Nudes, slut-shaming, and victim-blaming

Where your privacy is breached, it’s somehow your fault

“They shouldn’t have been a whore and sent nudes if they didn’t want them getting out.”

This wasn’t the dominant sentiment when a 4chan user leaked hacked nudes of several celebrities – largely women, with Justin Verlander and Dave Franco as collateral – but it was a vocal one. Most disturbingly, it wasn’t anonymous internet posters shrugging off this violation. It was spouted off in hallways, classrooms, public places. How dare those women take nudes and be upset that someone leaked them!

Other forms of theft don’t inspire the same “well don’t set yourself up like that” attitude, but when it comes to a women who dared to take some photos, it’s suddenly wholly the victims faults. Nevermind that the they’re personal photos, supposedly protected by Apple’s security, possibly automatically uploaded by Photo Stream. Instead of blaming the guy who stole their information and violated their security, we call them sluts.

It’s a part of the rampant slut-shaming that still happens all-too-often, a piece of the ridiculous double standards we hold for women in our society – especially women who are celebrities. Because they dare to flash some skin in photoshoots and on magazine covers – which is what sells, a product of an industry and society they had no part in creating – guys think they have a right to see everything.

It’s backwards, it’s hurtful, and it’s dangerous. Guys ask for the nudes, then say “serves you right” if anyone but the entrusted recipient sees them. Double standards are convenient, aren’t they? Relationships are difficult, especially when apart. There’s a lot of texting, a heap of phone calls, and a non-stop string of hyper-personal interactions. Note “personal.” Yet it’s the women who get their pictures stolen and leaked, the women who get shamed. Again, Verlander and Franco are afterthoughts in just about every way.

At least Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t have to worry about her career falling apart because of this. When guys pull this with a woman who isn’t famous, she has to live with fear of the repercussions, without the million-dollar acting career to fall back on.

The worst part is that this is only a piece of a greater problem, an example of the inequality. The rules are different for women – there are far more of them. As Amanda Hess at Slate put it, it “is both a criminal act and a widespread attack on female sexual agency.” The one bright side with all of this is the backlash against the leaker, the movement to ignore the photos, and the push for criminalization of such leaks. Maybe one day there will be something resembling sexual equality for everyone.