Canberra, May 8 (IANS): One in five Australians have reported being a victim of "revenge porn", a new study revealed on Monday.

A national survey of more than 4,200 people found that men and women were equally likely to be targeted, the RMIT University and Monash University study said.

But men were more likely to be perpetrators, while women held more safety fears, said
Australia's first comprehensive research on the subject, the BBC reported.

The findings showed that the abuse was more widespread than previously thought and a fifth of respondents had a sexual or nude image taken without their consent, researchers said.

It found that 11 per cent had images shared without consent, while 9 per cent had been threatened that an image would be distributed.

However, the risk of victimisation was higher for minority groups including indigenous, disabled and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Australians.

"Image-based abuse has emerged so rapidly as an issue that inevitably our laws and policies are struggling to catch up," the BBC quoted lead researcher Nicola Henry as saying.

The researchers recommended making image-based abuse a federal crime and creating a helpline similar to one established in the UK in 2015.

Currently only two Australian states - Victoria and South Australia - have specific laws against distributing images without consent.