Beyond ‘just say no’: safe uncertainty and rethinking responses to image-based sexual abuse among young people

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is an evolving and increasingly pervasive form of harm in young people’s digital lives. In England, current responses remain fragmented, punitive and often ineffective, shaped by moralistic education, legal incoherence and risk-averse safeguarding practices. In this we review, we synthesise critical literature and stakeholder insights to examine how a trauma-informed, rights-based and ecologically grounded framework can support more coherent, compassionate and developmentally attuned responses to IBSA. We propose ‘safe uncertainty’ as a practical approach for operationalising these principles in context. Safe uncertainty provides a structured way to navigate complexity, resist binary framings and support ethical, relational and context-sensitive professional judgement. By framing IBSA as a relational and structurally embedded harm, this model offers a foundation for more responsive, youth-centred interventions across education, safeguarding and justice systems.