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Porn star August Ames' suicide is a frightening reminder of online abuse

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Anand Balasubramanian
Anand BalasubramanianDec 10, 2017 | 18:03

Porn star August Ames' suicide is a frightening reminder of online abuse

Everybody has access to internet in today's time. Those who entered the world of the wide web could rarely cut off completely from it. Even those who do not use a computer, have a phone.

Social media has become all-pervasive. Everybody with a smartphone in hand, is part of one social network or the other. WhatsApp groups are an integral part of any life. Facebook is where we have more friends than in real life. Twitter is extensively used for city administration in Europe. Instagram modelling is turning into a profession. Give this background, the dangers that social media platforms pose are unchallenged by the legal system, which is yet to catch up with technology.

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What is cyberbullying?

Put simply, it is plain old bullying, except that it happens online. Unlike actual bullying, where you can attach a face and name to the bully, with the proper channels to take legal and immediate action, cyberbullying is just a click away, where the bully is mostly anonymous and untraceable.

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A person sitting in Australia can bully a teenager in Finland over Instagram or Facebook pushing them into depression or even suicide, without any repercussions. While internet has connected the world, the legal borders still do exist, which weaken any mechanism designed to handle this menace.

The recent instance where a 23-year-old porn star August Ames killed herself shocked the world. She was married and had 270 films to her credit. The reason behind her suicide is said to be cyberbullying. She refused to do a film with a porn star, who was once a part of the gay film industry. Her issue? The health standards are said to be ridiculous in the industry and she did not want to risk a sexually-transmitted disease.

Net result: She was called a homophobe, constantly cyberbullied and trolled to the point where she said F**k Y'all! and killed herself. One Twitter account, which is no longer active, gave her an ultimatum, either apologise or consume cyanide. She is said to be under depression already and this incident was the last straw. From the suicide of Amanda Todd in 2012 to the death of August Ames, what changed on the legal front has not been enough.

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Cyberbullying and India

There is no focused law to handle cyberbullying even within the country. All we have to do with for now is IT Act, which makes sending annoying or insulting communication through electronic media a punishable offence. Teens and children, who are mostly the victims of the rising menace, are not protected enough with parents struggling to make sense and find legal ways to stop their children from being bullied. www.cybervictims.org is one of the sites which helps and counsels victims and parents of cyberbullying. Victims are often left to fight their own battles.

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Considering the fact that most countries do not have stringent laws to counter cyberbullying within the country, what is left behind is an open playfield for bullies and trolls. It is time we the people and the government recognise cyberbullying as a grave threat to our children and society and take it upon ourselves to handle this with stringent measures.

The government needs to update the law books to keep up with the times and crimes. Schools and colleges need to set up help centres to teach students how cyberbullying should be handled. Parents need to be accessible to their children and be on friendly terms with them. Most importantly, they need to teach their children to be confident of themselves and that "sticks and stones may break their bones but words will not harm them".

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This is no longer a problem that happens in the western world but is a danger that could already be lurking inside your house without you being aware of it.

Last updated: December 10, 2017 | 18:03
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