Former Love Island star Georgia Harrison has appeared at a demonstration outside Parliament to demand better protection for women online following Stephen Bear’s conviction
Georgia Harrison and Sharon Gaffka call for more online protections for women
Georgia Harrison has appeared before Parliament to demand better online protection for women and girls – following Stephen Bear’s conviction.
The former Love Islander, 28, bravely waived her right to anonymity as she took her ex-bear to court for sharing footage of them having sex without her permission.
The disgraced TV star is currently serving 21 months behind bars and has been placed on the sex offenders register.
Georgia earned high praise for how she handled the leaked explicit clip case and the arduous court process.
She takes part in a stunt with the charity Refuge to highlight the scale of online violence against women and girls.
Love Island candidate Georgia Harrison took part in a demonstration outside Parliament(
Refuge has set up an installation recreating a “danger zone” in Victoria Tower Gardens, with a giant mobile phone and signs warning of a lack of protection for women and girls “to highlight the diverse areas online where women are at risk of subjected to abuse”.
They are calling for a code of conduct on violence against women and girls to be included in the Online Safety Act “to ensure social media companies respond to and prevent online violence” against this group.
Georgia said: “As someone in the public eye, I know how terrible abuse and harassment is online, but it’s not just the public who experience it.
Georgia took part in the demonstration(
“A recent survey by Refuge found that one in three women in the UK has experienced online abuse or harassment on social media or another online platform. How can we sit back and allow this? We have to change something.
“I want women and girls to be safe and confident online. The solution cannot be that women go offline. We live so much of our lives online, and we need to make sure social media doesn’t become anti-social for women. “
The stunt coincides with the return of the Online Safety Bill to Parliament for the committee stage in the House of Lords, where they are due to begin considering the legislation line by line today.
Georgia recently spoke passionately about how the past few years have rocked her life and says it stole her “innocent spark” when Bear released a private sex tape of her.
Bear was jailed in March for posting the sextape with his ex online without her consent.
He was assisted throughout the trial by his current girlfriend, Jessica Smith, as Judge Christopher Morgan told him, “You wanted to maximize Georgia Harrison’s distress and humiliation.
Georgia spoke boldly about her experience(
Bear has been in prison for 21 months(
“That is evidenced by the continued availability of video after Georgia asked you to remove it. By making it available on your OnlyFans website, the video has been shared widely and publicly.”
Georgia told the court: “Millions of people watched me and laughed at me, and it was completely out of my control.
“He left me hurt, embarrassed, insignificant and insecure in so many ways.”
The Love Island star bravely made a documentary for ITV2 about her experience.
Delighted by the reaction, she said: “My case has really shocked the British public in general, but it’s such a common thing – so common.
“Since this happened to me I’ve become someone that victims turn to and I get at least five women a day – usually victims but sometimes victims’ mothers or family members who need advice,” she told the BBC show Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg program.
“You just wouldn’t believe how big this is and how many people are affected.”
