I've just read a piece about Jennifer Lawrence describing the recent leak of her, and countless other (female) celebrities', private photos as a 'sex crime'. "It's not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It's disgusting," she said.
She went on to say:
"Just because I'm a public figure, just because I'm an actress, does not mean that I asked for this."
"It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It's my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting."
She's absolutely right. Of course she's absolutely right. It is a sex crime.
And, incidentally, almost as bad as the leaking of the photos is the suggestion I've heard from numerous sources, such as Ricky Gervais, that if celebrities don't want their private nude photos leaked then they shouldn't take nude photos of themselves in the first place. I find this point of view to be utterly offensive. It is the logic of saying to a burglary victim, who has had valuable possessions stolen, that the way not to have valuable possessions stolen is not to own any valuable possessions in the first place.
But the issue all this has brought to mind for me is the way we, the public, view celebrity. We don't afford them the same rights as non-celebrities. Whatever happens, no matter how bad, unjust, or potentially humiliating or career-threatening, we see them as 'fair game'.
I'm reminded of something that happened a few years ago here in the uk. Firstly, a documentary aired on tv about a female college student who'd repeatedly had nude and sexual photos of herself uploaded to numerous porn sites without her consent. The person doing this also sent these pictures to her family members, her friends, her parents - it was a sustained and prolonged campaign of abuse by her online stalker. The documentary showed clearly just how devastated and violated she had felt by what had happened. (The perpetrator was eventually caught and received a prison sentence, which he fully deserved.)
It was an interesting and moving documentary, and my response to it was to feel a profound sympathy for the girl, because she had been through a traumatic experience. And I think this would have been most people's reaction when watching the documentary - one of sympathy. I think you'd have to be a pretty sick human being to suggest that she in any way deserved what happened to her, and that if she didn't want nude pictures leaked then she shouldn't have taken nude pictures in the first place.
I was very active on twitter at the time, and the reactions I saw from people were very much in tune with my reaction to the programme - one of sympathy.
Fast forward a few months, and there was a sex-tape leak that was big news here is the UK. Tulisa Contostavlos, a young pop star and X-Factor judge, had had a sex tape released online by an ex-boyfriend. And this wasn't one of those 'leaks' in which the celebrity is complicit - this was a proper, genuine, potentially career-destroying leak that was absolutely against her will and without her consent.
Where as just a few months earlier I'd seen nothing but sympathy for the college student who'd had her sex life uploaded and shared with millions against her will, the response to the Tulisa leak was totally different. It was one of hilarity. People made jokes about it. Lots of jokes. People were not expressing sympathy, quite the opposite.
So a non-celebrity has a sex tape uploaded to the internet against her will, and the public reaction is one of sympathy, but a celebrity has a sex tape uploaded to the internet against her will, and the public reaction is one of hilarity. Isn't that odd? Are celebrities non-humans who don't share the same rights as the rest of us? I don't get it.
And this huge celebrity photo leak that's been going on in recent months is part of the same thing. I've not heard many voices expressing sympathy for these women. But if the same thing had happened to a non-famous group of women then there'd be public outrage about it.
I'm not even passing a judgement on all of this - I'm just making an observation about it. I find it interesting the lack of empathy the general public feel for celebrities who suffer any kind of hardship, almost as if they are somehow not real human beings. And maybe that's the issue - maybe the concept of celebrity in and of itself is dehumanising? I don't know, but my thought on the issue is this: that I do think that in time the situation will change, has to change. Human rights are there to be respected for everybody - you don't become exempt by virtue of being a celebrity. Basic human rights are what they are, and they apply to everybody equally. I totally agree with Jennifer Lawrence when she said,
"Just because I'm a public figure... It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It's my body, and it should be my choice." Who could disagree with this?
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