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It’s everywhere. Nude images of celebrities have leaked.
And not just one tape here or one image there. The biggest collection ever seen has landed on the Internet for everyone who doesn’t think consent matters to download and leer over.
The images were obtained by a hacker and shared onto 4chan, which is notorious for its casual and aggressive misogyny. They were deleted, but have since been shared again and again, everywhere from tweets to reddit to local blogs like 2oceansvibe and MyCityByNight, (both of whom have finally edited their original posts to remove the images and links to the images.)
Around the world, people everywhere who have access to free, legal and consensual porn, are downloading, viewing and sharing naked images of women against those women’s will.
Make no mistake, the hacker who stole these images is not some “naughty peeping-tom”.
He has committed a sexual harassment crime, and anyone who goes on to share these images is also committing a crime. A publicist for Jennifer Lawrence has already stated intention to prosecute anyone who posts the stolen images, and the FBI is investigating.
Viewing and sharing non-consensual images of women is a direct attack on women's right to dignity, and right to say "no". It effectively makes the statement that a woman’s sexual consent doesn’t really matter.
Yet many are not only viewing and sharing these images, they are being open about the fact that they are leering at them and deriving sexual pleasure from them.
All over social media, we’re seeing a flood of “fap” jokes, mixed with smug, self-satisfied claims that, by taking these images and uploading them at all, and by being celebrities, all of these women have lost a right to complain or be upset about the fact that these images have been stolen and distributed.
The outrage this has justifiably sparked has caused some confusion. Some people genuinely want to know what the big problem is, and are trying to claim that feminists are just over-reacting.
These are mostly people who are spoilt.
They are so used to feeling entitled to perv and leer all they want to without judgement, that even when there's a whole Internet that caters completely and entirely to their fapping needs, they still have to violate the consent of women, do it publicly and proudly, and insist that it's somehow their inherent right.
They are so used to being protected and coddled from ever having to self-examine, and encouraged to never take feminists and other human rights activists seriously, that they are genuinely surprised, confused, and not a little angry that anyone is upset with them.
They seem to think the objection to their open support and appreciation of the violation of others is some sort of prudish reaction to the enjoyment of nudity.
This is not about nudity or porn. This is about consent. Porn is OK. Non-consensual porn is not.
This refusal to treat consent as important, and this inability to distinguish between consensual nudity and non-consensual nudity and why the second is not OK, this is rape culture.
There is a hell of a lot wrong with violating a person’s consent, refusing to listen when they say “no”, and encouraging and helping others to do the same.
Do not view the images. Do not share the images. Do not violate others’ right to privacy. Do not violate their right to consent. Do not allow those around you to do this either.
This is not rocket science. No means no.
Follow Laura on Twitter or visit her blog.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
And not just one tape here or one image there. The biggest collection ever seen has landed on the Internet for everyone who doesn’t think consent matters to download and leer over.
The images were obtained by a hacker and shared onto 4chan, which is notorious for its casual and aggressive misogyny. They were deleted, but have since been shared again and again, everywhere from tweets to reddit to local blogs like 2oceansvibe and MyCityByNight, (both of whom have finally edited their original posts to remove the images and links to the images.)
Around the world, people everywhere who have access to free, legal and consensual porn, are downloading, viewing and sharing naked images of women against those women’s will.
Make no mistake, the hacker who stole these images is not some “naughty peeping-tom”.
He has committed a sexual harassment crime, and anyone who goes on to share these images is also committing a crime. A publicist for Jennifer Lawrence has already stated intention to prosecute anyone who posts the stolen images, and the FBI is investigating.
Viewing and sharing non-consensual images of women is a direct attack on women's right to dignity, and right to say "no". It effectively makes the statement that a woman’s sexual consent doesn’t really matter.
Yet many are not only viewing and sharing these images, they are being open about the fact that they are leering at them and deriving sexual pleasure from them.
All over social media, we’re seeing a flood of “fap” jokes, mixed with smug, self-satisfied claims that, by taking these images and uploading them at all, and by being celebrities, all of these women have lost a right to complain or be upset about the fact that these images have been stolen and distributed.
The outrage this has justifiably sparked has caused some confusion. Some people genuinely want to know what the big problem is, and are trying to claim that feminists are just over-reacting.
These are mostly people who are spoilt.
They are so used to feeling entitled to perv and leer all they want to without judgement, that even when there's a whole Internet that caters completely and entirely to their fapping needs, they still have to violate the consent of women, do it publicly and proudly, and insist that it's somehow their inherent right.
They are so used to being protected and coddled from ever having to self-examine, and encouraged to never take feminists and other human rights activists seriously, that they are genuinely surprised, confused, and not a little angry that anyone is upset with them.
They seem to think the objection to their open support and appreciation of the violation of others is some sort of prudish reaction to the enjoyment of nudity.
This is not about nudity or porn. This is about consent. Porn is OK. Non-consensual porn is not.
This refusal to treat consent as important, and this inability to distinguish between consensual nudity and non-consensual nudity and why the second is not OK, this is rape culture.
There is a hell of a lot wrong with violating a person’s consent, refusing to listen when they say “no”, and encouraging and helping others to do the same.
Do not view the images. Do not share the images. Do not violate others’ right to privacy. Do not violate their right to consent. Do not allow those around you to do this either.
This is not rocket science. No means no.
Follow Laura on Twitter or visit her blog.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
