Post 5

The Fappening. Where private images on the cloud were "taken" (more like copied) and spread about the internet. The response is entirely what is expected: happy jokes about how the women missed their calling into the erotic film industry--oh wait, no, that was what happened with NBA player Greg Oden had his private nude images leaked. Women writers, talk show hosts, and bloggers joked about the size of Oden's penis and remarked he had a "solid" fall back career (as a perennially injured player, not a bad idea to be thinking ahead, Oden!).

No. It was immediately taken as sexist. As violence. As slut shaming. How can it be any of those things?! Honestly, look at what you have for facts: individuals store pictures in the cloud continually. Someone reasons out that people take pictures with their phones. At times, some of those photos are nudes. Our phones really are these small and private devices which we think no one else will look at, as if it is some unwritten commandment. Anyways, it doesn't take much longer to find some database which contains user information and then go from there. As I understand, it was the cloud itself that was hacked, but a third party device which had authenticated access to the cloud, making it a far easier task than hacking the cloud itself.

Next, the hacker reasons that of all the nude photos on the cloud there are a few particular iPhone users who would likely seek a decent price from tabloids. In effect, the person or persons who managed to access these photos were probably not Robin Hoods, looking to give back to the internet as a whole. There is a money to be made from these pictures, and he/she/they very likely did. Not only did the hacker(s) make money, consider the massive amount of traffic generated on sites like 4chan, reddit, TMZ, CNN, etc.

Back to the sexism part of this. Is it violence against women to share nude photos of them? Well, let's break that last sentence down: "It is wrong to share nude photos?", now add "without permission". The simple answer is yes, it is wrong to share nude photos of someone who did not give you permission to do so. Notice how there is no reference to gender in there. You can conclude it is equally wrong to share nudes of males as it is of females if no permission was granted to do so. Let's expand this further: "Is it violence to share nude photos without permission?" This is a more complex question, as we must consider what violence entails. The top definitions from a variety of sources state that violence is the use of a physical force to do harm. If we use that definition, then the answer is no, it is not violence to share nude photos of someone who did not give you permission. However, violence can also include a great destructive energy. This makes the answer less clear, but I still feel the answer is a no. Again, I never referenced gender in my question! So how does gender suddenly change the trajectories of the answers?

If sharing Oden's nudes was not considered violence, how can it be considered violence when a nude picture of Jennifer Lawrence is shared? After all, she comes across as a (mostly) well adjusted woman who is possess her own agency. Certain people and much of the media will use her pictures mostly to generate site traffic. That does not harm her directly. If you believe in "all publicity is good publicity" then this will only help Lawrence's career. Moreover, she's now in a position where she can more easily move ahead with a topless scene, knowing that she's not sacrificing something about herself. It has expanded her abilities as an actor! Or it hasn't, and she'll continue to use her own agency to choose to not take roles/do scenes which require her to be topless.

How does violence come into this? Is it done because there are people out there claiming there is "slut shaming" taking place? Who are these people?! Stefanie Williams of HuffPo says it best: "I challenge all who would call Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst and whomever else's photos got leaked a whore, to show me your phones." It's a simple request. If taking nude pictures of yourself or having an intimate partner of yours take a nude picture of you is slut shaming, then we're a big nation of sluts! Which is exactly what the two groups in this country believe: the ultra-conservatives (but who cares about them in relation to this?) and the neo-feminists which have concocted a world which there is a fake misogyny that exists to slut shame. Not that some men don't do that, and you'll often find them in the former of those two lists, but to assume there is a only one male view on this is ludicrous. There is no slut shaming for women--or men!--who take nude pictures of themselves, only people who respond to these events with a tragically biased opinion (born out of a delusion) who claim that maybe someone thinks this, attributes it to the whole, and then makes the greater claim.

Look, it's the same thing I've said before: if there was misogyny, there would be no privacy for women. There would be no scandal when nude pictures get leaked, because it would be the normal operation for men controlling these data storage centers to take what they wanted from women whose pictures end up these servers. These women would have no recourse to have images removed. The only misogyny that exists in this, is that which is falsely claimed by the neo-feminists.

This is an unedited rant. @nrokchi