I've never sent a nude and you won't find any on my phone (as the dust-gathering hold-ups at the back of my wardrobe will testify). It's not that I'm adverse to erotic pictures, but ever since the Icloud-hacking scandal in 2014, I'm hyper-suspicious. I'm petrified that I might accidentally be publicly uploading every photo on my camera roll to my Icloud account. Or worse - that some kind of blip will mean I accidentally put nudes in a shared folder and released them to my entire contacts book.
Is it any wonder? Back when the Icloud-hacking scandal first hit headlines in 2014 - it was treated officially like the worst thing in the world. People had sympathy for Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Jessica Brown Findlay and the other female celebrities who had their private pictures hacked into and posted on 4Chan. But the next question on everyone's lips was: 'why did she have the pictures on her phone in the first place?', as if it was at least partially the female victim to blame, and not the individual violating her privacy.
In recent years, though, victims of nudes-hacking have started to reclaim the narrative around their images. The most recent of them is Whitney Cummings, who responded to extortionists threatening to release a topless photo of her by publishing the same photo herself.
In a Twitter thread, Whitney revealed that after she accidentally posted a picture a photo in April where her nipple was exposed on Instagram stories (and deleted it afterwards), she's received messages from users who took a screenshot threatening to sell the picture, and asking for money in return for not sharing it.
'If anyone is gonna make money or likes off my nipple,' the American comedian wrote 'It’s gonna be me. So here it all is, you foolish dorks..'
She also shared screenshots of the messages sent by one person who tried to demand money in return for the picture, asking 'how much money would it cost not to share this photo?'
Admirably, she wouldn't reveal the names of the user's who'd messaged her because 'they might just be some dumb kids', adding 'when a woman in the public eye is extorted, we have to spend time, money and energy dealing with it, hiring lawyers and security experts, and living with a pit in our stomach about when and how we will be humiliated, y’all can have my nipple, but not my time or money anymore.'
It follows on the heels Bella Thorne recently sharing a topless photo in response to the threat of a leak, writing 'I took my power back'. After posting details of the incident, in which she had been contacted several times by someone threatening to release a private photo, Bella said 'I feel gross, I feel watched, I feel someone has taken something from me that I only wanted one special person to see'.
It shouldn't have to be this way, and female celebrities shouldn't have to ambassador distributing our nude photos just to circumvent becoming a sex-crime victim. But by taking the decision to share their nudes first, Whitney and Bella are also sending a crucial message about shame linked to revenge porn, and dismantling the problematic narrative surrounding hacked nude photos.
When women in the public eye tackle the conversation about leaked nudes: It's a reminder that we need to be less outraged by naked female bodiesand more disgusted by individuals who would exploit women in this abusive and invasive way.
I have friends who have folders full of erotic pictures that they've stowed away and others who either aren't that bothered about taking nudes or fear a security breach or vindictive ex sharing private photos. But the distinction between not being into erotic pictures and feeling unsafe about storing them feels important. Like any sex crime, victim-blaming is a toxic theme that emerges when we see pictures of female celebrities leaked (just look at Vanessa Hudgens who was forced to 'apologise' to fans in 2007 when topless photos of her were leaked). Perhaps if people were less shocked by a female nipple than what is tantamount to a sex offence: these women would be able to stop having to share their nudes just to prove a point.
Needless to say we're behind Whitney, Bella and any other women who has been exploited by this abusive type of violation.