Possession of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) of a woman without her hijab should be made an offense in the United Kingdom, UK MPs have proposed. In a report submitted to the UK Parliament on Wednesday, the Commons' Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) stated that pictures of veiled women, taken without their consent, should be considered «non-consensual intimate images» and placed on equal footing with child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The new regulations should also account for diversity in the UK, the report warned. The Committee called on the UK Government to «expand the legal definition of NCII to include material that is considered 'culturally intimate' for the victim, such as a Muslim woman being pictured without her hijab». The Committee pointed out that the law currently defines an «intimate» image as one that shows someone fully or partially nude, engaging in a sexual act, or using the lavatory. According to the Committee, this disregards what could be culturally intimate to Muslim women, such as being pictured without their hijab. «The Government should expand the legal definition to include such images», MPs said. «Non-consensual intimate image abuse is not always limited to sexually explicit content», they added. If the proposals are adopted by ministers, it could become a crime by the end of the year.
