Transitioning from BDSM Practitioner to Tech Founder: An Unconventional Campaign To Combat Intimate Image Abuse

Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas is far from your standard startup entrepreneur. Following repeated occurrences of individuals leaking her private explicit images, she felt "angry enough to do something about it" and looked to technology for answers.

"These were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I don't know," said Madelaine.

Just over a year after founding her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This marks quite a departure from her previous career in offering consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the realms of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders risking two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue exclusively faced by those in the sex industry. A study suggests that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by this form of abuse on an annual basis.

Madelaine, 37, explained victims lived with feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she noted.

"I expect dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she continued. "The fact that those images could be then shared where I live or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's someone committing abuse."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been working as a dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she described.

"Some believe it's strange but I don't see it any differently to a nutritionist or an accountant providing a service," she remarked.

She embraces being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I know that it's unconventional, it's remarkable to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it required someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the changes that needed to happen," she stated.

She maintained she was not technically inclined and was able to build her company after many sleepless nights, investigation and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

How Does the Technology Work?

Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people share images, for instance dating apps, social media and websites.

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This covert marker is embedded into the copy of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being edited and being re-captured with a different camera.

It means that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the service you used has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be encoded in the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow.

Currently, one service has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system already exists in the film industry, it is employed in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a new system," said Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're partnering with a firm that has 30 years experience in tech development so we are confident that this is solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added.

She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential intimate image abusers.

Changing the Narrative

An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse inflicted on victims.

"If that self-blame is reinforced by a misinformed friend or service who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the response somebody is provided with is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized.

She added it was fantastic that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, adding: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to solve this problem, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later shape her women's rights campaigning.

"It required years, too long for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess.

She too is passionate about removing the stigma of this crime from the survivors to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to consensually send an photo to someone," said Jess.

"But it is a crime to distribute that non-consensually and I think that should always be where the blame is," she affirmed.