Over the weekend, several members of the Twitter community began to post nude photos sent to them by past sexual partners. Calling it the “Twitter Purge,” it was more horrific than its no-consequence murder thriller namesake “The Purge 2” is bound to be.
We live in a world where life-altering moments can be as silent as a drop of a towel and the flash of a camera. And sadly, that world would rather blame the people who send the photos than see the twisted psyche that would abuse that trust and reveal intimate photos of a partner.
It’s not just Twitter. Facebook pages, Tumblr blogs and even standalone websites have been created to publicly shame mostly female exes of bitter partners who want to cling to power.
Before you write me off as too harsh and say these guys are just being guys, note that this is not an uncommon or harmless crime. “Revenge porn” kingpin and self-described “life ruiner” Hunter Moore is a prime example of that.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation took Moore and partner Charles Evans into custody after finding the two had been hacking into victims’ email accounts to retrieve nude photos for their website, isanyoneup.com.
When any of Moore’s victims contacted him asking him to take their photos down, the message and any personal information were posted along with the photos. This put hundreds of victims in danger of harassment.
There are many who say the fault lies with the individual who sent out the photos, and yes, even I would say it is ridiculous to send a full-body nude image of yourself in a world where it can be uploaded to the Internet within five seconds. But there is a level of deceptive trust that is violated, and that deserves recognition.
We should not blame those individuals who express their sexuality through sending nude photos to partners.
Kim Kardashian is a prime example of the negative effects revenge porn can have on someone’s life. In 2003 a video tape of Kardashian and then-boyfriend Ray J was leaked to the media. Prior to this, the Kardashian family was known for a lawyer father and Olympic athlete stepfather.
More than 10 years later, Kim Kardashian has become a widely known reality television personality, clothing store owner, mother and wife. She also recently released an iPhone game, “Kim Kardashian Hollywood,” that has made her quite a large sum of cash.
But no matter what she accomplishes, she will continue to be reduced to the girl who made a sex tape and got famous. And I, for one, am tired of hearing about it.
She trusted her partner to respect her privacy, and that trust was betrayed. Then, when the media began to hound her about it, she turned around and made a fortune.
But most victims of revenge porn can only dream of a world that would put their betrayers behind bars. Any sexual activity without enthusiastic consent is a sex crime. So far, only a handful of states have begun to recognize the nonconsensual spreading of sexual images as crime.
It’s not just about punishing those who commit the crime, though. It’s about raising future generations of people to recognize that intimacy isn’t just about having sex. It’s about trust, consent and respect.
Until we begin to center the sex tape scandal on those who betray rather than those who are betrayed, we will continue to see purges and scandals ruining lives and putting lives in danger.
Jana King is a 19-year-old communication studies junior from Ponchatoula, La.