Omny Miranda Martone is an anti-rape activist who is dedicated to preventing sexual violence before it happens. Martone was raped during their first year of college and that act of violence surfaced repressed memories of child sexual abuse. They went on to work at local and national organizations fighting against sexual violence writ large.
But everywhere Martone worked was focusing on supporting survivors after they had been assaulted. What if the assault itself could be prevented?
Martone studied successful campaigns for reducing societal harm, drawing information from anti-tobacco activism and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Martone eventually founded their own nonprofit, the Sexual Violence Prevention Association. In recent years, they have focused on digital sexual violence. While advocating for laws banning deepfakes, Martone became a target. Someone used AI to create nonconsensual, sexually explicit images with their face.
Martone worked behind the scenes to get signed into law Sen. Ted Cruz’s Take It Down Act, which criminalizes the dissemination of nonconsensual explicit images and requires platforms to remove such material within 48 hours of a report. Why did Martone, a queer, nonbinary, disabled survivor collaborate with a Texas Republican? “Victims all want and need different things to heal but one thing is universal: Every victim I’ve spoken to wants the harmful content of them removed.”
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Martone has also worked with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York’s original Democratic Socialists of America darling, to push for the DEFIANCE Act, which would allow survivors of explicit deepfakes to sue for damages — and a portion of profits if their image was sold without their permission.
“The most empowering thing you can do to survivors is give them options,” Martone told The 19th.
The Sexual Violence Prevention Association is not only putting research into practice; it is changing how we think about sexual violence as a systemic issue. Their most recent pièce de résistance is the Systemic Oppression, Reverse Victim and Offender (SORVO) framework, which “outlines how oppressive groups reverse the roles of victim and offender by manipulating narratives to make it appear as though the oppressed group commits high rates of sexual violence.” The nonprofit released a report on Israel and Palestine, and has plans for future studies on how SORVO is used to discredit transgender people and immigrants.
This profile is apart of The 19th’s Revolutionary series. Subscribe to The Amendment, our biweekly newsletter, to receive project updates and political analysis focused on gender, race and power.
our past coverage of Omny Miranda Martone
· April 28, 2025
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