Woman Posts Own Nudes to Counter Leaked Images
Most of us likely have naked pictures saved on an electronic device, whether it be on our cell phones, email account, computer, or automated toaster. Hell, many of us have them posted on FetLife.com.
Let’s face it. It’s fun to take pictures. It can be sexy. It can be flirty. It can even be empowering.
In 2011, Danish student Emma Holten tried to log into her email and Facebook account. She thought she had forgotten her password, but upon finally gaining access to her accounts, she was met with the shocking reality that she had become a victim. Someone had hacked her accounts, found nudes she had saved, and posted them on the internet.
Despite the shock and humiliation Holten felt, she decided that she would regain control of her own body. She did so by taking more nudes and posting them herself. That may seem counterintuitive, but it made a lot of sense to her. You see, in posting her private images online the hacker had violated her consent and attempted to humiliate her. People like that get off on the thrill of knowing they have that power over you. By consensually posting her own nudes, Emma reclaimed her body and sexuality. She’s also written a fantastic essay on consent, and that’s what we’d really like you to take a look at.
The pictures are an attempt at making me a sexual subject instead of an object. I am not ashamed of my body, but it is mine. Consent is key. Just as rape and sex have nothing to do with each other, pictures shared with and without consent are completely different things. – Excerpt from ‘Consent: An Objection by Emma Holten‘
You can read Emma’s essay on consent here, and contribute to the Kickstarter fund for the publication of the magazine here. CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti also did a great job interviewing her here on The Current.
Revenge and extortion porn is a growing trend, recently brought to mind in Canada in the case of Amanda Todd, the 15-year-old girl from British Columbia, who committed suicide in 2012 after someone she had been talking to online demanded more nudes, and said they would ruin her if she didn’t comply. The 35-year-old Dutch man charged in that case has recently released a letter proclaiming his innocence.
It is good to see that Emma took control of her life and handed it back to the person who did this to her, a very brave step on her part it was indeed. While men are the biggest offenders of all this, and its sad to see, not all men are bad. Men have a diff view of sexuality, a more raw aspect of it I would suggest. Not that men cannot be tender and loving as they can be. Who ever did this to Emma is a embarassment to the make male species. That is why men & women need to be together and listens to each others stories and walk with each other to know and understand hoe each sees the world and their place in it. Way to go Emma…..30