PRIVACY is in its gasping death throes.
But when your privacy is violated, such as, say, the sharing of intimate photographs, who is to blame?
For one young woman, that person is her teacher. The teacher, from Eggbuckland Community College in England, downloaded the student's bikini photo from Facebook and displayed it at an assembly designed to show young people the dangers of social networking.
The 15-year-old was rightly mortified. Plymouth City Council responded: "Sadly, there are people who know that they can use photographic images to bully, exploit or coerce others, and do so."
Presumably Jennifer Lawrence, pictured, would nod her head in agreement at the council's assertation but shake her fist at the actions of the teacher.
The actress has spoken about naked photos being stolen from her phone and released online. Furious, she referred to the theft as a "sex crime" and said anyone who had sought out the photos to view was culpable of "perpetuating a sexual offence". She said, "You should cower with shame...I didn't tell you that you could look at my naked body." Speaking to Vanity Fair, she said she had begun, at the time of the release in August, to write an apology but "I don't have anything to say I'm sorry for". Just hours after these comments were released, two of the hacked photos appeared on her Wikipedia page.
It would seem people still struggle with the idea that a woman may choose to be sexual with one person but be outraged when she is expected to be sexual for everyone.
But times and attitudes are changing for the better. Previously, women who were caught naked on camera, Kate Middleton, say, in those bikini shots, were obliged to apologise, shamefaced. Scarlett Johansson,in 2011, refused to apologise when nude photos were leaked of her. Rather, she gave a sly grin and told Vanity Fair: "I know my best angles." However, the public and the press were not kind to her, blaming her for posing in the first place.
Lawrence says she worried about speaking out but by not doing so, "that made it seem OK for other women and girls to just let it happen to them, because it isn't".
Her comments aren't just another reason to admire the already easy to adore Lawrence. Her response is exactly where we should be now, whether that's stolen photographs, revenge porn, street harassment or assault, that it is the perpetrator who should suffer, not the victim.
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