Over Labor Day weekend (2014), a hacker exploited a bug in Apple’s iCloud by using the Find my Iphone app to access photos off of ~100 female celebrities phones. He then uploaded any and all naked photos they obtained to the web, while even bragging about the ordeal on an internet forum. A lot of men were/are very excited to see these photos, as if a woman’s breasts were some sort of mythical creature like a unicorn, or a Pegasus, or Matt Damon. Except, these nude photos all share one thing in common: they’re all photos of women. There were no dick picks, no male nude shots, no photos of men at all (other than the two men who were featured in a picture with their partner). All 100 celebrities that were targeted are women. Although plenty of men have sent dick picks before, men are not the targets of these kinds of “scandals”.

This is a real advertisement (circa 2009)

The objectification of women is longstanding tradition of our patriarchal society. The media and advertising industry has long perpetuated and used the idea of “sexiness”. Sex sells! But there also seems to be a healthy appetite for sexualized photos of men.

News outlets and the media are referring to this story as a “scandal”. This isn’t a scandal, this is a sex crime. These photos weren’t “leaked” either, they were stolen from password protected accounts. Stealing something from another person’s phone is equally as criminal as stealing a person’s physical phone. This “scandal” would not be called such if instead, the hacker climbed into Jennifer Lawrence’s window, went through her drawers and stole these photos. Yet, instead of condemning this hacker, we condemn the women that took the nude photos. We victim-blame women for participating in an activity that we all encouragingly promoted in the first place. Stealing private photographs and publishing them online is not just a blatant invasion of privacy, it is a criminal act. This hacker isn’t just some criminal, he is a sex offender and this is a sex crime.

Furthermore, the argument that these women should not have had nude photos of themselves on their phones is entirely irrelevant. People take, send and request nude photos all the time; and almost everyone “sexts”. 20% of people willingly admitted that they have received nude photos this year, although the real number is most likely considerably higher. Men are equally as guilty as women regarding sending/requesting nude photos. Now I of course have never sent a dick pick in my life, but that’s only because the beauty of such a photo would result in mass hysteria. People would riot in the streets and the global economy would collapse, because once a person sees something so beautiful, there would be no point in living anymore.

Blaming Jennifer Lawrence or any other celebrity for taking nude photos because “they were asking for it”, is like blaming a rape victim because her skirt was too tight. It is easy to claim that these women should have known that these photos may be leaked, but it doesn’t mean that they were wrong to do so. These celebrities are people and although TMZ/the media pretends like we have the right to invade every aspect of their private lives, we don’t. Women already have to live up to absurdly ridiculous and hypocritical standards. Let’s not exacerbate a difficult situation by diminishing/victimizing women. They are equal participants in our enduring quest to have and sex with one another. So treat them with respect and if you’re lucky, you may just “get some”.