Opinion: Jennifer Lawrence's reaction to her nude photos leaking is a reminder to everyone
Jennifer Lawrence has reflected on the “trauma” of the 2014 4chan scandal, in which multiple hackers posted nude photos of her on the internet.
The actress, one of the 100 target stars of the attack, described the feeling of knowing that "anyone can go and see my naked body without my consent, at any time of the day", adding that her trauma "will exist forever." "You can be at a barbecue and someone can show them on her phone," she told Vanity Fair. "That was something really impossible to process."
While most of us, thankfully, will not be the victims of a media scandal like the one perpetrated by 4chan, I am sure we can all empathize with Lawrence; In truth, many of us are just one step away from waking up to the same kind of living nightmare that she describes.
You have to be completely honest: if you are an adult and you have a smartphone, it is likely that you have taken (and probably sent) a photo to someone, at some point, that you would really prefer that no one else in the world saw. You may even regret sharing it with that person to begin with. After all, relationships end, feelings turn sour, minds and hearts change.
It's horrible to consider that someone you once trusted could break that trust, but it happens. And for those of us who risk our skin, we are all at risk.
As part of the writing process for this article, I took a deep breath, and similarly dove into Reddit to see the “AskMen” thread, which has 3.1 million members. Designed to give men a means to ask questions (and receive advice) exclusively from other men, I wanted to find out if the topic of what to do with an ex's nude photos had ever come up.
The results were surprising, but not in the way you might think. In one thread, which had over 300 comments, the original “post” talked about how the person had broken up with his girlfriend of three years, and since then he had been dating other women, but he still had “about 75 photos and some videos ”of your ex. "I don't know what to do with them," said the user. "Would it be illegal to share these images? Any information would be helpful. "
The responses were largely decent, with one prominent post advising her to "remove" them, including any access to his ex's social media. “This happened to me, I also had full access to my ex's Facebook and email because my laptop saved the logins,” the anonymous user wrote. “I asked him to change the passwords so I wouldn't be tempted. I prefer to make a clean break so that it does not affect future relationships ”.
Another said poignantly: “It is much more difficult to let someone go if you still carry something associated with his memory with you. Delete them and let it go ”. And one man suggested, "Don't share it, and if he ever asks you, delete it." Others said bluntly and succinctly: "Sharing them would be a jerk's move."
I was hopeful by the sheer amount of good and empathetic advice, but then the original poster went back to the thread to add an update, in which he told commenters what he had decided to do: “In case anyone cares, I decided to make a virtual backup of the files and delete them from my hard drive, ”he said. "Out of sight, out of mind." But then he added: "If anyone wants to see them, send me a private message."
And that's precisely what worries me: You may be in a relationship built on a foundation of reciprocity and trust, but what happens when that foundation collapses?
Currently, there is not a single criminal offense in England and Wales that controls the taking, creation and sharing of intimate images without consent. Instead, says the Law Commission, we have "a mosaic of crimes that have developed over time, most of which existed before the rise of the internet and the use of smartphones." Some abusive behaviors are not even specifically criminalized, such as “downblousing” (taking photos without consent of women's necklines) or “deepfakes” (editing videos with images of famous people).
In February, the Commission published a consultation paper on the abusive use of intimate images, as part of a wide-ranging review of those laws. Their proposals focused on improving the protection of victims whose images are taken or shared without their consent. The government is now considering the proposals.
But where does that leave us who navigate the murky world of smartphones and relationships as part of our everyday lives, particularly after a prolonged period of “online love” as happened during the pandemic? Single people were urged to "play it safe" with video calls and text messages; but some couples were separated in two different homes and were not allowed to reunite. Studies showed a marked increase in "sexting" during confinement, and a research article concluded that "sexting was an adaptive tool during confinement by COVID-19."
It would be naive to assume that people will "just stop" sharing risque images of themselves with the people they are involved with, however, according to the law, there is not much we can do if, for example, a partner or a partner. ex publishes an altered image of us on the Internet, or shares spontaneous photos of us with his colleagues "in jest". Even sharing intimate images as a threat, a way to coerce or intimidate a victim, is currently not a criminal offense, although sharing them for sexual gratification and to cause distress is illegal.
It is clear that the law must catch up with reality, and the reality is that when we share something intimate with a partner or a potential date, we put ourselves at risk. Will that make us stop doing it? In the heat of the moment, probably not. But we need a lot more protection than just having to shrug our shoulders and hope for the best.
