Drugged, Abused, Filmed: Inside #EndEyeCheck’s Fight Against Online Sexual Violence

Two years after Gisèle Pelicot first made headlines, #EndEyeCheck is a sober reminder that drug-facilitated rape is still prevalent. This is how two survivors are fighting back.

When the residents in Zoe Watts’ local community learned that her then-husband was being prosecuted for drugging and raping her, she wasn’t just shunned by those around her — she was vilified. Amanda Stanhope, who was also a victim of drug-facilitated sexual abuse committed by her husband, had a similar experience.

The visceral reaction from the people who knew them laid the foundation for #EndEyeCheck — a new campaign that raises awareness of drug-facilitated rape and pushes for legislation to prevent the dissemination of image-based abuse. “There was a fear of, if I walk into the shop, am I going to get screamed at again in front of my children?” says Zoe. “That was one of the reasons why [Amanda and I] kept quiet, and this is what we're looking to change. We want to put the responsibility [for sexual abuse] where it belongs.”

#EndEyeCheck, the pair’s campaign, refers to a CNN investigation, which found that in the online realm of so-called ‘sleep content’, a perpetrator will carry out an ‘eye check’ by lifting the eyelid of their victim to make sure they’re adequately sedated. Photos and videos of these ‘checks’ are then shared on groups like Telegram. In some cases, videos of women being raped while unconscious have been uploaded to porn websites.

Zoe describes coming to terms with the reality of her former husband’s abuse as a “very slow learning curve”. “I started to break down what he must have done to prove that I was out cold before he sexually assaulted me, and it really brought it home when I saw the imagery of an eyelid being pulled up,” she says. It’s one of the reasons she decided to name the campaign #EndEyeCheck — as a way of disorienting the men searching for ‘sleep porn’. “When all these men are typing in #eyecheck on their computer, [our campaign is] going to come up. We're going to change the narrative.”

Before 2024’s landmark Gisèle Pelicot trial, drug-facilitated sexual abuse was typically associated with drink spiking and ‘date rape’ drugs, not something you’d suspect from your spouse. “It's brought to the fore the reality that it can happen to anyone, and it can be perpetrated by those closest to us,” says Amelia Handy, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Rape Crisis England & Wales.

“I think it speaks to a wider issue of women living in a rape culture where men and boys feel entitled to women's bodies,” adds Handy, who says that for women to be truly safe, the structures that enable rape culture have to be dismantled.

#EndEyeCheck has already begun challenging some of those systems. Changing the laws that allow people and online platforms to profit from the distribution of images and videos of sexual assault is a core function of the movement. Zoe explains: “We want to make amendments to what some might call loopholes in the law. We want to see more of a direct approach to mandatory reporting [of sexual abuse], lay out clearer guidelines for anybody who has a duty to make mandatory reports, and work with various agencies, colleges, and schools to improve education earlier on. That includes tackling things like consensual and non-consensual porn.”

Multiple studies have associated the use of violent pornography with harmful sexual attitudes and behaviours towards women. Aggressive porn has been proven to influence men’s views of women as sex objects and increase acceptance of sexual aggression towards women. It also shapes men’s sexual expectations of women and increases the likelihood of them committing both verbal and physical acts of sexual aggression.

Clare McGlynn, author of Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back, says the popularity of ‘sleep content’ legitimises and normalises rape and sexual assault. “It sends a clear message that gaining sexual gratification from forced sexual activity is acceptable and normal.”

And though the government recently announced new laws that could see tech executives face prison or fines if their platforms fail to remove non-consensual intimate images, porn sites have been able to circumvent barriers to abusive videos in the past. “While there have been some steps to make it more difficult to access this content since the Pelicot case, it is all still there. You just have to use some slightly different wording. Searches on Google also take you to this material,” says McGlynn.

In cases where drug-facilitated sexual assault has been shared online, victims can experience a unique type of trauma. “There is something specific about the impact of being sexually offended against when you're unconscious. There are gaps in your memory where you don’t know what has happened,” says Dr Fiona Vera-Gray, Professor of Sexual Violence at London Metropolitan University and Co-Director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit. “[The perpetrator] has taken a record [of your assault] and they've shared that record with people, showing what happened to your body in a way that you are not aware of. Just think about how completely destabilising that is for someone.”

As both Zoe and Amanda learned early on, this form of abuse can also be extremely isolating. “It was very bittersweet when Amanda and I met,” says Zoe. “It was great that there was actually somebody tangible we could touch and give a cuddle to, but very sad that we both experienced this.”

In the week since #EndEyeCheck launched, they’ve been contacted by women from more than 20 countries, some of whom are talking about their rape for the first time. “We’re developing a community where people can share their own experiences worldwide,” says Zoe.

Zoe is optimistic about the campaign’s potential not only to bring forth meaningful change, but also to protect women from the abuses she’s had to endure. “We’re wide awake. We are not backing down. I'm not saying that it's not going to be hard, but I'm not going to give up, and neither is Amanda. One small step, right?”

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