Recent internet buzz is
surrounding pictures of celebrities that were taken without consent. A typical
headline looks like this:
“Nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other female celebrities leaked online”
“Nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other female celebrities leaked online”
First and foremost, they
weren't leaked, they were stolen. We’ll get to that later.
I want to highlight some
of the things that other writers/bloggers have said. Both Jessica
Valenti and this
man (I assume it’s a man…) have named that the allure of these particular
nude photos is specifically that they were obtained without consent. Valenti
and Erin
Gloria Ryan talk about how deeply victim blaming the reaction has been.
I have to admit, the high
school me would have rushed
to see these pictures. Even now, I had a tiny voice in the back of my mind that I had to ignore, evidence of just how deep my socialization as a heterosexual man really goes. I had to dig deep to understand my motivations. And what the articles above have said definitely resonated, particularly the idea that there’s more “excitement” around these pictures because they were taken without consent. It was one of those moments for me that was illuminating and sobering, and served as a reminder of how much I still have to grow. Fortunately, I (and we as Men in the Movement) now have the tools to shut that socialized voice out and speak with a different voice. And we need to speak out about these issues. Because as Ryan reminds us:
to see these pictures. Even now, I had a tiny voice in the back of my mind that I had to ignore, evidence of just how deep my socialization as a heterosexual man really goes. I had to dig deep to understand my motivations. And what the articles above have said definitely resonated, particularly the idea that there’s more “excitement” around these pictures because they were taken without consent. It was one of those moments for me that was illuminating and sobering, and served as a reminder of how much I still have to grow. Fortunately, I (and we as Men in the Movement) now have the tools to shut that socialized voice out and speak with a different voice. And we need to speak out about these issues. Because as Ryan reminds us:
“Male web denizens are
wont to throw their palms upward and declare that nothing can be done,
that this is just how things are. Bullshit. Something can always be
done; reticence is a symptom of thinking that women's needs aren't important.”
In addition to not
seeking out these stolen pictures, which would be a blatant support and
perpetration of Rape
Supportive Culture (RSC), we have to hone a skill that recognizes some of
the subtleties of RSC as well. This brings me back to that first point about
many of the headlines surrounding this story. A huge element of RSC is that men
are not held accountable for their actions. This shows up in a ton of different
ways, and the headlines are no different. The way it’s been framed completely
masks that a crime was committed. Furthermore,
it shifts the focus onto the victim (in this case, the women whose personal
stuff was hacked and distributed). We would never sit back and tell people that
they shouldn't
have done online banking when their bank account is hacked. We would pour
resources into catching the hacker.
But over and over and
over again, our society demonstrates that certain populations don’t deserve our
time, resources, and rage. At the very least, we as Men in the Movement can
demonstrate how that looks from our end. Say something, share something, like
something, do something. Do anything, other than searching for illegal porn.
And maybe even more so, we need to practice holding ourselves and each other
accountable for any of our harmful actions.
Jay
Smooth gives us a great example of what it could look like to “do something.”
Links:
Jessica Valenti: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/09/leaked-photos-nude-celebrities-abuse/379434/
David Futrelle (this man):
http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/2014/09/01/jlaws-leaked-nudes-for-men-who-hate-women-the-violation-of-privacy-is-part-of-the-thrill/
Erin Gloria Ryan
(Jezebel): http://jezebel.com/behind-every-bullied-woman-is-a-man-yelling-about-free-1629502544?rev=1409671878616
Bank analogy: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/sexting-tweet_n_5755582.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
Jay Smooth: http://feministing.com/2014/09/03/watch-jay-smooth-requests-the-complete-list-of-rules-for-women/
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