🔗 Share this article Transitioning from Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: An Unconventional Fight Against Intimate Image Abuse Madelaine Thomas says her first-hand ordeal of experiencing her private photos shared without consent provides her a distinct perspective as a tech founder. BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas is not at all your typical tech founder. After multiple instances of individuals leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and turned to technology for a solution. "Those were beautiful pictures, I'm not ashamed of the photographs, I'm embarrassed of the manner that they were weaponized by someone who I have never met," explained Madelaine. Madelaine has won several awards such as the Tech Safety Innovation award at a prominent industry conference. Little over a year since founding her company, Image Angel, which employs covert digital tracking to track abusers, has won several awards and was recommended as best practice in an government-commissioned study recently. This marks quite a departure from her previous career in offering BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of kink and bondage. 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 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 impacted by intimate image abuse on an annual basis. Madelaine, 37, said victims lived with shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she noted. "I demand dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The fact that those images could be subsequently distributed where I live or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's unacceptable, that's not my choice, that's not an error on my part, that's an individual committing abuse." Madelaine aims her technology will deter would-be individuals from sharing photos without consent. An Unconventional Path Madelaine has been practicing as a professional dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and always found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a treat to someone because I wish to," she said. "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 welcomes being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it took someone who has experienced it firsthand to know 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 late nights, research and "consulting experts" who know about tech. How Does the Technology Work? Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks and websites. When an image is accessed by a user, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them. This invisible watermark is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can survive screen shots, being edited and being photographed with a different camera. It means that if you find out your image has been circulated non-consensually, as long as the platform you posted it on has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be encoded in the image and can be extracted by a forensic expert so legal steps can follow. To date, one service has adopted her tech and she's in discussions with several more. Proven Technology, New Application "The system already exists in Hollywood, 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. "We have validated it, we're partnering with a company that has decades of expertise in tech development so we are confident that this is solid and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she continued. She expressed hope she believed the technology would also act as a deterrent to potential intimate image abusers. Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame An expert from a leading helpline commented she had seen directly the panic, distress and self-blame intimate image abuse inflicted on victims. "If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' 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 fantastic that Madelaine was using her experience to create solutions, adding: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling technology-enabled gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response." Madelaine Thomas and TV presenter Jess Davies have experienced having their intimate images shared without their consent. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when images of her in a state of undress were shared around her local community. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her youth that would later shape her advocacy work. "It required years, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," said Jess. She too is dedicated to 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. "However, it is illegal to distribute that without consent and I think that should always be where the blame is," she concluded.