The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is now conducting an investigation into photos of dozens of local women posted on a pornography website without consent.

CBC News first reported the story earlier this week, and police now say they are investigating and have received a number of complaints from women in this province.

"The website was brought to our attention by the CBC and we had no knowledge prior to this," said Const. Steve Curnew.

"Once it was brought to our attention we did have investigators check into the website to determine its authenticity, where it was located and other information."

Curnew said the site in questions directs back to an international website overseas, which makes investigating the case an obstacle. However, police are looking into the complaints.

"Our concern is with the women that are being exploited on this site. Not only is the act illegal, but also it's stressful and humiliating for the women that are being exploited on this site," said Curnew.

No consent, and no context

A young victim of sexual exploitation whose personal pictures appeared on the site says all the women on the site have all been victimized, and need help to get through the crisis.

The St. John's woman, whose identity cannot be revealed, is one of dozens of local women whose photos were featured on a public pornography site without consent.

A young St. John's woman who was a recent victim of sexual exploitation is calling for support for other victims. 6:43

"If there's any parents out there and you know that your daughter is a victim of this, they're a victim. They are going through something horrible right now and what they need is their family. What they need is someone to take care of them," the woman told CBC.

She says it's affected her self esteem and brought back body image issues she had overcome. She's now worried the experience will affect her future when it comes to relationships and employment.

Many of the women sent a naked picture of themselves to someone they trust, not expecting it to be shared publicly.

However, the woman said her photos were never intended to be sexual in nature, and some were even meant to show the negative signs of her struggle with anorexia.

She assumes whoever posted the photos got them from her personal blog, which she was using to document her struggle with anorexia.

"The pictures were posted out of context. No one knew why I had originally posted those," she told CBC's Amy Stoodley.

"I just wanted to show other people that it could become something dangerous and scary. They were scary images, they really were. You could see every bone in my body."

Left wondering who had seen the pictures

The woman suspects people had been looking at her naked body on the pornography site for months before she discovered the photos were there.

"The first thing I did was I messaged my mom, I was so scared," she said. "I was panicking, just trying to figure out who had seen this."

These boys were probably begging these girls for these images. - Unidentified woman

When she first discovered the photos were on the site, it took her a while to wrap her head around what was happening.

"At first I was thinking, this isn't a big deal, it's just me in a bathing suit," she said.

"As I kept scrolling down I was seeing pictures I had taken, things I had never even considered to be sexual at all."

Those photos included pictures of her frail body during a bout with anorexia, photos of her after going for a run and other non-sexual photos.

"All of the images that people posted, they were sexualised images, pictures that people sent their boyfriends, pictures of people doing explicit acts and whatnot," she said.

Nude images of dozens of women have been posted on a website that appears to have been created last year, but is now being widely shared on social media. (Shutterstock) "Then there's this picture of my body just thrown in there, nobody knew exactly why I did it."

A breach of privacy, a breach of trust

She thinks the photos posted of other women on the porn site were likely shared by former boyfriends or people they thought they could trust.

"People just thought that I was sending an image to someone of my body. For the other girls it was definitely revenge," she said.

"These boys were probably begging these girls for these images."

She said her photos have been taken off the site, but many other women have not been so lucky.

She has spoken to some of the other victims, and said the hardest part for many of them is the reaction they are getting from those close to them

"A lot of the girls have told me they are having really, really, bad times with this," she said.

"A lot of people are saying that their families are completely blaming them. Their parents aren't accepting that everybody makes mistakes."

The woman said her mother has been extremely supportive of her ordeal, and she wishes other women's families would be as well.

She would like to see the focus taken away from blaming the woman for the photos, and instead put on those who posted them publicly on the Internet.

"Instead of blaming them, we should be asking our sons if this is what they are doing," she said.