojurídica da violência contra a mulher no Brasil. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: LMJ Mundo Jurídico; 2017.⁽¹⁰⁹⁾.

Regarding pornographic revenge, psychological and moral violence stand out. Psychological violence is any conduct that induces emotional damage and decreased self-esteem or that disturbs the full development or aims to degrade or control actions, behaviors, beliefs and decisions, through threat, embarrassment, humiliation, manipulation, isolation, surveillance, persecution, insult, blackmail, violation of privacy, ridicule, exploitation and limitation of the right to come and go or any other means that causes harm to psychological health and self-determination. Moral violence is understood as any behavior that constitutes slander, defamation or insult, attacking the person's honor and respectability.

The violation of the woman's privacy started to be expressly included on item II of art. 7 as a kind of psychological violence, after the advent of Law nº 13.772/2018²⁴24 Brasil. Lei nº 13.772, de 19 de dezembro de 2018 [internet]. Altera a Lei nº 11.340, de 7 de agosto de 2006 (Lei Maria da Penha), e o Decreto-Lei nº 2.848, de 7 de dezembro de 1940 (Código Penal), para reconhecer que a violação da intimidade da mulher configura violência doméstica e familiar e para criminalizar o registro não autorizado de conteúdo com cena de nudez ou ato sexual ou libidinoso de caráter íntimo e privado. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2015-2018/2018/Lei/L13772.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... .

The Constitution of the Republic guarantees the inviolability of intimacy, private life, honor and people's image, as well as the right to compensation for material or moral damage resulting from their violation, inaugurating the general protection of personality rights and the principle of comprehensive damage repair.

Silva²⁵25 Silva JA. Curso de Direito Constitucional Positivo. 13. ed. São Paulo: Malheiros Editores; 1996. Revisada. points out that the right to privacy must be broadly understood, encompassing all manifestations of the intimate, private and personality levels, covering the set of information that the individual may prefer to keep exclusively under his/her control, or, if he/she wishes to communicate it, he/she can decide under what conditions to do so.

Honor is the set of qualities that characterize personal dignity, the respect of fellow citizens, the good name, the reputation.

The inviolability of the image consists in the protection of the aspect visible by others about an individual, both in terms of physical appearance and personality.

The full reparation of the damages provided for by the constitution covers all forms of damages: material and off-balance sheet. Material damage affects patrimony, covering what has actually been lost, as well as what has reasonably failed to profit. As for off-balance sheet damages, the understanding prevails that they are present whenever there is a violation of the personality right²⁵25 Silva JA. Curso de Direito Constitucional Positivo. 13. ed. São Paulo: Malheiros Editores; 1996. Revisada..

There are some species of the immaterial damage genre, such as: pure moral damage, damage to identity, private life, intimacy, image, prestige, reputation, aesthetic damage, psychological damage and existential damage.

Existential damage or damage to the life project started to be classified as an autonomous category of civil liability as from the 1990s, in Italy. It results from an episode that causes harmful modification, total or partial, permanent or temporary, to an activity or set of activities that the victim had incorporated into her/his daily life. Likewise, it can reach a potentiality, in order to cover activities that the person, according to the logic of the reasonable or according to the rules of experience, could develop in the normal course of her life²⁶26 Tartuce F. Manual de Direito Civil: volume único. 5. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Forense; São Paulo: Método; 2015. Revisada Atualizada e Ampliada..

The individual carries out life projects to give meaning to his/her own existence, and, in the event of a misfortune over which he/she has no control, the course of existence can entirely change, even causing an existential emptiness or the loss of the meaning of life.

These aspects affect, to a greater or lesser extent, those who suffer revenge pornography, since many of the victims need to completely change the course of their existence, or modify their activities, and still others are so overwhelmed by the event that they entirely lose their will to live, to the point of committing suicide.

For now, existential damage or damage to the life project is not yet associated with revenge pornography. However, Sydow and Castro¹1 Sydow ST, Castro ALC. Exposição pornográfica não consentida na internet: da pornografia de vingança ao lucro. Belo Horizonte: D'Plácido; 2017. defend their autonomy and the possibility of their accumulation with pure moral damage, in view of the intensity with which the victims' lives are reached.

On the other hand, the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (Law nº 12.965/2014) has established principles, guarantees, rights and duties for the use of the Internet in Brazil, bringing human rights as one of its foundations (art. 2, II); and as basic principles, the protection of privacy and the accountability of agents according to their performance (art. 3, II and VI)²⁷27 Soares FR. Dano existencial: uma leitura da responsabilidade civil por danos extrapatrimoniais sob a ótica da proteção humana [dissertação]. 2007. Porto Alegre: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. 2007. 223 p..

Significantly, the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet Law establishes, in its art. 21, an exception to the general rule of the reserve of jurisdiction in cases of unauthorized disclosure of intimate material, when determining that the internet provider take down, upon notification made by the interested party, and regardless of judicial determination, the private material, making the procedure for deleting private content from the world wide web more agile.

In the criminal sphere, the Brazilian Penal Code²⁸28 Brasil. Lei nº 12.965, de 23 de abril de 2014 [internet]. Estabelece princípios, garantias, direitos e deveres para o uso da Internet no Brasil. Diário Oficial da União. 24 Abr 2014. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2011-2014/2014/lei/l12965.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at... , a norm of the 40s of the last century, has been undergoing specific renewals and recent changes in relation to sexual crimes that focus around the constitutional value of human dignity, in search of protecting free and unimpeded fair sex²⁹29 Brasil. Lei nº 12.965, de 23 de abril de 2014 [internet]. Estabelece princípios, garantias, direitos e deveres para o uso da Internet no Brasil. Diário Oficial da União. 24 Abr 2014. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2011-2014/2014/lei/l12965.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at... .

In general, the classification of sexual offenses ensures the legal good of sexual freedom, an aspect of human dignity, guaranteeing individual self-determination in this area, including the ability to freely dispose of one's own body and maintain sexual behavior according to individual desires³⁰30 Prado LR. Curso de direito penal brasileiro. São Paulo: Revista dos Tribunais; 2013..

The year 2018 brought important regulatory changes on the topic under discussion:

Law nº 13.718/2018³¹31 Brasil. Lei nº 13.718, de 24 de setembro de 2018 [internet]. Altera o Decreto-Lei nº 2.848, de 7 de dezembro de 1940 (Código Penal), para tipificar os crimes de importunação sexual e de divulgação de cena de estupro, tornar pública incondicionada a natureza da ação penal dos crimes contra a liberdade sexual e dos crimes sexuais contra vulnerável, estabelecer causas de aumento de pena para esses crimes e definir como causas de aumento de pena o estupro coletivo e o estupro corretivo; e revoga dispositivo do Decreto-Lei nº 3.688, de 3 de outubro de 1941 (Lei das Contravenções Penais). Diário Oficial da União. 25 Set 2018. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2018/lei/L13718.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at... created the criminal offence of art. 218-C of the Penal Code, which establishes that it is a crime to offer, exchange, make available, transmit, sell or exhibit for sale, distribute, publish or disseminate, by any means, including through mass communication or computer or telematics system, photography, video or other audiovisual record that contains a scene of rape or rape of a vulnerable person or that makes incitement or induces its practice, or, without the consent of the victim, sex scene, nudity or pornography, setting the penalty of imprisonment from one to five years, if the fact does not constitute a more serious crime.

The new criminal offence foresees as a cause of increased penalty the fact that the agent maintains or has maintained an intimate relationship of affection with the victim or when there is a purpose of revenge or humiliation. It is exactly the hypothesis of pornographic revenge.

The criminal offense will still exist if the content has been recorded or collected with the consent of the victim, or even if the victim has transmitted it to a specific recipients. In this case, the disloyalty of the person who, reliably receives the intimate material sent by the victim, but gives it publicity without consent, is reprimanded.

In the case of a victim under the age of 18, the hypothesis may conform to arts. 241 and 241-A to E of the Child and Adolescent Statute³²32 Brasil. Lei nº 8.069, de 13 de julho de 1990 [internet]. Dispõe sobre o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 16 Jul 1990. [acesso em 2019 mar 3]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/L8069.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/lei... .

However, the legislator acted with a lack of technique in writing that legal provision, since it provided for public exposure of the sex, nudity or pornography scene without the victim's consent after capitulating a series of other conducts related to the exposure of the rape scene.

Such a criminal offense was inserted in Chapter II – Crimes against Vulnerable Persons, under Title VI – Crimes against Sexual Dignity.

This topographical position in the Penal Code and the wording of the provision may erroneously give rise to the interpretation that the punishable practice refers only to pornographic exposure related to rape.

However, this was not the intention of the legislator, which can be determined by examining the legislative procedure that culminated in the enactment of the rule, to be addressed below.

Law nº 13.772/2018²⁴24 Brasil. Lei nº 13.772, de 19 de dezembro de 2018 [internet]. Altera a Lei nº 11.340, de 7 de agosto de 2006 (Lei Maria da Penha), e o Decreto-Lei nº 2.848, de 7 de dezembro de 1940 (Código Penal), para reconhecer que a violação da intimidade da mulher configura violência doméstica e familiar e para criminalizar o registro não autorizado de conteúdo com cena de nudez ou ato sexual ou libidinoso de caráter íntimo e privado. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2015-2018/2018/Lei/L13772.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... , on the other hand, started to provide for the penal type of art. 216-B of the Penal Code, introducing Chapter I-A, under the heading Exposure of sexual intimacy. Such a device is topographically located under Title VI, which protects sexual dignity, punishing the conduct of producing, photographing, filming or recording, by any means, content with a nudity scene or sexual or libidinous act of an intimate and private nature, without authorization from the participants.

Also punishable is the conduct of carrying out editing, in order to insert the victim in audiovisual material of sexual content.

Several bills resulted in the creation of two new criminal types:

Bill nº 6.630/2013³³33 Brasil. Projeto de Lei nº 6.630 de 23 de outubro de 2013 [internet]. [acesso em 2019 mar 2]. Disponível em: https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb/fichadetramitacao?idProposicao=598038.
https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb... , by federal deputy Romário, along with other related projects, intended to punish the disclosure of sex scenes without the victim's consent.

However, in disagreement with the initial bill, the final wording of art. 216-B left out the actions related to the dissemination of such content, only to punish those in which the capture of moments of intimacy takes place without the authorization of the victim.

On the other hand, Bill nº 5.452/2016³⁴34 Brasil. Projeto de Lei nº 5.452 de 2016 [internet]. [acesso em 2019 mar 2]. Disponível em: https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb/fichadetramitacao?idProposicao=2086414.
https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb... , by senator Vanessa Grazziotin, aimed at the institution of the crime of collective rape, at the same time that the House of Representatives' Bill nº 18/2017³⁵35 Brasil. Projeto de Lei da Câmara nº 18, de 2017 [internet]. [acesso em 2019 mar 2]. Disponível em: https://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=5068988&ts=1550060365849&disposition=inline.
https://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter... intended to promote the amendment of the Penal Code to include yet another offense against honor, and not against sexual freedom, taking this view at the time of its final opinion, when the conduct was capitulated as public exposure of sexual intimacy regardless of the victim's consent.

It is clear, therefore, that, when the law that foresaw the crime of rape of sexual intimacy by art. 216-B came to light, the offense fell far short of the original legislative intention, given that the new provision only foresees the conduct of registering sexual intimacy as punishable, but not of disclosing it.

In turn, the conduct of exposing nudity, sex and pornography scenes ended up being inserted, promptly, under the capitulation of art. 218-C, together with conduct related to the disclosure of rape scenes and rape of the vulnerable, on the topic of sexual crimes against the vulnerable person.

In a systematic, teleological interpretation and, therefore, according to the intention of the legislator extracted from the bills and their respective procedures, it is possible to conclude that the new laws came to criminalize both the conduct of registering intimate content and its disclosure, regardless of whether there was a rape. That is, even in consensual sex.

From another point of view, it appears that the penalties established in the new types of sentences carry very wide restrictive sentences of freedom, since, in relation to the crime of unauthorized registration of sexual intimacy (art. 216-B), the sentence is detention from six months to one year, and, as regards the offense of unauthorized disclosure of a sex, nudity or pornography scene (art. 218-C), the sentence is imprisonment from one to five years, if the fact does not constitute a crime more serious. There is provision, in paragraph 1, for the cause of an increase in sentence from one third to two thirds if the crime is committed by an agent who maintains or has maintained an intimate relationship of affection with the victim or for the purpose of revenge or humiliation.

Comparing the sentences provided for in the legislation, it can be seen that they are at a much higher level than those of crimes whose results, in theory, may be more serious than those resulting from revenge pornography, such as the crime of simple bodily injury, whose sentence of detention is three months to one year. In severe bodily injury (which causes incapacity for more than 30 days or permanent limb weakness, sense or function and accelerated delivery), the penalty imposed is exactly the same as for the offense typified in art. 218-C (unauthorized disclosure of a sex, nudity or pornography scene), that is, imprisonment for one to five years. If simple bodily injury occurs in the area of domestic violence, the legal provision is that of imprisonment from three months to three years.

The principle of proportionality of sentences requires a weighting judgment between the good that is injured or endangered (gravity of the fact) and the good that someone may be deprived, in casu, of the accused's freedom³⁶36 Greco R. Curso de direito penal: parte geral. 4. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Impetus; 2004..

When establishing the levels of penalties for new crimes, particularly, that of art. 218-C, the legislator appears to have acted in disagreement with the applicable proportionality and reasonableness.

On the other hand, as of Law nº 13.718/2018³¹31 Brasil. Lei nº 13.718, de 24 de setembro de 2018 [internet]. Altera o Decreto-Lei nº 2.848, de 7 de dezembro de 1940 (Código Penal), para tipificar os crimes de importunação sexual e de divulgação de cena de estupro, tornar pública incondicionada a natureza da ação penal dos crimes contra a liberdade sexual e dos crimes sexuais contra vulnerável, estabelecer causas de aumento de pena para esses crimes e definir como causas de aumento de pena o estupro coletivo e o estupro corretivo; e revoga dispositivo do Decreto-Lei nº 3.688, de 3 de outubro de 1941 (Lei das Contravenções Penais). Diário Oficial da União. 25 Set 2018. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2018/lei/L13718.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at... , all infractions contained in Chapter I (Crimes against sexual freedom and Chapter IA – Exposure of sexual intimacy) and of Chapter II (Crimes against Vulnerable Persons) of the Title VI (Crimes against Sexual Dignity) are subject to unconditional public criminal action, that is, criminal prosecution takes place on the initiative of the Public Federal Prosecutor's Office, regardless of the manifestation of the injured party.

Before the entry into force of Laws nº 13.718³¹31 Brasil. Lei nº 13.718, de 24 de setembro de 2018 [internet]. Altera o Decreto-Lei nº 2.848, de 7 de dezembro de 1940 (Código Penal), para tipificar os crimes de importunação sexual e de divulgação de cena de estupro, tornar pública incondicionada a natureza da ação penal dos crimes contra a liberdade sexual e dos crimes sexuais contra vulnerável, estabelecer causas de aumento de pena para esses crimes e definir como causas de aumento de pena o estupro coletivo e o estupro corretivo; e revoga dispositivo do Decreto-Lei nº 3.688, de 3 de outubro de 1941 (Lei das Contravenções Penais). Diário Oficial da União. 25 Set 2018. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2018/lei/L13718.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at... and nº 13.772²⁴24 Brasil. Lei nº 13.772, de 19 de dezembro de 2018 [internet]. Altera a Lei nº 11.340, de 7 de agosto de 2006 (Lei Maria da Penha), e o Decreto-Lei nº 2.848, de 7 de dezembro de 1940 (Código Penal), para reconhecer que a violação da intimidade da mulher configura violência doméstica e familiar e para criminalizar o registro não autorizado de conteúdo com cena de nudez ou ato sexual ou libidinoso de caráter íntimo e privado. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2015-2018/2018/Lei/L13772.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... of 2018, the practices that characterize revenge pornography were encompassed by the criminal types of defamation or injury, crimes against honor. If the fact occurred through the use of a means that facilitated the disclosure or in the presence of several people, the agent responded with a cause of increased penalty.

Under another aspect, the Maria da Penha Law²²22 Brasil. Lei nº 11.340 de 7 de agosto de 2006 [internet]. Cria mecanismos para coibir a violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher, nos termos do § 8º do art. 226 da Constituição Federal, da Convenção sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação contra as Mulheres e da Convenção Interamericana para Prevenir, Punir e Erradicar a Violência contra a Mulher; dispõe sobre a criação dos Juizados de Violência Doméstica e Familiar contra a Mulher; altera o Código de Processo Penal, o Código Penal e a Lei de Execução Penal; e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 8 Ago 2006. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Lei/L11340.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... (art. 17) prohibited the application of a pecuniary punishment and a substitute fine to crimes involving domestic or family violence against women and, in art. 41, prohibited the application of decriminalizing institutes – criminal transaction and conditional suspension of the process – of the Law of Special Criminal Courts (Law nº 9.099/1995)³⁷37 Brasil. Lei nº 9.099, de 26 de setembro de 1995 [internet]. Dispõe sobre os Juizados Especiais Cíveis e Criminais e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 27 Set 1995. [acesso em 2019 mar 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/L9099.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/lei... .

The removal of the possibility of applying decriminalizing measures is questioned, by many segments of the doctrine, especially in the face of Minimalist Theories, for expressing a demand for psychological penal suffering, to the detriment of a moral or patrimonial sanction³⁸38 Batista N. "Só Carolina não viu": violência doméstica e políticas criminais no Brasil. In: Mello AR, organizadora. Comentários à lei de violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris; 2009.. Such reflections originate from intense criticisms of the criminal justice system, which denounce the selectivity with which it operates, and by promoting the inversion of its own promises of resocialization, demonstrating the falsity of its discourse of equality, humanity and legality³⁹39 Campos CH. Criminologia feminista: teoria feminista e crítica às criminologias. Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris; 2017..

Such theories, often, conflict with the positions of the Feminist Movement. In this area, Smaus⁴⁰40 Smaus G. Abolicionismo: el punto de vista feminista. No Hay Derecho, n. 7, 1992 [internet]. [acesso em 2019 fev 28]. Disponível em: https://pt.scribd.com/document/117173969/Abolicionismo-el-punto-de-vista-feminista-Por-Gerlinda-Smaus.
https://pt.scribd.com/document/117173969... refutes Minimalist Theories and argues that criminal law, in the classification of crimes against women, constitutes an instrument in the fight to change the patriarchal social structure and that the criminal capitulation of these conducts is necessary, insofar as the criminalization of men's violent behavior against women, along with other achievements of the Feminist Movements, helps to make public problems that occurred in the private sphere and remained hidden there.

In this sense, we take advantage of the words of Gustav Radbrunch⁴¹41 Radbruch G. Rechtsphilosophie. 2. ed. Heidelberg: C.F. Mueller; 2003., quoted by Baratta⁴²42 Baratta A. Criminologia crítica e crítica do direito penal: introdução à sociologia do direito penal. 6. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Revan; 2011. Tradução: Juarez Cirino dos Santos.⁽²⁰⁷⁾: “the best reform of criminal law would be to replace it, not with a better criminal law, but with something better than criminal law”. Since it is not yet possible to dispense with criminal law, let it function as a legal guideline to contain the excesses of the punitive power and limit violence related to gender.

As such, the Federal Supreme Court, in a binding decision (Action of Constitutionality 19)⁴³43 Brasil. Ação Declaratória de Constitucionalidade 19 Distrito Federal [internet]. Relator: Min. Marco Aurélio. Brasília, DF: Supremo Tribunal Federal; 2001. [acesso em 2019 fev 28]. Disponível em: http://portal.stf.jus.br/processos/downloadPeca.asp?id=217154893&ext=.pdf.
http://portal.stf.jus.br/processos/downl... , opted for the constitutionality of the provisions of the Maria da Penha Law²²22 Brasil. Lei nº 11.340 de 7 de agosto de 2006 [internet]. Cria mecanismos para coibir a violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher, nos termos do § 8º do art. 226 da Constituição Federal, da Convenção sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação contra as Mulheres e da Convenção Interamericana para Prevenir, Punir e Erradicar a Violência contra a Mulher; dispõe sobre a criação dos Juizados de Violência Doméstica e Familiar contra a Mulher; altera o Código de Processo Penal, o Código Penal e a Lei de Execução Penal; e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 8 Ago 2006. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Lei/L11340.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... that prohibit the application of the decriminalizing institutes of Law nº 9.099/95³⁷37 Brasil. Lei nº 9.099, de 26 de setembro de 1995 [internet]. Dispõe sobre os Juizados Especiais Cíveis e Criminais e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 27 Set 1995. [acesso em 2019 mar 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/L9099.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/lei... in crimes of domestic and family violence against the woman.

The Maria da Penha Law²²22 Brasil. Lei nº 11.340 de 7 de agosto de 2006 [internet]. Cria mecanismos para coibir a violência doméstica e familiar contra a mulher, nos termos do § 8º do art. 226 da Constituição Federal, da Convenção sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação contra as Mulheres e da Convenção Interamericana para Prevenir, Punir e Erradicar a Violência contra a Mulher; dispõe sobre a criação dos Juizados de Violência Doméstica e Familiar contra a Mulher; altera o Código de Processo Penal, o Código Penal e a Lei de Execução Penal; e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 8 Ago 2006. [acesso em 2019 fev 6]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Lei/L11340.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_At... provides for the possibility of granting emergency protective measures, appropriate to the specific case, for women in situations of domestic and family violence (art. 22, paragraph 1), whose non-compliance constitutes the crime provided for in art. 24-A, with imprisonment from three months to two years.

All the issues related to the law and the legal practice discussed here are insufficient to achieve the desired substantial equality between women and men, in view of the multiple aspects of the problem, with very sedimented social and historical roots.

In order to move towards effective equality, much more than delving into the legal consequences of gender differences, it is necessary to adopt public policies aimed at raising society's awareness, in general, about the inequalities that still prevail, which should take place in the broad field of political debate, making it possible to carry out gender education, as well as affirmative actions in favor of women, through public gender policies to better insert her into the labor market and the political sphere, with quotas.

The public authorities need to pay attention to the development of agendas in favor of women, providing professional training activities, a greater number of vacancies in public educational establishments for their children, including and especially day care centers, access to health and sexual, reproductive and gender education, among others.

Therefore, in the search for a better society, with more pacifying and more egalitarian arrangements, between women and men, it is not possible to dispense with the law, since its use must take place with the ultimate aim of greater reflection, awareness and education of society about gender inequalities.

Final considerations

In the present paper, after contextualizing the social scenario that permeates the increase in the number of cases of pornographic revenge, the aim was to present a brief overview of the treatment of revenge pornography by the Brazilian legal system.

After a rapid incursion into international law, the treatment of the issue was seen in Brazil. In particular, there is the protection given to the human dignity of victims of revenge pornography, whose rights of personality suffer damage.

In civil scope, the right to indemnity for material or immaterial damage resulting from the unauthorized exposure of intimate content is assured.

Among the various types of off-balance sheet damages, the existential damage or damage to the project or life plan was highlighted, whose autonomy is defended due to the intensity of the effects caused to the victims.

It was observed that the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet allows greater speed in the removal of harmful material from the network, upon notification by the victim to the provider about the unauthorized content.

In the criminal field, in the year 2018, normative changes were made regarding revenge pornography, with Laws nº 13.718/18 and nº 13.772/18, which created specific criminal types to achieve pornographic revenge, which were examined.

Considering, however, that gender conceptions were historically and socially constructed over time and are ingrained in the social body, only legislative changes to create criminal types that protect women's rights or the deepening of the operators of law in gender studies are insufficient for the advent of a new paradigm that is desired.

The issue requires the adoption of broad public policies aimed at the whole of society, through affirmative actions in favor of women, an increase in gender education, the development of professional training activities, a greater number of vacancies in public schools for their children, guaranteeing access to health and sexual and reproductive education, everything, in short, for the realization of substantial equality between men and women, in a new pact to overcome the binary logic of gender, and which allows a new look at differences.

References

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