I Was a Victim of Sexual Abuse—Deepfake Nudes Are Ruining Lives

I grew up in central Europe, between Slovakia and the Czech republic, in a family ravaged by mental illness, alcoholism and domestic violence. My parents were mostly absent.

Throughout my childhood, I was subjected to maltreatment: from the age of six until I turned 17, I was a victim of grave sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend. No-one ever stopped him.

I still remember the excruciating anxiety and nightmares I had whenever he came to our house, as well as scenes of horror I wish I could forget. I remember the day when he took naked pictures of me as a young teenager, which is one of the darkest memories that still resonate in my mind.

Today, exploring female bodies is easier than ever. With AI deepfake nudes and porn facing an unprecedented boom affecting everyone—from high school girls to, most recently, Taylor Swift, Margot Robbie or Selena Gomez—any woman around the world could find herself facing the same staggering level of trauma.

This problem is particularly acute for teenagers. Almost every day, breaking news about underage girls becoming victims of AI fake porn and consequent bullying at school make the front pages of newspapers, not to mention the online grooming and cyberviolence that children are regularly exposed to anyway.

There is a common denominator between child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by the means of AI: both mean you're unable to give consent, and both happen without your full understanding or knowledge.

Healing from what I have been trough was incredibly difficult: this kind of cruelty perpetrated against a child leaves a psychological mark that is almost impossible to heal—it is a form of evil I could not wrap my head around for years.

When I recall my abuse, I can see myself lying in my bed, scratching my nails against the wall at night, knowing that the man who was assaulting me was nearby and could come to my room at any time. Scraping my nails against the wall was the only psychological outlet that I could find, and as a child with no-one around to protect me, my only call for help.

It took me a very long time to heal. I went through years of reliving the flashbacks of the unthinkable scenes I'd endured, asking myself the unbearable question: how can anyone do such an awful thing? Those days of depression were followed by nights full of harrowing nightmares, and I thought they would never stop.

But they did stop eventually. I became a journalist and today, I report from some of the most hostile parts of the world, bringing stories of human rights abuses to wide audiences. From interviewing victims of rape in Libya to writing stories about war crimes against women and children on the front lines of Ukraine, I found my unique way of healing.

Realizing that I was a victim was the hardest thing in my life, and I consecrated my career to upholding human rights. I don't want any girl to have to go through the same experience I did.

Today, I am using my testimony for the first time in my life. The most important thing is to stop the abuse and penalize the perpetrators. With both U.S. and European negotiators calling for new laws to criminalize cyberviolence and cyberporn, I, as a survivor, want to stress the need to act immediately and without further delay.

This is especially acute as many countries still face a legal gap surrounding cyberviolence, and cases where no charges were laid after such an attack are numerous – one of these recently happened in Canada.

Girls' bodies are not an object, and the shame of committing acts of sexual abuse should stay with the perpetrators, not with the victims. Legal consequences for perpetrators should be immediate and serious.

Sexual violence is one of the most vicious forms of hurting a woman's psyche, sometimes forever. It is also a weapon of war. We should not let cyberporn become a new form of brutalizing, traumatizing and silencing women, particularly because any woman in the world can become a target of such violence in no time.

Over the many years that I have been involved in covering violence against women around the world, I learned from the subjects I'd interviewed: all the brave women around the world who shared their stories with me inspired me to share my own story. They showed me why sharing personal testimonies can be a powerful tool to inspire change.

I will never forget the story of Fily, a refugee whom I met aboard an NGO ship in the Mediterranean while I was documenting the rescue of those drowning aboard unseaworthy boats in search for Europe.

Fily told me that she was gang-raped in Libya with a man filming the whole scene. Despite her pain and fear, she said she wanted people to know. "I want to protect other women and girls," she said. I admired her honesty and bravery.

The women I met around the world inspired me to speak up. If I could it can help give hope to at least one woman out there and improve women's rights in the digital space, that itself will a great accomplishment.

Sara Cincurova is a human rights journalist focusing on conflict and women's rights. She has written for The Guardian, BBC News, The New York Magazine, Al Jazeera and Der Spiegel, among others.

All views expressed are the author's own.

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