In case you weren't aware some intimate pictures of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and a bunch of other celebrities were leaked online the last couple of days in an event that the internet has in it's always tasteful wisdom dubbed 'The Fappening.'
The pictures appear to have been stolen from their hacked from their Apple iCloud accounts. The iCloud will of course automatically store pictures, music, and video from your apple devices unless you specifically tell it not to. It's a nice feature to be able to get my music on my iPhone and my iPad, but there's a catch. Storing things in the cloud stores things in an apple server in who knows where, it's not a super secure situation.
Before we go any further let me just say that I really do feel bad for JLaw, Upton, and the other celebrities involved in this. I also don't buy into the 'if you don't want them leaked don't take them' argument. I think Lena Dunham said it best:
Right on Lena. Telling people to be more puritanical as a solution to an invasion of privacy or any modern problem really isn't the solution in America, that's the solution in Saudi Arabia. I don't know about you, but I've got some issues with the Saudi Arabian take on morality.
There certainly has been a groundswell of support for JLaw and the other affected celebrities. Writers, bloggers, and celebrities alike have come charging out against the 'sex crimes' of those behind all this. Some take it further than others, Kate Knibbs of Gizmodo writes:
Apple has not commented on how exactly hackers got their pathetic, pervy hands on the private photos of talented famous people like Jennifer Lawrence and Hope Solo, but the snot-gobbling basement dwellers who reposted the pictures like grossly violating the privacy of a celebrity could somehow erase the deep-rooted pettiness of their lives
That's pretty strong stuff Kate, but I have a feeling you're not done...
No matter how they did it, the flaccid-dicked trashcans who spread the hacked photos around are now under Apple scrutiny.
Hot takes, but there's a couple of problems with this. First, I'm not sure using sexually demeaning language against those you accuse of a sexually demeaning act is a good strategy. I understand your feelings on what they did, I even agree with them, but I see no reason to stoop to their level.
Secondly, and this is the big issue. This is a very different stance than the one Kate Knibbs took on the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal. Writing for Digital Trends a year ago Kate had this to say on Weiner:
In 2011, Weiner became a national joke when he accidentally tweeted provocative pictures of himself, which led to revelations that he'd been sending sexual pictures to many women online, despite the fact that he was a married public servant with a pregnant wife. During this current mayoral run, Weiner distanced himself from that controversy... but failed to mention that his lewd Internet trawling didn't stop after he'd been made to resign for lewd Internet trawling.
Dick pic me once, shame on you. Dick pic me twice, well ... you shouldn't accidentally do this twice because there are oh-so-many ways to keep this stuff under wraps.
Now there are certainly some differences in the two cases. Weiner had his pictures leaked by the person he was sending them to, while Jennifer Lawrence had her pictures stolen by hackers. If someone you know steals your car is it really better than if a stranger does though?
Kate is blaming Weiner for his pics getting leaked to the public, but she is blaming Jennifer Lawrence's hackers. I understand the difference between accidentally putting pictures in iCloud and sending them through twitter. Isn't that really just the 'she was asking for it' argument again though? I also get that Anthony Wiener was married and his wife was pregnant, would it be any less of a sexual assault if it happened to a woman who was cheating?
Weiner was the butt of late night jokes and had to make a public apology, Jennifer Lawrence is just a victim. This does not of course make Jennifer Lawrence any less of a victim, she certainly is. I just find it interesting that this scandal was the one that outraged us.
Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton are still the sex tape punchline of comedians world wide, will Jennifer Lawrence be treated the same? I doubt it. Why is that exactly? Paris and Kim made money off and leveraged their sex tapes to their advantage, does making the best of the situation erase the problem with have with the original invasion of privacy?
Could it be something harder for us to admit? Could it be that now that this has happened to a young pretty blond celebrity who everyone loved it's a tragedy, but when it happened to politicians, rich heiresses, a girl who was shockingly dating a black man, and thousands of innocent regular men and women a year it wasn't as big a deal?
Kate Knibbs described Anthony Weiner as 'lewd.' Maybe the real lesson of 'the Fappening' is that we should rethink not just our attitude on sex scandals and hacking, but how we judge people.
What do you think about 'the Fappening?' Let us know in the comments below.
h/t to Reddit user fpsi for posting the screenshot that led me to these stories, which ironically I found in 'The Fappening' subreddit.
Post By http://lightlybuzzed.com/2014/09/02/hypocrisy-fappening-backlash/
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