With a steady stream of images, emails and texts implicating one celebrity or politician after another in sexual harassment and assault accusations, an intimate photo of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, posted online may be an instance of revenge porn.
“Legally speaking, as far as I'm concerned, Congressman Barton is a victim,” Washington, D.C. lawyer Mark Zaid told the Huffington Post Thursday.
The photo as well as revealing texts and videos were sent to a woman with whom Barton had a consensual relationship. The woman has since denied publishing the photo but said she'd shown it to others, HuffPo reported.
Action against revenge porn has been gaining momentum on the state and federal levels. Last year, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., introduced the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, or revenge porn bill, that would make it a crime to knowingly distribute sexually explicit images of someone without their consent.
