Ayesha Omar shares how image-based abuse affected her career and mental health

Cases show how online image based abuse continues to harm women worldwide, including public figures in Pakistan

Pakistan iconic super star actor Ayesha Omar has spoken about the impact of image based abuse, saying that private photos taken during her vacation were shared online without her permission.

She said the incident affected her personal relationships and also led to a loss of professional opportunities. She shared her experience by criticizing social media platforms and authorities for not doing enough to protect women. Her case was also included in a report by the gender justice group Chayn, which studied 64 women from Pakistan and several other countries, including the UK, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, the UAE, and Kuwait, who faced similar abuse.

Read more: Why Pakistan is losing the battle against online harassment?

Omar said private pictures from a holiday in Thailand were taken from her laptop and posted online without her consent. She explained that the images were ordinary holiday photos with friends and showed her in casual beachwear. She said the leak caused serious damage to her career and personal life. According to her, she lost work opportunities and struggled emotionally after the incident. She also said it left her constantly alert and fearful of being secretly filmed.

Chayn founder Hera Hussein said the study shows that image based abuse is not limited to nude photos. She explained that any private image shared without consent can cause harm, especially in conservative societies. She stressed that consent is the main issue, not how revealing an image is.

The report also highlighted another case of a 32-year-old Pakistani woman, referred to as Mahnoor. She said her private photos were shared online by her ex-husband, which damaged her marriage and family relationships. Furthermore even normal personal photos were misused and sometimes edited to create false stories.

Experts said these cases show how online image based abuse continues to harm women worldwide, including public figures in Pakistan, through harassment and misuse of personal content.