Dr. Spring Cooper is a professor at CUNY. She experienced cyber sexual assault (revenge porn) starting in 2018. Her experience drove her to research how survivors of cyber sexual assault (CSA) are able to overcome their experiences. She led a project that interviewed survivors of CSA who felt like they had “gotten over” their experience in some way. The results of this research are in this website: what survivors say worked for them, and hopefully some things that will work for you too.

Themes from the research were: 1. Survivors had both externalized and internalized stigma; 2. Survivors experienced varying levels of professionalism and support from law enforcement and legal professionals; 3. There is a substantial burden on the CSA survivor to educate and explain about CSA; 4. There is a point where there is a noticeable shift in survivors’ attitudes and behaviors in their stories, which we termed “the f*ck it point;” 5. All survivors became their own advocate, and many became an advocate for others; and 6. Eventually, survivors embraced an acceptance of a “new normal.”

As a result of these themes, we have created the following categories to help you move through the process of recovery: Where are you today (which helps you navigate if you have a specific need you want to address today); SOS Content Removal (which walks you through take down on various sites); Survivor Stories (which may inspire you/give you hope); Mental Health Resources (free resources to help you through this time); Advocating and Educating (for when you are ready for that step of recovery); Organizing in your community (toolkits to help further your advocacy efforts); Supporting a survivor (if you have people in your life who have experienced CSA); and Updates from the Community where blog updates will be posted.