======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ==== ======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ====
This past weekend, men and women were treated to a spectacular present: nude photos of the celebrity women they fantasized about for years. We tweeted our excitement, we criticized them for being so stupid and careless that they got hacked, we spread the pictures around like wildfire. We were thrilled to finally get a full frontal and borderline pornographic view of Kate Upton. We even giggled that her ginormous boobs matched her “overweight” frame. We rejoiced that Jennifer Lawrence’s goods were spread across our computer screens, our phones, our tablets, our Facebooks, our Twitters, our news sources. We cringed as we judged women for their un-photoshopped bodies. We smiled and laughed as dozens of women became the victims of a heinous sex crime.
Here are the facts: An atrocious scoundrel decided that he would use his ingenious abilities to hack into the clouds of some of the most desirable celebrities. The hacker, no doubt, used advanced and highly illegal methods of breaking into areas of password secured cyberspace in order to rob these celebrities of their most intimate possessions. These personal images of celebrity women in compromising positions were no longer personal, but made available to the public just like every other part of their lives has already been.
So, why are people proud that someone has finally conquered the unknown? This isn’t NASA discovering a galaxy and furthering human knowledge. We idolize these women because they are untouchable celebrities we hold on a pedestal. However, we fail to remember that it is a deliberate breach of these women’s civil right to privacy and our society is embracing it with open arms. And it is absolutely disgusting.
The counter argument is that the victims should have better protected themselves or should have known better than to keep nude pictures on their phones. If J Law or Kate Upton or whoever had practiced better preventative steps, none of this would have happened. These women are responsible because they made the conscious decision to take nude photos and save them on their personal and private phone, unaware of the dangers of hacking. These women had something they knew the public wanted and knowingly left it out in the open, practically inviting hackers in. These women were metaphorically in the windows of their private homes, blinds open, dancing naked, begging for it. These women are just plain stupid for getting robbed.
“Okay, so they were robbed and that sucks. But that’s a property crime, not a sex crime.”
Sex Crime, n. A crime involving sexual assault or having a sexual motive.
Call me crazy, but nudies are usually pretty sexual. The only kind of un-sexual nudie I can think of would be for that STD app where you send a picture of your diseased bathing suit area to doctors for a diagnosis. Chances are, J Law in a robe with a tit out probably wasn’t being sought out after for medical reasons. They were, instead, being used for sexual gain by exploiting her sexuality in a way she did not give consent to. Again, she did not explicitly allow her private, personal property to be used by a criminal. Call me an extremist, but I would go so far as to claim that this act of sexual robbery is the equivalent of cyber rape. The victims here were robbed of a part of themselves that they did not give consent to, by a person who used physical force to break the walls of their phone. It’s simple: no consent means no.
The way a majority of social media and news outlets has reacted to this crime is something we should be absolutely ashamed of. The celebrations of their privacy being stolen right out from under them and our inherent victim blaming reflects poorly on us as citizens of such a beautiful nation. Not only have we objectified these poor women, but we have gotten way too comfortable with forgetting that they are humans with civil rights, too. We have got to change. It has got to end.
image via
Respond
Topanga
Topanga is a contributing writer for Post Grad Problems. Lover of red wine, mediocre gossip, and Corey's whipped ass.
@TopangaPGP
“We have got to change. It has got to end.”
What does that even mean? You want to end hacking or stealing of personal information? Good luck with that. Personally, I find ID theft to be far more damaging to peoples’ lives than nude selfies, but I don’t see the uproar when someone steals the SS number of some middle aged dad in Nebraska and uses it to destroy his credit and his family looses their home.
So spare me your faux outrage when hollywood celebs who built their careers and wealth on sexuality, have the tables turned on them. And no, I don’t support whoever did this and I could care less about looking at these photos, but maybe this should be a wake up call for people to realize what a sick, twisted culture hollywood has helped create.
Sometime last year a bunch of social security numbers and financial documents from celebrities were leaked. There wasn’t a big fuss about it. I guess people really don’t care about identity theft at all, even when the victims are famous.
At least in my experience, the cops do take it seriously.
We have got to stop celebrating that nudes were stolen. Stop the “finally we get to see her tits!” tweets and statuses and emails.
We’ve only seen what the entirety of the Detroit Tigers organization has already. If you look at it from that perspective it’s not that bad.
Correct me if I’m wrong, (I’m not), but Jennifer Lawrence hasn’t “built her career on sexuality.” She’s built her career on being an outstanding actress. Her audience, i.e., people like you, are the ones who sexualize her, then turn the blame on her for simply looking the way the looks. Further, your use of the term “having the tables turned on them” implies that you DO support whoever did this, and that the victims somehow “got what they deserved,” probably for some moronic “crime” like tempting you and the other simpletons of the planet with their she-devil good looks and sinful womanly wiles.
Most disturbing about all of this though, is that women are seemingly the only ones not in complete and total denial of this victim-blaming phenomenon. Probably because we ARE the victims, 99% of the time. But we’re women, so who cares, right?
The hackers and those peddling the stolen ‘property’ absolutely should be punished. I had an ethical dilemma about even viewing these photos, but curiosity kills the cat, they say. Is this a crime? Certainly, yes. Is it morally and ethically wrong to hack and/or distribute photos that were presumed to be private? Yes. Should we (celebrities included) know better by this point? Yes, and I believe this is the main point of argument among people.
There is a certain prudence that most are taught to avoid putting themselves in a vulnerable position, be it burglary, theft, assault, sex crimes, etc. It’s odd to me that this prudence is challenged (and called victim-blaming) only when women are the likely victim. No reasonable person ever argues that someone deserves to be the victim of a crime due for any reason, least of all a lack of prudence. But why do people (feminists, mostly), put so much energy into challenging behaviors/actions that make people SAFER? It’s misguided and delusional and hinges on one aspect:
“We should teach those committing the crimes that they shouldn’t do these things because they are bad. We should not teach people how to NOT be victims.”
This, of course, is a valid argument, but it is decidedly not SOUND. Why? Because we DO teach people that it’s not okay to steal. We DO teach men (over and over and over again, I might add) that it’s not okay to sexually assault women, and that consent is very important. We DO teach people that it’s not okay to murder. Why then, does it still happen? Because some people suck (enter here: my argument about the perception of normalized violence, rape-culture, and sensationalism and their effect on lawmaking. A topic for another day). It’s therefore prudent to take measures to avoid being a victim of someone who sucks. Nobody flinches at the idea of teaching people to lock their doors, hide their valuables, shut your garage doors, avoid bad neighborhoods at night, take extra precautions to avoid drunk drivers, etc. In fact, most people who DON’T engage in these activities are called fools. Why must we flinch when we teach women to avoid walking home alone at night, not to get into cars with strangers, etc.? It’s not blaming the victim, it’s just being prudent. The only difference being that, because sex crimes mainly affect women, women bear the comparatively unfair duty of prudence (enter here: argument about how well trained women with mace/firearms/etc. level the playing field and my confusion with why feminists are generally anti-gun).
So where does this argument fit in with having pictures stolen of your phone (a device connected to the internet)? Well, to me, there’s nothing more ironic than complaining about your privacy on a public twitter account.
Here’s an idea. Never. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever take nude pics of yourself. Ever. I won’t go so far as to say they asked for it, but it’s still a pretty safe policy to not take nude selfies. How many times have we already seen this?
This is kind of the same logic that leads to people blaming rape victims for dressing “slutty.” If you take nude photos, celebrity or not, you shouldn’t have to worry about someone stealing them. That’s like buying a Ferrari and refusing to drive it because someone MIGHT carjack you.
If you go to the Middle East as a journalist you shouldn’t have to worry about being beheaded. But we all know that isn’t the case.
Whatever can happen, will happen.
Of course right after I say this another video pops up.
What happened to Foley is very unfortunate, but journalists who cover war zones certainly know the risk. Thanks for missing the point of both this article and my comment, though.
I think you’re missing the point. Celebrities (especially hot female ones) absolutely know the risks of sending nude pictures of themselves electronically. You’d have to have been living under a rock for the last 2 years to be under the impression that anything you do on social media or send to other people is secure and private. Hell you don’t even need to be hacked, the recipient of said pictures could leak them.. which has happened to countless celebrities many times before.
Maybe this analogy will work better for you. I don’t leave valuables out in the open when I park my car. Sure my car is locked, but that’s a superficial safeguard and it won’t stop someone if they’re determined enough. It sucks that the world has criminals, and I know I “shouldn’t” have to worry about them stealing my things. But leaving your valuables out because of some idealist dream of the way the world “should be” is a very naive and stupid way to go through life. Not to mention you’ll probably get robbed a lot.
What happened to Jennifer Lawrence is very unfortunate, but people who take nudie pics on devices connected to the internet certainly know the risk. Thanks for missing the point of both this article and my comment, though.
You’re more likely to get a speeding ticket in a Ferrari than the minivan next to you going the same speed too, is it really that surprising of an outcome? If you’ve willfully made yourself a target, act accordingly or face the consequences of the ugly world you know exists out there. I don’t see what possesses people to take such compromising photos/videos in the first place, let alone doing so as a celeb KNOWING people are out there trying to hack your personal info on a daily basis.
The lemonade: Realizing a great number of non-celebrity women are just as, if not more beautiful than the movie stars we all fawn over.
The absolutely hottest women are dedicated to constantly improving their bodies and modeling/doing porn. Most acresses, like Jennifer Lawrence are kinda hot, seem approachable, and (probably) good at acting.
#YesAllCelebrities
A sex crime? Seriously? Certainly it’s some sort of crime, but it would clearly be a long the lines of a property crime (i.e. a theft) or civil tort law (intrusion of solitude, public disclosure of private facts, etc). The comparisons to an actual forcible rape are ridiculous and offensive. That’s like saying larceny is the equivalent of an aggravated armed robbery because both involved stealing someone’s property.
However, I do agree that the blaming of the victims here (and generally) is wrong. It is 100% the fault of the hacker/dick who stole the nudes, no doubt about it. Sure, you can prevent stealing nudes by never taking nudes, just as you can prevent your car getting stolen by never owning a car, or preventing credit card theft by never getting a credit card. The pics should be private, end of story.
By the way, where were these hysterical condemnations of society and victim blaming when it was nude pictures of men being distributed in the media? Brett Favre, Greg Oden, and Anthony Weiner are three that come to mind immediately. In fact, some of the celebs in this particular incident were men. How do you think they got those pictures of Kate Upton? That’s Justin Verlander’s phone! Yet this entire article is focused on the female victims, and even at the end claims that we have “objectified these poor women”. So is it only “cyber rape” if it’s a woman’s privacy being violated, but no biggy if it’s a guy’s johnson plastered all over the internet? Are we all cyber rapists now that we’ve seen Justin Verlander’s penis? This just smacks of sexism.
I’ll be frank, I haven’t seen the pictures. Personal photos of his baby maker stolen and spread across the internet fall in the same category.
The sports blog “Deadspin” has posted them for the world to see, if you ever have interest in seeing some MLB dong.
My basic point is that while the celebs are definitely victims of a crime, calling it a “sex crime” seems a bit of a stretch, and that females should be treated the same as when males are the victims of nudie-hacking/sharing.
You’re always taking a huge risk when sending nudes to anyone, regardless of the security precautions taken. That being said, the fact that we can’t seem to do anything digitally without it getting hacked, whether it be to use a credit card or to send pictures, is a damn shame.
Sure, this is a bad thing but I’m extremely pleased that news anchors are having to refer to it as “The Fappening”.
And here I was not knowing this had even happened until now. PGP breaking the news to people like me who were at the beach all weekend
While I do agree with you that the entire incident is unfortunate for those involved and a crime was committed, I disagree that celebrities or people in the public eye are still in this current day protected by the same laws that protect the common citizen. Ask Donald Sterling how that worked out for him and keeping his NBA franchise….sure he made a shit ton of money on the deal, but an illegal phone recording on his cell phone is what brought him down and ruined not only his, but his entire family’s reputation. All of these individuals are in the spotlight day in and day out and the media has proven in and out that they will do whatever it takes to make any kind of a headline especially if can include “Kate Upton nudes released”. And while you may say that this being nude pictures and it being sex crime makes it different from a case like Sterling, it somewhat is not. If you are a United States citizen and you think you can have full privacy no matter what it is, than you are blind to the times that we live in.
In regard to how social media and the news have covered the event, a percentage of selfish women have ruined whatever respect the media or anyone else had for possible sexual crimes by crying rape when in fact nothing had happened. It has taken the seriousness out of crimes like this. It truly is extremely unfortunate.
I think someone exposing blatant racism (and the racist in question knew he was being taped) is COMPLETELY different from someone HACKING into someone else’s phone and STEALING personal photos, naked or otherwise. It’s your right to keep whatever the fuck you want on your own property as long as it’s not illegal, and you have consent.
A crime is a crime is a crime. Stealing is a crime. Hacking is a crime. But by all means, keep blaming the naked people.
Racism may be backwards and foolish, but not liking a certain group of people is not a crime in and of itself. Just because you (and you could be everyone else in the world and the points still holds) disagree with somebody’s thoughts doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the same expectations to privacy as girls who have their nudes on iCloud (or wherever)
Seriously. Please get off this website and go back to whatever college you failed to receive an education from.
I’d like to argue with you, but I think I’ll go bang my head against the wall instead.
If you look back to when Hunter Moore was arrested for doing this same exact thing, the whole internet wasn’t in an uproar. Maybe storing naked pictures in a cloud system that only protects you by an uppercase letter, 7-10 total characters, and a number isn’t the safest place for it. No I do not condone hacking of any kind, but being a celebrity who makes their living off of being hot you should probably make sure your stuff is locked down.
Honestly, this will probably help all of their careers. Look at Kim Kardashian.
I can tell there are a lot more guys on this site than girls, judging by the number of down votes on things telling people not to victim blame. Classy.