The nature of the violence was non-physical

Sexual violence can be non-physical:

• using words or threatening you with sexual violence
• making you look at someone else doing sexual acts
• sending intimate photos or videos (such as nudes) of you to others or posting them online without your permission
• sending menacing, harassing or offensive messages that are sexual in nature.

If you are in immediate danger, you should phone Triple Zero (000) or go to the emergency department at your local hospital.

Your safety and health is the most important thing, so make sure you get yourself to a safe place as soon as possible. This might be the hospital, a police station, or another safe place. You might want to go by yourself, or you might be more comfortable being with a person you trust.

When sexual offences happen online or over the internet, you might need to record evidence if you can. This might include keeping information about web page addresses and user profiles or taking screenshots of what has happened. This can help police understand what has happened, in case anything is deleted or removed.

Does it matter when the non-physical sexual violence happened?

You can seek help any time after non-physical sexual violence has happened. Sometimes it may take time to tell anyone about what has happened to you – that’s okay. You can still receive support and make a report to police if you want to, even if the violence happened a long time ago, like when you were a child.