Whoopi Goldberg’s Reaction To Bella Thorne’s Nude Hacking Is Exactly Why Revenge Porn Continues To Have Its Power

Earlier this week, Bella Thorne took a brave stance to regain power after a traumatising case of sex abuse. Blackmailed by a hacker who had stolen private nude pictures from her phone, Bella chose to release the pictures herself, relinquishing any power the sex criminal had over her stating 'you don't get to take yet another thing from me'. Her choice had been applauded endlessly by women everywhere, and fellow victims of revenge porn, that’s until Whoopi Goldberg gave her opinion.

‘If you're famous, I don't care how old you are. You don't take nude photos of yourself,’ she said during a segment on The View, ‘Once you take that picture it’s going into the cloud and it’s available to any hacker who wants it and if you don’t know that in 2019 this is an issue, I’m sorry you don’t get to do that. You cannot be surprised if someone’s hacked you, especially if you have stuff on your phone.’

Referencing how upset she was online, Whoopi essentially victim-blamed Bella by claiming that she can’t be shocked or upset that someone would blackmail her with her private pictures because she … took them in the first place? The logic is baffling, and Bella herself has compared it to blaming women when they are raped by contributing to a culture where women are the ones held accountable for sex crimes. ‘Saying if you take a sexy photo then basically it deserves to be leaked,’ she said on Instagram, ‘So if I go out to a party drinking and I want to go dancing on the dance floor, do I deserve to be raped too?’

‘Shame on you Whoopi,’ she continued during the emotional video that saw her in floods of tears, ‘I just want to say that me watching this video made me feel really bad about myself...You’re so crazy for thinking such terrible things on such an awful situation.

‘I have loved you for so long,’ she wrote on her story, ‘[should] I as a woman be scared walking around my home, being on my phone, doing anything? Is that what you want women to be like, scared of the masses for their sexuality? I don’t. I’m offended for anyone out there who has ever taken a sexy photo… I am offended for every person who has committed suicide for someone leaking their nudes.’

Her sentiment has been shared by many online, with celebrities from Zendaya, Lucy Hale and Serayah all privately messaging Bella to share their support. Singer Meghan Tonjes also released a response asking people with Whoopi’s logic whether they should also avoid online banking or having conversations over text because they too have the risk of getting hacked. ‘You knew the risk before you got in the car that you might get it an accident, sorry don’t feel bad about it,’ she added sarcastically, ‘this doesn’t make any sense.’

Megan highlights an important point when it comes to victim-blaming. People are still clearly so quick to blame the victim when it comes to a sex crime, where you would never think to do so in any non-sexual attempt at online or offline offence. There’s no doubt that Whoopi’s sentiment was likely shared by many online trolls when Bella chose to take the power away from her hacker, so to give that abhorrent view such a huge public platform on a popular daytime TV show is highly irresponsible.

Because, responses like this are the reason that these crimes have so much power. Revenge porn would not be threatening were it not for the shame and taboo about women’s sexuality that is perpetuated by opinions like Whoopi's. There would be nothing to threaten or any power to steal if we didn’t value a woman’s virtue so highly above anything else. We live in a world where women are forced to repress their sexuality, and Bella was one of very few women in the public eye that refused to by shy about hers.

Her openness about sex, polyamory and sexuality has been hailed by many fans, whom she has given the power to truly express themselves regardless of society’s expectations of them, and this move could have been yet another powerful moment for women in refusing to let men control them or value them based on their sexuality. And yet, because of Whoopi’s comments, it has been twisted into a vile debate women's responsibility in taking nude pictures (as if there's even one to be had) that not only undermines victims of sex crimes but also allowed the hacker to get exactly what they wanted: Bella upset and humiliated online.

Whether you would personally take nude pictures or not is your opinion, but to put that choice on every other woman and say that they shouldn’t be upset when they’re a victim of revenge porn is only regressing us as a society, and giving the power back to the people (read: men) that seek to control our sexuality. So regardless of your personal choice, Whoopi, this is not the view we need to hear.