When the news broke that Jennifer Lawrence’s “phone” had been hacked, along with dozens of other celebrities, it seemed like it would unfold as Scarlett Johansson or Blake Lively’s had; a few topless pics, maybe an ass shot but nothing more extreme than that, nothing you would be embarrassed by, particularly. It is a violation across the board, one that I hope the FBI nails right to the wall with maximum penalties. There is some talk that it might be Apple’s iCloud that was vulnerable, with all of our data stored up in it, most of us having absolutely no idea exactly what is in the cloud and what isn’t. I honestly have no idea. All I know is that every so often I get an error message about space. I wish I was smarter and able to understand how it works but I am not.
All the same, I don’t really care about the idiot who did this for profit. His fate is sealed. He’s a criminal and all around scuzz. He will never accomplish anything close to what Jennifer Lawrence has in her short but fruitful career. What I do care about is Lawrence’s own feelings about her body and her sexuality. We live in an era where very explicit photos are taken every second of every day and sent out online. They represent, usually, an intimate moment between two people. It can be highly arousing, especially in the first blush of love and sex to see these photos. Just because she’s famous doesn’t mean she doesn’t have those moments.
I am finding myself beyond angry at what’s happened to her. At first I thought she should just laugh it off. Then I thought – what does she have to worry about? That was before I saw the much more private, explicit photos of parts of her body no one but her most intimate lovers should ever see. That’s when it all started to get really weird. While I don’t think this is sexual abuse I do think it is such a terrible breach of someone’s privacy that it ought to be illegal to view the photos. We’ve crossed into an area where anything that appears on the internet should be protected. Child pornography is the one exception to that rule. But a crime has been committed. Showing the photos for profit on 4Chan (they keep deleting the links people post in order to make money) ought to leave an easy paper trail for the FBI to follow. ISPs that access those photos ought to be tracked down, where possible. The company who pays this asshole for the clicks or links must be contacted and warned that they are participating in a crime.
Obviously the photos can’t be retracted. People can’t unsee them. The disgusting enthusiastic comments can be deleted but they too seem to express the reality of this moment, how low we’ve really sunk. Celebrities are to be consumed. Their rights don’t matter to the general public.
The reaction these pitiful fucknuts want from Jennifer Lawrence is shame and embarrassment. She should not, in my opinion, give them that satisfaction. She should say, simply, women’s bodies are beautiful, naked or clothed. Their sexuality is the most powerful force on the planet. It is its own weapon of mass destruction. This is to be celebrated. Jennifer Lawrence has every right to explore her own intimate world however she chooses. We have no right to peer into that world.
I’ve been photographing myself for going on ten years now. I’ve sexted many to people over the years. If I were famous I would be in big big trouble. I do not think there is anything wrong with this in the least. My own photography has been a creative project I will one day turn into a book (I hope). I would post them here but I have the choice not to. Sadly, Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton and countless others did not have that choice. It’s a sick world here online. Just because we CAN do such things as expose private photos from someone’s cloud storage doesn’t mean we should.
It’s near impossible not to want to see these things if they are available. Who wouldn’t be curious? I would strongly encourage people, even if they’re looking at the photos, to understand what a monstrous violation it was and that once you lose compassion for someone who is a victim you lose your humanity.
Wow Pete. Just wow. Go fuck yourself.
Of course, it is terrible that her privacy was violated like this. On the other hand, it’s something she should probably just laugh off–if that’s possible for her to do.
Dear Jennifer: the first rule of take naked pictures of yourself is NOT SHOW YOUR FACE… now we know how she won that Oscar…
“That was before I saw the much more private, explicit photos of parts of her body no one but her most intimate lovers should ever see… While I don’t think this is sexual abuse I do think it is such a terrible breach of someone’s privacy that it ought to be illegal to view the photos.”
So, you committed “a terrible breach of someone’s privacy”? Pretty certain no one forced you to look at the pics, and while the rest of your article was spot on –and I enjoy your writing very much– it was incredibly disappointing to read your admission of doing the very thing you say should be illegal for everyone else. There’s a word for that: hypocrisy.
Glad you changed the headline, it wasn’t only Jennifer Lawrence the one who got hacked
@Pete
She was asking for it, right? It was her fault her skirt was just a little bit too short. When we saw that we couldn’t help ourselves, one thing led to the other, we got horny, things happened very quickly and she got raped. But hey, It’s her fault, she was asking for it.
Seriously Pere, it’s people with opinions like your’s, who make this world a shittier place.
Pete, what are women doing taking nude pictures of themselves? Well…that’s between the woman and the person intended to see the picture. How is she a narcissistic pervert? For someone calling someone else narcissistic without having known them, you seem awfully judgmental.
The only thing Lawrence is a casualty to is stupidity. For being a narcissistic pervert, she paid the price. She also paid the price for being stupid. In the internet age, where every thing you do is recorded, tracked and displayed in the open, she should have known better. And what are women doing taking nude pictures of themselves? Are they looking up to Anthony Weiner?
Main issue for me, is something most people isn’t talking about. Even with face recognition technology, who has the power to actually browse thousands and thousands cellphones to get to the right ones and to the right pics?
I’m smelling something rotten, really, really rotten, and let’s see what new law comes after this to “reinforce” internet security. It reminds me too much of the Janet Jackson’s Superbowl incident that allowed the 30 seconds delay on live airing of events, a way that could prevent certain things from being shown to mass audiences (a.k.a. CENSORSHIP). Be careful what freedom you give up, what rights you lose.
And I can talk about this, a naked pic of me was one morning posted at a wall at my work… taken from the internet, from Flickr, taken out of context, for anyone to see (you needed to look it up to see it, specifically search for it). As I told my boss, when complaining, I have zero problem with people seeing me naked, I’m a nudist and thousands have seen me naked, live… including workmates who I’ve met at the beach. Problem is, no-one should be forced to see me naked, at an office, at their workplace, against their will. Whoever wants to see me naked, knows the beaches I go to. This is similar… these women trusted the privacy of their cellphones, someone broke in, and distributed against their will. In exchange, they DO have a problem with these pics being spread around the web. I do not have that worry, I really don’t care, but these women have a career that could be affected by it.
Hmmm I agree this isn’t sexual assault. To gender an issue regarding the violation of peoples’ privacy is a bit…unsettling. Nudes being leaked is pretty much equal with both men and women. It’s just weird that we go crazy over a man’s nudes but a woman’s nudes is not something to celebrate about – which I agree – but the reactions when you switch the genders is fascinating to say the least. Not to mention calling it rape or sexual assault is just trivialising the issue to say the least, it’s just an insult to actual victims of rape and sexual violence.
I’m generally unphased by this though. To me it’s just nudes. I’ve received nudes from both men and women. So I guess this is like…meh to me. But it’s the hypocrisy that going on Tumblr seeing men’s nudes being spread like wildfire compared to reblogging a woman’s nudes because is taboo…
I just think this is the human body and there is nothing shameful or exciting or scandalous about it. I do feel for Jennifer. My ex had his nudes leaked by someone and I was like, “why do you need to do that?” like??? Same with an ex-girlfriend of mine who had her nudes leaked by an ex of hers. Just the digital age stuff lmao. But uncool. The issue goes far beyond sex but more towards a violation of privacy. Jen’s better off laughing it off or not talking about it. Like, I would’ve forgotten about this if people didn’t make a big deal out of it. Move on people!
And if anyone’s confused with this post I’m pretty much a bi-girl so whatever.
I recall the Seth MacFarlane “we saw your boobs” skit at the Academy Awards. Some people were offended and considered it an affront to the “dignity” of the awards show. But in a way, I viewed that skit as a sad commentary on how the industry pushes women to show their boobs (and more) for lucre. Now we have hackers displaying naked actresses. What gives- only the movie studios should get to do that. 😉
I first learnt about the news of the violation and invasion of Lawrence’s privacy a few hours ago on Yahoo just after I’d logged out from my Yahoo mail.
I haven’t seen her pictures [those images] or any other celebrities’. And I’m not interested in searching for those sites (I assume there were at least two, I mean). And now that I’ve understood from part of Sasha’s article that it was not only a prank call (which, if so, still remained so outrageous an act) but also some kind of profit-oriented action more or less, I urge people (heterosexual and/or lesbian readers) basically to ignore those links.
I’m hoping people will be more respectful to others’ privacy.
As for blaming them for having kept these treasures in cloud storage or something like that, I find it unfair to do so (blaming the victims regardless of prudency level). Because the purpose of keeping your pictures and important intelligence in the cloud, ironically in this case, is primarily to protect them from being lost and in a sense to enhance the level of your own privacy. I think, apart from the primary culprits, the cloud storage operators could have been more prudent.
BUT at the end of the day, no matter what, I #don’t think the customers — in this case: Lawrence et al — should be the ones to blame. (I personally have no cloud accounts but in my book the customers, careful ones or not, should not be the one to blame when shxt happens — blame the culprits.)
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(And for any strategically wholesale male-hating comments, if any, do let us not forget that we are discussing relatively a few culprits here, not to mention how we be so sure of the gender . . . . )
Holy shit, there are some serious typos in that post above. Where’s that EDIT button?
I think I fixed most of them for you, Koleś. Anything I missed, let me know.
This whole situation has a certain undertone, that might be the reason behind it. It’s oversexualising everything, especially women’s breasts. This constant craving for images of JLaw’s (or any celeb’s) naked body was bound to end up like this. I’m not saying that it had to end up with breaking the law and violating someone’s privacy, but the narrative behind this craving was that the public will eventually get what they want, no matter if it’s a Playboy photoshoot, a full frontal scene in a movie or a selfie. It was the same thing with Scarlett Johansson, the craving always had an answer somewhere at the end of the line. It wasn’t much of a surprise that it “finally” happened.
The problem is of course the craving, the demand for nudity of famous people, but let’s not be naive to say that the industry is not putting any effort into creating and stimulating that demand. It’s ruthlessly oversexualising these people and making the naked female’s body (male’s too, but that’s for later) a taboo, something forbidden that’s not for anyone to see, because it’s wrong. However they pollute the public sphere with “socially acceptable” and WAYYYYYY oversexualised images of celebrities, where the “not for the public view areas” are so poorly covered, that it really doesn’t matter if they are wearing any clothes at all. The sole purpose for these images is to keep the craving alive. Keep them talking about, keep them wanting more, keep them hungry for the taboo. It’s the ugly side of publicity, but right now it’s required for celebrities to shut the fuck up and walk the line of countless sexy photoshoots. Otherwise you’re useless in creating the demand for the naked boob.
It has gone so far that people are willing to ruthlessly invade one’s privacy and break the law in the process just to get a glimpse of that little piece of flesh, that the industry is telling us not to expose. People’s privacy and feeling is getting the shaft, while the public devours and the industry watches. And the reason behind that is the simple fact, that the human body, male or female, is seriously oversexualised in the media and public opinion. That creates the craving, craving becomes an obsession and eventually the fit will hit the shan like it did in this case.
People need to start treating the bare human body as something natural, normal and perfectly fine to expose. The media won’t let that happen, but that’s the only solution. You who doesn’t give a fuck about their “privacy” being invaded? Eva Green. Why? She has nothing that the public wants, but still does not have. She is of no value for the industry, because it’s not possible to keep the craving alive with her not being exposed. Same goes for Kathy Bates. This woman had the guts to expose her body, that’s far from the “standard woman’s” image implanted in our minds by the industry, and you know what. There is nothing wrong in that. There is nothing wrong or taboo about a bare human body. We come in different shapes and sizes, but nobody should ever had the right to say – “It’s cool to show that, but uncool to expose that.” This is where you loose control over your own including.
There have been numerous studies and articles of the damaging impact of unrealistic body standards shaped by the media. A person who is cool with looking the way he/she is will not buy a ton of diet products, hire a personal trainer or start exercising in the latest line of sport’s clothes by Nike. The same goes for the exposed human body. A person who is used to the sight of the naked body will not hack another one’s Cloud account to check for new nude pics. This obsession has taken us to far, but the industry of creating this demand for nudity is to blame. Real people and real emotions get hurt in the process and that’s unacceptable.
Great article Sasha! Reading this and other articles on the matter I feel more and more bad having seen the photos of Jennifer Lawrence not that I have Google it specifically but out of curiosity as I first heard about it through twitter and the link to perez hilton webpage. I see her to be a great role model for young people both genders and as I am such a fan of her as an actress and just person I feel like I have seen like a friends naked picture and feel completely bad about it. I probably havent worded this well but I thought your page was the best one to post as I am huge fan of this site.
SallyInChicago, your post gives you no room to label others naive.
Sorry, I’m with KT. Although we might give Jen a pass because she’s only 23 or 24. So she’s still a “teenager” in my mind. Naive.
But yes, you don’t put anything you treasure and consider private on the internet/the cloud. It’s like your bank account and investment information — would you store that on Google Docs or a photo site?
This is a lesson to all these young “starlets” to keep their photos private. Nobody wants to see them, honestly.
But on the other hand — it’s GOOD publicity, just ask KK.
There’s a difference between blaming the victim and making good choices. I don’t walk down the street holding hundred dollar bills in my hands. But if I chose to and someone stole them from me, I’d still be the victim of theft. And it would be the thief’s fault, not mine. We live in a world of criminals, it’s best to keep that in mind.
As for this, I feel kind of dirty since I clicked a link to see who was hacked (everyone just listed the same three to four people) but have yet to see any nudity other than Ariana Grande (which may or may not have been real, I didn’t really contemplate it too much). It was then that I realized I was part of the problem. If I were going to give the websites who profit from this (and yes, this site is now one of them because there are ads on this page) an extra click, I’m just giving websites the further incentive to traffic in this trash.
I am sorry but saying “she should have known better and not taken pictures” is blaming the victim(s). It is like saying she shouldnt have worn mini skirt!!!
She apparently didnt take her pictures for public consumption! It is a serious breach of privacy! I know in this age of paparazzi, reality tv, tabloids, celebrities are not given much break with their privacy. But there should be some lines somewhere…yes there are some bimbos out there who uses their nude pictures as a career tool…If that is what they choose to do, thats fine. In cases like these, however, privacy should be respected…what happens to them today could happen to anyone tomorrow, if not already has!
I’ve had the pix shoved on my face twice already.
They’ve wanted to bring her down for a while now. I predict copious box-office success and numerous Academy Award nominations in her bright happy future.
The only indelicate thing she’s accountable for is leaving Nicholas Hoult for her current fling.
Thank you Sasha. After all of this came out, I felt dirty about making videos for my husband but you made me feel empowered again. I do feel so very badly for Ms Lawrence as well as all of the others who have had their private moments viewed worldwide.
I’m with steve50 on this. I won’t be learning as much as Sasha did about intimate parts because I won’t be clicking the links. And yes I’m hetero. I have lots of other sites where I can enjoy images where the subject volunteered her beautiful body. I don’t want to participate in a violation. I never saw the Scarlett Johansson pics either
“It’s near impossible not to want to see these things if they are available. Who wouldn’t be curious?”
*raises hand*
No interest whatsoever in viewing these as they were obtained illegally and, as far as I’m concerned, fall into the same category as the millions of faked celeb photos, male and female, littering the internet. They are a form of slander and don’t deserve to be viewed. A little self-control can go a long way to lessen embarrassment to public figure targets.
The sooner we get over this N. American adolescent and prurient obsession with nudity, the sooner the sniggering will stop and the demand for it will lessen.
In the meantime, we have to accept that there is no privacy in this world. If you want to jam your iPhone down your pants, go for it, but remember you’re potentially flashing millions of people by using that particular medium. Think first.
The sooner we get over this N. American adolescent and prurient obsession with nudity
I’ll confess I’m a big fan of nudity. But I suspect part of the ‘thrill’ of seeing famous women naked stems from something much weirder.
These are men who want to publicly undress women who do not want to be seen undressed in public. It’s the cyber equivalent of going up to them on the Red Carpet and ripping off their gowns on live TV. It’s forcing them to be exposed for everybody to see, against their will.
That’s what makes it a violation — because it’s an act of psychological violence perpetrated against these women by men who want to strip them naked.
That’s how a perfectly normal thing like a woman being proud of her own body can be turned into an brutal attempt to humiliate her for being proud. Sick men who try to turn that pride into shame.
Sasha, what explicit photos? The real stolen pictures from Lawrence aren’t too different from those of Scarlett Johansson or Blake Lively.
If you’re talking about the REALLY explicit pictures, I would like you to know that they are all confirmed fakes. Some are screenshots from a professional porn film, others are pictures from an unknown woman leaked on 4chan (or reddit, i don’t know) months ago. And, to be honest, it’s very easy to see that the person pictured in these explicit photos is not Jennifer Lawrence.
But yeah, I agree with your post. What happened is disgusting and I hope the people responsible rot in jail for a long time.
I think there are more serious questions to be probed here in addition to what Sasha posed. First, someone on Lawrence’s level (A-list) of stardom should have known (or been told by her team) that taking pictures like this and uploading them to her cell phone or computer put her privacy at risk, as it does for anyone. This material, as we know, is in the digital realm, and is therefore accessible to anyone, from a hacker to some wank in the NSA. You take a picture on a cell phone and send it to your computer or send it through a text, and it can be found by someone if they look hard enough, simple as that. Except you and me aren’t targets; and someone like Jennifer Lawrence is. There is no excuse why the very explicit pictures of her were taken in the first place.
Also, we don’t know if it was necessarily Lawrence’s phone or personal computer or iCloud that was hacked. There is some speculation that these are casting couch pictures taken from around the time of Silver Linings Playbook or the promotion of that film. Now we should never know the circumstances behind the picture, if they were taken for personal- or professional-driven reasons, but I hope that in some way this indicts the Hollywood system. Actresses are often pressured to do what is possible to get a role, to take that next career leap for a part or for awards, and it was recorded that Lawrence worked very hard to be considered and cast in that film. Many execs and producers and directors are real scumbags (Bryan Singer was revealed recently) and propagate this behavior behind the scenes. So these photos may have deeper meaning than just on a personal level.
Lastly, it is clear that the hackers were very likely horny straight men. They could actually expose something socially important if they went after more significant targets, namely people who have made their careers by lying to the American public. Whether that is a male lead actor who hides a very different private life than the persona he projects (there are many) or on a much higher level, a politician (or maybe a famous political couple) who lies to the public about his private life. Anyway, just my two cents.
I don’t even think Lawrence should have to dignify herself with a response. I think it’d be better to just not even address it, to not give in to what the hackers wanted. That’s what I think. But I know that’s not how the world works and sometimes great words from a great woman is needed to address a group of people who could really need to hear those words. Whatever Lawrence (and Upton) want to do is something that should be backed by their fans at large. This is why sexting should be done with pen, paper and polaroids and have everything hand delivered…with a wink so the person knows what it’s about.
I meant to write – ‘Why didn’t this spineless asshole hack into some high profile male’s accounts to at least give appearances that he WASN’T a misogynist asshole creep?’
It sounds like you delved a bit deeper than I did Sasha, as you describe the more ‘intimate’ parts of Jennifer’s body. The few images my eyes were forced to glance at in my twitter feed was enough to say, ‘She’s a beautiful and healthy girl’. As a straight female, that’s all I cared to say and see. But if many more photos of her were revealed, and they showed bits of her that only a lover or Ob-Gyn should see, then I definitely empathize with the horror she is experiencing.
This is akin to cyber rape – there, I said it. I also find it disgustingly sad that a cowardly MALE, hacked the iCloud records of high-profile females and shared them with the world. Why didn’t this spineless asshole hack into some high profile male’s accounts to at least give appearances that he was a misogynist asshole creep?
I’m so sick and fucking tired of women being used as sexual bait and toys to glare at, size up, and laughed at. To see all the jokes about masturbating upon the release of these images made me think that all men reverted back to 3rd grade!