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Georgia Harrison awarded huge honour after campaign work
A former reality television star has said she is 'beyond honoured' to receive one of the UK's highest commendations after relentless campaigning against revenge porn.
Georgia Harrison discovered her ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear had uploaded CCTV footage of the pair in an intimate act to OnlyFans without her consent.
Bear was found guilty of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing a private sexual film. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison and was released early on January 17, 2024.
Ms Harrison was also awarded £207,900 ($432,923.68) in damages, some of which she donated to charity.
Since becoming the victim of the violating crime, The Only Way Is Essex star has tirelessly campaigned for stricter rules surrounding intimate image abuse and deep fakes — including working with the government on the Online Safety Act.
This included increasing the amount of time people can take to report the crime, as currently they only have six months.
For Ms Harrison, she said it took four months alone for her to realise a crime had been committed against her — and she may have not gotten justice if she'd found out later.
Now, she has been awarded a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire — also known as an MBE — as part of the King's Birthday Honours, which is in a similar vein to an Order of Australia Medal.
Ms Harrison said she had to read the letter three times to make sure she hadn't misunderstood what was happening.
'I am beyond honoured to be listed to receive an MBE,' she said on Instagram.
'I'm so grateful to anyone who has reach out to congratulate me and also to all of you who have shared and continue to share your stories with me along the way.
'I am continuously reading them all, taking on board your experiences and using them as both fuel and knowledge for my campaigning.'
Ms Harrison told the BBC that being chosen for the honour was not something she expected but it felt nice to have her work recognised.
Ms Harrison, who is expecting her first child, said she felt 'obligated to help' and was worried about the rise of sexism online.
In Australia, image based abuse is when someone threatens to or shares an intimate image or video of someone without their consent. It's sometimes also called revenge porn or sextortion.
One in five Australians between 16 and 49 have experienced image-based abuse in their lifetime, according to 1800 Respect
People who are most likely to be victims of it are Indigenous people, people with disability and LGBTQIA+ people. People between 16 and 29 are also more likely to be victims.
