You Wouldn’t Share A Leaked Nude Of A Female Celebrity. Why Are You Tweeting One Of Chris Evans?

I admit it. When I logged into Twitter this weekend and saw that Chris Evans – Captain America actor, not British broadcaster – was trending because of a leaked picture of his penis, I began to scroll through the thousands of tweets referring to the incident. Curious to see what had caused such a hubbub, it felt harmless to enquire further, to favourite comical tweets relating to the news, to see the screengrab that everyone was talking about. But the hashtags and the trending tweets were actually overwhelmed by fans of Chris, who hoped to drown the offending image via the distraction of positive messages and less X-rated pics. It gave me pause for thought. I stopped seeking the image. I found something else to tweet about it.

Why do people think it’s ok? Is it the fact that the leak was accidental and done by Chris himself, as opposed to the result of a targeted hack? So it’s not illegal or malicious, and therefore can be seen as fair game? Is it the teasing reaction of Chris’s brother Scott, and his friend and Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo, which show that his close circles have deemed it worthy of a laugh rather than condemnation? Would people rethink their stance and tweets if Chris or his friends had made it clear that this was unacceptable? Anyone who was pranked or bullied at school will remember that mass laughter doesn’t make it funny for the victim of cruelty.

Additionally, from what I can gather from other people’s tweets, the image itself – while undeniably explicit – is fuzzy, and we can’t even know for sure that it’s his penis at all. Are people who would normally condemn viewing leaked images think that this is more acceptable, as it’s less clearly incriminating? I don’t see that as justifying the widespread, unchecked distribution of a private image against a person’s consent.

I don’t harbour a well of judgement for anyone who’s jumped on the bandwagon in sharing these pictures. And some will probably think I’m lacking a sense of humour. But it makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t think they would be doing so if a famous woman had accidentally posted a comparable image to their Stories. When a mass hack exposed private, nude images of Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson and others, they were indeed splashed across the internet. But sharing them was criticised, actively searching for them was condemned, the women released statements of disgust. It was argued – absolutely correctly – that these were private, and we had no right to see them. The fact that these women had taken these photos, and shared them with their partners, did not give us the right to view them. The circumstances surrounding the release of Chris’s image are of course different, but I can’t understand why the reaction is so much more effusive.

Whatever you think, however funny you think it is, however enjoyable it is to be reminded that even famous people screw up sometimes, there is a bottom line. Seeking out and sharing private pictures of strangers – because however much you fancy him, he is a stranger – is unethical. Regardless of the justifications, that much just can't be denied.

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