Cyber-flashing is just as damaging as the ‘real world’ equivalent. When will the law catch up? | Sophie Gallagher

People being sent unsolicited sexual images via social media or Bluetooth drops should be entitled to justice, too

I was travelling home on the London Underground when more than 100 unsolicited images of an erect penis, sent over Apple's AirDrop, appeared on my phone. The Bluetooth-enabled feature only works between iPhones that are within 10m (30 feet) of each other - around half the length of a tube carriage. I knew the sender was nearby, but I didn't know who he was.

Should I get off the train? Would I be safe to walk home if I did? Did he single me out from my fellow passengers to be his victim, or was I just a random female target picked from a list of nearby devices? What was his intent in sending the images: to threaten? To get sexual gratification? To feel powerful in his anonymity? Or just to amuse himself?

Sophie Gallagher is deputy features editor at i and the author of How Men Can Help

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