🔗 Share this article Transitioning from BDSM Practitioner to Technology Entrepreneur: A Unique Battle To Combat Intimate Image Abuse Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of experiencing her intimate images leaked offers her a distinct perspective as a tech founder. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your standard tech founder. Following repeated occurrences of clients distributing her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to take action" and turned to tech solutions for answers. "Those were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm ashamed of the manner that they were used against me by an individual who I have never met," explained Madelaine. Madelaine has received several awards such as the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a prominent safety summit. Just over a year since founding her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has won several awards and was cited as best practice in an independent pornography review earlier this year. This marks a significant shift from her background in offering BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of BDSM. A Widespread Issue Intimate image abuse, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a punishable crime with offenders facing up to two years in prison. It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A study suggests that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is impacted by intimate image abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, thirty-seven, explained survivors endured shame and stigma. "In my view a lot of people will comment, 'you put a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said. "I expect dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she continued. "The reality that those images could be then shared in my community or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's an individual committing abuse." Madelaine aims her technology will prevent potential individuals from sharing photos non-consensually. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been working as a professional dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she said. "People think it's unusual but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she added. She embraces being a unique figure in the world of tech. "I know that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a tech company, but it took someone who has been through it to understand the loopholes and the changes that needed to happen," she explained. She maintained she was not technically inclined and was managed 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 digital service where people exchange photos, for instance social connection apps, social media and online sites. When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an invisible forensic watermark which is specific to that viewer. This covert marker is embedded into the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being edited and being photographed with a secondary device. It means that if you find out your image has been circulated non-consensually, providing the platform you posted it on has the technology embedded, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken. Currently, one platform has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with many others. An Established Method for a New Purpose "The system is already in use in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a different framework," explained Madelaine. "And we've tested it, we're partnering with a firm that has 30 years experience in developing technology so we know that this is reliable 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 deterrent to would-be perpetrators. Changing the Narrative An advocate from a leading helpline commented she had seen directly the trauma and guilt this abuse inflicted on victims. "When that guilt is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that self blame can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the response a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized. She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to create solutions, saying: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards addressing tech facilitated gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this integrated effort." Both women have experienced experiencing their private photos distributed non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her local community. 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 say to me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," said Jess. She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of this crime from the victims to the perpetrators. "It isn't a crime to consensually send an image to someone," said Jess. "But it is a crime to distribute that without consent and I think that should invariably be where the blame is," she concluded.