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Professional dominatrix Madelaine Thomas embodies far from your average startup entrepreneur. Following multiple occurrences of individuals distributing her intimate photographs, she was "sufficiently outraged to take action" and looked to tech solutions for a solution.

"These were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the pictures, I'm embarrassed of the way that they were used against me by an individual who I don't know," stated Madelaine.

Little over a year after launching her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track abusers, has garnered significant recognition and was cited as best practice in an independent pornography review recently.

This represents quite a departure from her previous career in providing BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of kink and bondage.

The Pervasive Problem

Intimate image abuse, often referred to as revenge porn, is a punishable crime with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

It is not at all an issue uniquely experienced by those in the adult entertainment sector. A study suggests that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, 37, explained survivors lived with shame and stigma. "I think a lot of people will say, 'you shared a private image out on the internet, what do you expect?'," she said.

"I expect respect, I expect respect, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are negotiable," she added. "The reality that those images could be then shared where I live or with people I love and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's an individual being an abuser."

An Unconventional Path

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, primarily online, for 10 years and consistently found her work empowering and fulfilling. "I am as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, offering my body as a gift to someone because I wish to," she described.

"People think it's unusual but I view it similarly to a personal trainer or an financial advisor giving advice," she added.

She embraces being something of an anomaly in the world of tech. "I understand that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a creator of a tech company, but it took someone who has been through it to know the flaws and the modifications that were necessary," she stated.

She insisted she was not in the least bit techy and was managed to build her company after many late nights, research and "consulting experts" who know about tech.

Understanding the Tech Solution

Image Angel can be implemented on any digital service where people share images, for instance dating apps, social networks and online sites.

When an image is accessed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an invisible forensic watermark which is unique to them.

This covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can survive screenshots, being altered and being photographed with a different camera.

It means that if you find out your image has been circulated non-consensually, as long as the platform you used has the technology embedded, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be retrieved by a forensic expert so action can be taken.

To date, one service has implemented her tech and she's in talks with many others.

Proven Technology, New Application

"This technology already exists in Hollywood, it is employed in sports broadcasting so this is not brand new technology, it's just a new application and a different framework," said Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're collaborating with a company that has 30 years experience in developing technology so we know that this is reliable and what we now need to do is test it at scale," she added.

She expressed hope she hoped the technology would also act as a deterrent to would-be intimate image abusers.

Changing the Narrative

An expert from a leading helpline commented she had seen first-hand the trauma and guilt this abuse inflicted on victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a uninformed acquaintance or professional who says 'what did you expect?' that guilt can really be reinforced so it's really important that the response somebody is provided with is that they have committed no error," she stated.

She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was leveraging her ordeal to bring about change, saying: "It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling tech facilitated gender-based abuse, because a single solution is going to be able to tackle this alone, not just support services, it needs to be this multi-layered response."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when images of her in her underwear were shared around her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her teens and 20s that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It took so long, an excessive amount of time for someone to tell me, 'you are not to blame' and 'that shouldn't have happened'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to eliminating the shame of intimate image abuse from the victims to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to consensually send an photo to someone," stated Jess.

"But it is a crime to distribute that non-consensually and I think that should always be where the responsibility is," she concluded.