Latest news with #LauraBates
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Daily Record
The rise of deep-fake porn in schools is a 'public health crisis', says expert
Misogyny expert Laura Bates has deemed sexual violence in schools a 'national emergency', particularly due to the accessibility of deep-fake porn websites. So how can we protect young girls? Misogyny is rife in Britain's schools, and with the latest technology, it can manifest in vulgar ways that are extremely damaging to young girls. But expert Laura Bates, whose latest book delves into the dangers of AI and sexism, has issued a call-to-action against sexual violence in schools, which she has deemed a 'national emergency'. The founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and author of several books on modern misogyny, Laura Bates recently delved into the concerning ways that the newest AI technology is harming young women, particularly at school. She sat down with BBC journalist Samira Ahmed to discuss her latest book, The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny, at Hay Festival in Wales last week. She described sexism in schools as a 'public health crisis', warning of the ways in which deep-fake porn is the newest misogynistic threat to schoolgirls in the UK. Bates said: 'We have a crisis in schools. It is a national emergency." In her newest book, she explains how hundreds of free websites allow anyone to create false images of their peers, or anyone for that matter, completely naked, using only a single image of someone's face- which is easily accessible on most young peoples' social media profiles. These easily accessible, and often completely free AI-powered websites have the ability to seriously harm young girls, if schoolmates were to decide to create one of these explicit images and share it. And this AI-generated form of sexual abuse is already occurring in our schools, as well as throughout Europe, reports the Independent. Bates' research involved a 2023 case in the Spanish town of Almendralejo, where several girls aged between 11 and 17 found that AI-generated images of them naked had been circulating on social media, which had lasting and extremely damaging effects on them. The expert said at Hay Festival: 'In the years since [this incident], we've seen a significant number of these cases cropping up across schools in the UK. 'It is the next big sexual violence issue that is going to impact schools. It's just that we're not really talking about it yet.' What's most worrying about this new AI-powered threat to young girls is that there isn't much that can be done to prevent it from occurring, as pictures of our faces are widely available across social media. While it's possible to turn you or your children's accounts to private, this will not stop trusted classmates or friends from accessing their peers' pictures, which can be made falsely explicit at the touch of a button. Profile pictures are also widely viewable, even if an account is set to private. So, how can we protect young girls from being targeted by this high-tech manifestation of misogyny? Bates argues in her book that the issue lies within wider society, and policy makers and educators have a responsibility to tackle this problem from the root. She said: "This is a crisis; it is a public health crisis and it needs a public health programme. There has to be statutory guidance to give schools the powers to act on that, and yet it's something that we're not talking about." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
The Independent
26-05-2025
- The Independent
Sexual violence a ‘national emergency' in UK schools amid rise of AI deepfake porn, expert warns
Sexual violence in UK schools should be considered a public health crisis, a sexism expert has warned. Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and author of Men Who Hate Women, also warned that deepfake porn would ne the next issue that schools across the nation will have to tackle, amid the rise of AI-enabled misogyny. She sat down with BBC journalist Samira Ahmed to discuss her latest book, The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny, at the Hay Festival in Wales on Monday, which The Independent is once again partnering with. When asked about the rise in sexual violence in schools by an audience member, Ms Bates said: 'We have a crisis in schools. It is a national emergency. 'We know that one in three teenage girls are sexually assaulted at school and we know from a BBC Freedom of Information request that 5,500 sexual offences - including 600 rapes - were reported to police in schools in the UK over three years. 'If you do the very depressing maths on that, its means exactly one rape per day during the school term being reported.' She continued: 'This is a crisis, it is a public health crisis and it needs a public health programme. There has to be statutory guidance to give schools the powers to act on that, and yet its something that we're not talking about. 'But if this isn't a national emergency - one rape per day in schools - then I don't know what is.' Ms Bates also warned of the role deepfake porn could soon play in abuse of girls in British schools. She discussed a 2023 case in the Spanish town of Almendralejo, where several girls aged between 11 and 17 discovered AI generated images of them naked had been circulating on social media. 'In the years since we've seen a significant number of these cases cropping up across schools in the UK,' Ms Bates said. 'It is the next big sexual violence issue that is going to impact schools. It's just that we're not really talking about it yet.' Hay Festival, which is spread over 11 days, is set in Hay-on-Wye, the idyllic and picturesque 'Town of Books'. The lineup includes Mary Trump, Michael Sheen, Jameela Jamil, and more. The Independent has partnered with the festival once again to host a series of morning panels titled The News Review, where our journalists will explore current affairs with leading figures from politics, science, the arts and comedy every morning.
Channel 4
24-05-2025
- Channel 4
‘Deep fakes are old misogyny amplified by tech'
The tech revolution is ushering in huge benefits, but it's also doing untold harm – with many women and children facing exploitation, abuse and worse online. Last year, a Channel 4 News investigation discovered that more deep fake porn videos were created in 2023 than all previous years combined. We found photos and videos of some four thousand people in the public eye, but ordinary women are most affected. We speak to Laura Bates, who immersed herself in the deepest underbelly of society to discover the risks women face, for her book The New Age of Sexism. And a warning: this report contains adult themes from the start.
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Blackpilled: Incels, Media and Masculinity by Meadhbh Park and The New Age of Sexism How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny by Laura Bates
The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny Author : Laura Bates ISBN-13 : 978-1471190483 Publisher : Simon & Schuster Guideline Price : £20 Blackpilled: Masculinity, Media and Incels Author : Meadhbh Park ISBN-13 : 978-1785908941 Publisher : Biteback Publishing Guideline Price : £20 The term ' deepfakes ' might be unfamiliar, but most people will recognise what they are: AI -generated images, audio or video that 'usually replace one person's likeness with another, making it seem as though a real person has done or said something they didn't really say or do', explains Laura Bates in The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny. Only a few years ago, producing anything convincing would have required costly special effects and a big budget. Now, deepfakes are trivially simple to make with generative AI video and scripting tools. To date, most of the public dialogue around deepfakes has been framed as concern about deliberate disinformation campaigns, particularly as threats posed to elections and politics, privacy or businesses. Yet, 'research suggests that 96 per cent of deepfakes are non-consensual pornography, of which 99 per cent feature women', Bates writes. That fact is one of the first of many in this powerfully furious book to offer chilling evidence of how new, AI-powered technologies are remaking old sexist channels for the exploitation and abuse of women. READ MORE This initial example also shows how invisible such abuse remains when it involves – because it involves – women. For example, in 2023, an audio deepfake purporting to be London mayor Sadiq Khan disparaging the UK's Remembrance Day generated headlines internationally. Yet as Bates notes, hardly anyone knows about Northern Irish politician Cara Hunter, the target of widely circulated deepfake pornographic video during elections in 2022, which Hunter says was intended to undermine her politically. Bates says the sheer scale of deepfake pornographic abuse is hard to comprehend because the numbers are so staggering. In 2023, there was a 2,408 per cent jump in referral links to non-consensual porn deepfakes on social media sites Reddit and X . One researcher recently found that 143,000 videos on 40 of the more popular deepfake porn sites were viewed 4.2 billion times. One popular site gets 17 million visitors ... per month. Bates cleverly focuses each chapter on an old misogynistic exploitation made AI-new, which allows her to convincingly trace discomfiting developmental arcs from analogue to digital. The first chapter is entitled The New Age of Slut-Shaming: Deepfakes. In others, she shows how the new version of street harassment is the virtual reality metaverse, coercive control is remade as image-based sexual abuse, domestic abuse morphs into AI girlfriends, rape is facilitated by sex robots, objectification is now the cyber brothel, and discrimination is firmly embedded in designing AI. Even when a comparison seems stretched – robot rape, for example – Bates structures cogent arguments for how that narrative fits or, just as worryingly, will become (even more) appropriate as AI technologies mature. Alongside the deep research and factual evidence, Bates brings personal experience and a willingness to explore and thus expose these new technologies, making this new woman-denigrating landscape particularly vivid, and harrowing. A well-known feminist author and creator of the Everyday Sexism Project , she has received her share of abuse, especially after publishing Men Who Hate Women in 2020, and recounts her own nauseating experience of being targeted with digitally sexualised images and video of herself. [ Laura Bates on the rise of a toxic male separatist movement that hates women Opens in new window ] She tries out an app that 'nudifies' any picture of a woman, and pays $19 to upload a picture of herself, to see it transformed minutes later into any number of porn videos, seemingly featuring her. She searches dozens of websites that offer thousands of deepfake porn videos of 'almost every female celebrity you can think of'. But, tellingly, she never spots a single porn video of a male celebrity. Her own voyage into the metaverse – the virtual reality world that Mark Zuckerberg considers so important that he renamed Facebook as Meta in 2021 – is particularly startling. Bates dons a VR headset and is only in the metaverse for two hours before witnessing her first sexual assault by a male avatar/player on a female avatar. During repeat visits, Bates regularly overhears or is the recipient of graphic sexual comments. 'The avatar they are commenting on isn't my real body,' she writes. 'But the experience – of harassment, dehumanisation, violation, shame, anger – doesn't feel much different.' Laura Bates. Photograph:Her visit to a cyber brothel in Berlin is equally disturbing. She notes the bodily tears on the sex robot/doll in the room she reserves, evidence of past encounters with men who paid to abuse it. Her conversations with female chatbot apps show how these AI girlfriends can be bullied and badgered into self-effacing appeasement and compliance. Each chapter presents troubling, unexpected surprises. In her closing chapter, Bates offers some solutions, none easy to implement and most requiring deep societal change. 'Writing this book made me angry,' she writes. 'I hope that reading it made you feel angry, too.' It did. One unexpected gap in Bates's arguments is any detailed examination of how sex dolls/robots and submissive, sexualised female-gendered chatbots might fit into or encourage the male incel (involuntary celibate) phenomenon. At its extremist perimeters, some incels can be violently misogynist and even murderous, as tragically shown by the mass shooting in Isla Vista in the US in 2014 , and mass knifing last year in Bondi Junction , Australia (hearings into that tragedy are under way). Park's deep dive into the incel world is fascinating, valuable and, despite the topic, even entertaining, and her general point ... is brave, well made and, in the end, compelling In both cases, frustrated male perpetrators targeted women in particular. Both are viewed as heroes within much of incel culture. But as Irish researcher and incel expert Meadhbh Park shows in Blackpilled: Masculinity, Media and Incels, incels exist on a continuum, with many mostly older incels describing themselves, if somewhat dubiously, as 'non-misogynist incels'. Bates reveals how AI companies often tout chatbots and sex robots as healthy, emotionally supportive mental health aids for men who feel isolated, misunderstood and unable to build satisfying, or any, relationships with women. She thoroughly shreds this assertion: how healthy is it to enable men to 'practice' a real-life relationship with a feminised AI that's expected to be submissive, acquiescent, self-effacing and accommodating of threats, rape, sexualised bullying and verbal abuse? Park argues that incels won't have their mental health and other difficulties resolved even by getting a real girlfriend. Most aren't (yet) ready for that major step, and it's wrong to expect women to become an analyst/therapist/sexual healer. What Park does propose is that readers step away from quick judgement and condemnation of incels and listen, even to the ideas of the extremists, or we will have no effective ability to de-programme and un-blackpill them. Early volunteer work with the US organisation Life After Hate has enabled her to see, first hand, how training oneself to be open and non-judgmental allowed for deeper understanding of fears and views and sometimes, opened doors to rehabilitation of those who have descended into various extremist rabbit holes. This will not be an easy perspective for most readers, especially most women, to adopt and I certainly stepped uneasily and sceptically into that premise. But by gradually introducing incels across their spectrum, and the major touchstones of the incel world view (the Matrix-adjacent 'blackpill' of seething beliefs they swallow, a mix of the sad, the ridiculous and the offensive), Park does make it possible to, if not sympathise, then to at least begin to acknowledge their stories and consider why this particular moment in time has produced this roiling male subculture. The answer, however, may not be what she theorises here. The book's deep strengths are Park's knowledge of this community and willingness to open her eyes and ears to them. She has – fair play to her – also submerged herself in incel forums that range from relatively mild to noxiously extreme. Like Bates, in willingly going into such psychologically dark places, Park returns with authentic voices that bring these masculine bolt-holes to life. At times, she'll have you laughing, too, as she introduces incel archetypes and memes such as the Chad (the perfect, sporty, hyper-masculine alpha male), the Stacy (the pneumatic, hypersexualised, longed for but mocked alpha female), the Becky (the despised androgynously-built, college-smart feminist) and the Beta (the second-tier male who wants Stacy but eventually gets Becky once she realises her longed-for Chad will never marry her and she'll have to settle). Incels, of course, get nothing and are '#foreveralone'. There's plausibility in Park's contention that 'media' gender stereotypes – by which she mostly means entertainment and not journalistic media, though fails to make this needed distinction – have contributed to incels' worldview because they constantly feel inadequate and failed by culture, society, parents, the entire world. But this proves a thin argument, despite being in the book's title. This thesis needs a more considered, perhaps more academic perspective. 'Media' examples are few and repetitive (not The Simpsons again) and while some TV and film might support this argument, that cultural bastion, literature, inconveniently does not and isn't considered. [ Normies, incels and red-pilled: What dangerous ideas are boys fed online? Opens in new window ] Broad statements such as her assertion that the past 20 years have seen the world's greatest proliferation of cultural anti-heroes can be easily undercut. Homer, Greek and Nordic myth, Byron, the Brontës, Wagner, James Dean, Marlon Brando and Clint Eastwood might all like a word. Blackpilled could also have been productively shorter, as the same points get remade. The obvious and unaddressed issue, though, is how a completely different, recent 'media' – social media – surely is what underlies the incubation of incel culture, and not Disney princess films or That 70s Show. [ Adolescence: Five truths about our teenage boys we need to address urgently Opens in new window ] Those quibbles aside, this deep dive into the incel world is fascinating, valuable and despite the topic, even entertaining, and Park's general point about the need for (at least, some) empathy is brave, well made and, in the end, compelling. Further reading Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia (Picador, 2024). A deeply human exploration of AI and the grinding pressure and impacts its production and application have on individuals and communities, particularly vulnerable populations around the world, different ethnicities and classes, and women. Murgia travelled the world to speak to the interviewees and reveal these unexpected consequences of 'living in the shadow of AI'. The Men Who Hate Women: the Extremism Nobody is Talking About by Laura Bates (Simon and Schuster, 2021). Bates went undercover in her earlier 2021 study of the underground networks and forums where misogynist men organise, including far-right hate groups and extremist incels. She exposes how extreme ideas are spread and become commonplace. She was way ahead of the rest of us with our belated focus on these issues, as men such as Andrew Tate become role models to teenage boys and authoritarian misogynist politicians go mainstream. Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games by Amanda C Cote (NYU Press, 2020). Women comprise nearly half of all gamers, but female gamers have long been on the receiving end of casual to virulent discrimination from male gamers. This environment at its most toxic was seen in the phenomenon of Gamergate, a period of co-ordinated online harassment of women gamers and game designers from 2014-15 organised by a number of men, of whom several have since become associated with the extremist far right. Cote interviews many women gamers and examines the fallout from Gamergate, sexism in game design and the impact of misogyny on women gamers and their management strategies.
Scottish Sun
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Inside the rise of AI brothels where men order ‘women' covered in blood then ‘abuse' them & share with other fantasists
The cyber brothel's owner insisted there's no judgement over anything you want to do with their AI sex dolls DISTURBING TREND Inside the rise of AI brothels where men order 'women' covered in blood then 'abuse' them & share with other fantasists IT'S a city famous for its landmarks and culture. But beneath Berlin's vibrant exterior is a disturbing underworld of cyber adult entertainment. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 The Cybrothel in Berlin means men can have their every sex wish granted - even the most depraved Credit: Cybrothel 5 They can even order a sex robot "covered in blood" if they want to Credit: Cybrothel 5 The rapidly increasing popularity of Cybrothel is indicative of just how much AI is changing the sex industry Credit: Cybrothel The German capital is the first place in the world to open an AI brothel, which allows people to book an hour with artificially advanced "sex dolls" ready to grant their every wish - however depraved that may be. Writer Laura Bates experienced Cybrothel first hand when she visited for her new book The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny. And in an interview on the Should I Delete That? podcast, Laura explained she made a custom request of the brothel - for her robot doll to have her clothes slashed and torn, just to "see if they did it" - and found they were happy to, with "no questions asked". You can even order a doll "covered in blood", Laura said. "I genuinely think it's the most f**ked up thing I've ever heard in my life," podcast host Em Clarkson said. But Cybrothel co-owner Matthias Smetana insisted of the sessions available there: "If you are here, the only person who can judge you is yourself." 'We have a lot of people who have never been in touch with sex work, who are really down to try it but are looking for a safe space," he told "If you face performance anxiety, this doesn't go in Cybrothel as you are dealing with sex toys, not humans." And it's not just in a cyber brothel in Berlin that people are able to "enjoy" the perks of an AI sex robot - advancing technology means you can have one in your pocket too. "What no one is talking about is that you can download a version of this," Laura said. World's First Cyber Brothel "So the same exact thing that lives in your pocket and it's called an AI girlfriend or an AI chatbot, and you can create her again to look exactly how you want her to look. "You can customise everything. You get to pick her name. She will be there moving on the screen." The avatar can even be made to look so realistic that it feels like you're FaceTiming her. "If you're a teenage boy, you can have her. You can have as many as you like," Laura said. "You can access them for free." The fact that the "women" are AI also means that men can "abuse them" without any fear of the consequences. Are brothel's legal in the UK? There has been a growing debate in the UK about whether brothels should be legalised, following the emergence of pop-up brothels across the country. These temporary establishments, often set up in residential areas, have sparked concerns among local communities and law enforcement agencies. The current legal framework in the UK criminalises the operation of brothels, but individual sex work is permitted. This has led to a complex and often problematic situation for those involved in the industry. Advocates for legalising brothels argue that regulation could improve safety and working conditions for sex workers. By bringing the industry out of the shadows, they believe that sex workers would have better access to health services and legal protection, reducing the risks of exploitation and violence. Furthermore, regulated brothels could be subject to health and safety standards, ensuring a safer environment for both workers and clients. On the other hand, opponents of legalisation worry that it could lead to an increase in human trafficking and exploitation. They argue that normalising the sex industry might encourage more people to become involved in it, both as workers and clients. Additionally, there are concerns about the impact on local communities, with fears that legalised brothels could lead to an increase in crime and antisocial behaviour in residential areas. As the debate continues, it is clear that there are no easy answers. Balancing the rights and safety of sex workers with the concerns of local communities and broader societal impacts remains a complex challenge. Policymakers will need to carefully consider the potential benefits and drawbacks of legalising brothels in the UK, taking into account the experiences of other countries that have taken similar steps. "Many, many men abuse them and then share the screenshots of abusing them with each other online to see who can do the most awful and depraved thing to them," Laura said. In fact, the 2024 list of the most downloaded chatbot AI apps on the Google Android Play Store showed that the top 11 apps have a combined 100 million downloads. "This is huge. This is a bigger problem. And again, it's something that no one is talking about," Laura concluded. 5 Cybrothel is the first of its kind in the world, but it looks as though more and more AI brothels could be following in its footsteps Credit: Cybrothel
