With passwords on our phones and Snapchats (supposedly) disappearing after just a few seconds, people often feel safe sending nude pictures and videos. Although sharing these pictures with a partner can be exciting, it is important to make sure you can fully trust the person on the receiving end.
When sending naked pictures or videos you usually only expect one person to be viewing the content, but, when relationships go south, that is not always the case. After a break up some people just delete their ex’s nudes, while others decide to share the material. Because of these careless ex-partners many people around the world are becoming victims of revenge porn.
While you may have only heard of this happening to celebrities in the news, it is a very real thing for people just like you and me. Revenge porn is when someone, usually an ex or a hacker, uploads private explicit messages online. These pictures are shared to shame or embarrass the individual and often includes their full name, links to their social media accounts and even their addresses.
But it doesn’t stop there. These pictures are uploaded to sites such as UGotPosted.com, IsAnyoneUp.com and MyEx.com that are specifically designed for revenge porn. Once the explicit material is uploaded, it is very hard to get taken down. If you happen to come across a picture of yourself and want it taken down, the owners of the site won’t care that you didn’t give permission. These people are scum and will try to swindle some money out of you in order for your picture to be removed. While the perpetrators identity is often hidden behind the computer screen, the victims often have to change jobs, move away or even legally change their name.
As the issue is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society, many organizations and activists are trying their best to combat it. End Revenge Porn is a campaign that was founded in 2012 in order to start working in favor of criminalizing revenge porn in the United States, with the founder being a victim of revenge porn herself.
Twitter has made its stance on revenge porn by updating its guidelines in March. The new addition reads: “You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.” This means that if certain content gets reported and the user cannot prove it was posted with consent then it will be taken down.
While many people feel ashamed by these pictures, one Danish activist was not going to let her ex-boyfriend take her down. Emma Holten had naked pictures of her posted on the Internet without her consent and began receiving repulsive messages from people calling her a slut, telling her they would show her boss, etc. Instead of letting someone else decide how the world was going to see her body she decided to post her own set of naked pictures looking how she wanted. She teamed up with a photographer and shot topless photos portraying herself as a human subject doing random tasks in her apartment, not just some sexual object.
Along with these activists and organization, authorities have passed laws against revenge porn in Germany, Israel and 16 states within the United States. Recently in San Diego, the operator of revenge porn site UGotPosted.com was sentenced to 18 years in jail after being convicted on six counts of extortion and 21 counts of ID theft. After explicit pictures were posted on his website without the victim’s consent, Kevin Bollaert would charge up to $350 in order to get them removed and is believed to have made around $30,000. In addition to his jail sentence, the perpetrator must also pay $15,000 in restitution to victims and a $10,000 fine.
With men like Bollaert getting served the justice they deserve, hopefully it will scare anyone with your old nudes into deleting them. We should be able to express ourselves in any way we want, but we must make sure that we know what we are getting into and who we are getting into it with when sending out explicit material. No one wants to end up as the next victim of revenge porn.
Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21