In this special interview episode of the 404 Media podcast, I talked to Susanna Gibson, a nurse practitioner who ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2023 and is now an advocate for folks targeted by non-consensual intimate imagery online—after becoming one herself last year.
Most people probably recognize Gibson from her candidacy and the news stories surrounding it. While she was running for office, images of her having sex with her then-husband started circulating on the internet without her consent. But I had the chance to get to know her a little deeper: We got into why she became a nurse, what inspired her to enter politics, and the moment she found out about the videos. The experience changed the trajectory of her life.
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We talk about her shift to advocacy with her nonprofit, MyOwn Image, which has the mission of fighting technology-facilitated gendered violence. Gibson recently introduced model legislation for states that provides a framework for addressing image-based sexual abuse.
“Post-election, I had dozens of women reach out from all around the country, asking me for advice and saying, ‘I'm running for office, or I was thinking about running for office, and I've watched what has happened to you, and I'm terrified. What kind of advice do you have?’” Gibson recalled during our conversation. “And the most healing thing for me has been to help other people... That's where this developed in terms of wanting to start model policy in states and amending state criminal codes. Trying to help those women that I had formed relationships with.”
If you liked this podcast, you might enjoy our other one on one interviews: Joseph recently talked to president of the Signal Foundation Meredith Whittaker about the threats facing end-to-end encryption, and investigative journalist Byron Tau about his recently released book and the surveillance state.
- Signal's President Meredith Whittaker on Backdoors and AI
- Byron Tau on the New U.S. Surveillance State
