The Internet was taken by storm at the end of August when a user on the popular image board website www.4chan.com posted nude photographs supposedly hacked from the iCloud accounts of several female celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Ariana Grande and Victoria Justice. Since the first round of photos were released, hundreds more have surfaced. The problem is not the images themselves – the Internet is no stranger to naked photos. This is a day and age where pornography is easily accessible online, and there are a plethora of men and women who post nude photos of themselves. These people are aware that these images will be available online, and there is consent. Leaked nude photos of celebrities, however, are not taken with the mindset that they will be shared; the pictures are solely for the private eye of a significant other. The images, posted without the consent of the owner, are stolen property. Even seeking out stolen images violates the women in the same way the person who stole the images did.
Even in the merciless world of fame, tabloids and social media, intimacy should still be possible. At the core of the nude photo outrage is the fact that it is a blatant infringement of privacy. The bodies of female celebrities do not exist for the public’s entertainment and enjoyment. No woman took those pictures to please anyone other than for whomever the original images were intended. Obviously, posting and sharing the photos is unfair and wrong, but so is intentionally seeking them out. Searching for them on Twitter or Instagram is also inappropriate. Just looking at the pictures perpetuates a sexual offense. No one was given permission to look at stolen pictures of a naked body, especially if someone else posted them publicly. Sharing them or even just looking at them promotes the crime.
“Sure, the safest and probably the smartest thing to do is to not pose for compromising pictures at all,” said senior Elana Reingold. “But at the end of the day, what people do with their bodies is their choice. Don’t blame them for someone hacking their phone and stealing their personal pictures.”
Blaming the women who took the photos is unacceptable, and doing so places responsibility on victims instead of the perpetrators. If a bank were robbed, no one would blame people for putting money in the bank—the robber would be held responsible. If someone ripped off a woman’s clothing in public, it would be deemed a sexual assault. So, stealing these pictures and leaking them on the Web is more than just hacking – it is assault.
“It is my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting,” said Jennifer Lawrence in a recent interview with Vanity Fair Magazine.
Celebrities, always in the limelight, live a majority of their life knowing most of their actions will be broadcasted for the public eye. Leaked photos are not a new trend. In 2012, a man who hacked into the email accounts of Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis and 50 additional celebrities was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his crime. Unfortunately, this does not just happen to celebrities. “Normal” people are not immune to this craze either. Some men have been known to use “revenge porn” against ex-partners, which entails sharing sexually explicit material online without the consent of the individual pictured. But with the spotlight on leaked nudes of celebrities, the notion that leaking nudes is okay could very easily spread to young men, encouraging them that doing so will result in attention and an ego-boost.
The only good that can result from this situation is awareness of the issue. There is currently a push to criminalize the distribution of intimate photos and videos without consent in Canada, and in July of this year, Arizona made revenge porn a crime punishable by six months to a year in prison, according to www.msnbc.com. But these actions need to be taken all around the country. The privacy of anyone, especially concerning personal property and photographs, is no light issue.
