Only about two months ago, nude photographs of popular female celebrities like Ariana Grande, Kate Upton, and Victoria Justice were leaked onto the internet from the idols’ hacked iCloud accounts. While some of these women claim that the photographs were not of them or were cleverly photoshopped to look like them, others have confirmed that the photographs were real.
In Vanity Fair’s November issue, one such star, Jennifer Lawrence, addresses her leaked nude pics.
She states, “Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world.”
According to EOnline, the Hunger Games star also recalled attempting to write a statement in August after the nude photographs surfaced online: “Every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry. I started to write an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship [with Nicholas Hoult] for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.”
Lawrence then went on to accuse the leaked photos as a “sex crime.” She said, “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting.”
While I certainly do not believe that posting photographs of nude women–celebrity or otherwise–against the subjects’ will is appropriate or anywhere near acceptable, I definitely would not liken the leak of naked photographs to a sex crime. Disgusting, yes. Disrespectful, absolutely. But calling it a sex crime belittles actual sex crimes like molestation or rape. However, I don’t think Lawrence meant to trivialize sex crimes–she’s understandably still outraged at the immense privacy violation.
Hopefully the hackers behind the nude photo leak will be found and disciplined accordingly. No one should go unpunished for such a massive privacy violation.
(Featured image courtesy of Vanity Fair)
