🔗 Share this article Transitioning from Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: An Unconventional Battle Against Revenge Porn Madelaine Thomas explains her personal experience of experiencing her private photos leaked gives her a unique insight as a tech founder. Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas represents not at all your standard tech founder. After multiple occurrences of clients leaking her intimate photographs, she felt "angry enough to take action" and looked to technology for a solution. "These were beautiful pictures, I'm unapologetic of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were weaponized by an individual who I don't know," said Madelaine. Madelaine has received multiple accolades such as the Innovation in Tech Safety award at a major safety summit. Little over a year since founding her company, Image Angel, which uses invisible forensic watermarking 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 previous career in offering consensual sexual encounters, dominating clients in the world of kink and bondage. A Widespread Issue The non-consensual sharing of private images, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with offenders facing up to two years in prison. It is not at all an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A report suggests that approximately 1.42% of the UK female population is affected by intimate image abuse each year. Madelaine, 37, said victims lived with shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a saucy picture out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said. "I expect respect, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I don't see why those are up for debate," she added. "The reality that those images could be subsequently distributed in my community or with people I love and employed to cause them pain, that's unacceptable, that's not a decision I made, that's not my mistake, that's an individual being an abuser." Madelaine aims her tech will deter potential intimate image abusers without consent. A Unique Journey Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work liberating and satisfying. "I am as a woman in control, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone of my own volition," she described. "People think it's strange but I view it similarly to a nutritionist or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked. She embraces being something of an anomaly in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a technology firm, but it took someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the changes that were necessary," she explained. She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after many sleepless nights, research and "bugging people" who know about tech. How Does the Technology Work? Image Angel can be used by any digital service where people share images, for instance dating apps, social media and online sites. When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is seamlessly tagged with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer. This invisible watermark is encoded within the copy of the image itself and can withstand screenshots, being altered and being re-captured with a secondary device. It means that if you find out your image has been shared non-consensually, as long as the platform you posted it on has the system integrated, the sharer's information will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a data recovery specialist so legal steps can follow. To date, one platform has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with several more. Proven Technology, New Application "The system already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine. "We have validated 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 test it at scale," she added. She expressed hope she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to would-be intimate image abusers. Changing the Narrative An advocate from a support service commented she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse inflicted on victims. "If that self-blame is reinforced by a uninformed acquaintance or service who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be deepened so it's crucial that the support a victim receives is that they have not done anything wrong," she emphasized. She added it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, saying: "It is vital to have this comprehensive strategy towards tackling 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 multi-layered response." Both women have experienced having their intimate images distributed non-consensually. TV presenter Jess Davies was just 15 when photographs of her in her underwear were circulated within her town. It was the beginning of multiple violations Jess experienced in her youth that would later shape her women's rights campaigning. "It took so long, too long for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," recalled Jess. She too is passionate about eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the survivors to the perpetrators. "There is no offence to willingly share an image to someone," said Jess. "But it is a crime to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should invariably be where the blame is," she concluded.