This morning, Zara McDermott began trending on Google. The model and reality star is hosting a searing documentary on revenge porn after falling foul to it herself twice, once when she was 14 and then again when she was on Love Island in 2018.
In the BBC Three documentary, called ‘Zara McDermott: Revenge Porn’ she details the devastating impact it had on her mental health, saying she ‘wanted to die’ after finding out about the second incident upon leaving the show.
It’s set to be harrowing then and incredibly hard to watch for countless women. Yet, the breakout Google searches under her name are all people searching for the leaked images. According to Google Trends, ‘Zara McDermott leaked nudes, ‘Zara McDermott revenge pictures’ and ‘Zara McDermott revenge video’ are all the top search terms causing her name to trend across the UK.
That means that upon hearing about Zara’s documentary, perhaps watching the trailer where she details feeling insecure every time she meets a new person because of revenge porn, instead of taking on board how traumatising it can be to be a victim of said crime, people are scouring to find the very images that caused her such trauma.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: when a person’s private images are leaked without their consent, no one should be searching for them. It might seem like everyone is doing it, like the pictures are already out there so what’s the harm in one more person doing so, but regardless of whether one person has seen it or millions, going out of your way to find explicit images released without a woman’s consent is abhorrent. In doing so, you are not only violating that persons privacy further – causing untold harm to their emotional wellbeing – but feeding into the very people who commit acts of revenge porn.
More than that, when people disregard whether or not a woman consented to her explicit images being shared in pursuit of their own curiosity or desires, it perpetuates rape culture. Instead, we should all be fighting for Zara – and victims like her – to have these images removed from any website or device they exist on, so as to send a broad message to everyone that consent is integral in any exchange of any kind.
The more people continue to violate women like Zara, the more women at large will be violated by revenge porn.
Because clearly, it’s needed now more than ever. It’s been more than two years since Zara’s McDermott’s revenge porn images first leaked and yet even the mere mention of it happening to her causes a spike in these kind of searches. Add into that the fact that the only reason Zara’s images are being talked about are because she’s opening up about the trauma it caused her, and that Google search behaviour feels even more disgusting.
Women are watching the way we respond to these kind of conversations. We’re seeing what happens when others in the public eye open up, even years after the fact, and it will have a direct impact on how many others do. If we’re to combat revenge porn, the first step is ensuring that no one seeks to view non-consensual images or videos. Women need to feel comfortable talking about these crimes, reporting them and helping support others by having honest conversations about the harm revenge porn can cause – the longer people continue to violate those like Zara in searching for her images at any opportunity, the longer women at large will continue to be violated by this crime.
What is revenge porn?
Revenge Porn is the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress. The images are sometimes accompanied by personal information about the subject, including their full name, address and links to their social media profiles.
It was made a specific criminal offence in 2015 and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a fine. The government guidelines on revenge porn say that behaviour that results in debt or homelessness will be a possible aggravating factor, meaning a stronger sentence
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