As most of you will have heard by now, an anonymous hacker has stolen the private images of a large number of female celebrities, and posted them on 4chan, an imageboard website notorious for being a cesspit of misogyny.
Here are a selection of headlines I’ve seen today:
The Great Naked Celebrity Photo Leak of 2014 is Just the Beginning – Guardian
Jennifer Lawrence Nude Photos Leaked ‘After iCloud Hack’ – BBC
Leaked Nude Celeb Photos Spark Hacking Fears – Sky News
Jennifer Lawrence’s Nude Photos Leak Online, Other Celebs Targeted – Huffington Post
Leaked: Photos of Naked Celebrities, Including Jennifer Lawrence – The Sydney Morning Herald
Nude Photos of Many A-List Celebrities Leaked Online After Apparent Hacking – CTV News
*****
Leaked. Over and over, the same phrase is being employed. The photographs were leaked.
What a strange word to use. A leak is what happens when I fail to turn my tap all the way off. If my water bottle is not properly sealed, it leaks. If I had a baby, and then forgot to change its diaper often enough, that would leak too.
But is that what has happened here? Did the photos of these women suddenly find themselves on the internet in an unfortunate accident, brought about through the laws of physics and a defective containment system? Or was there something else at work here?
Read more Reports on ‘Leaked Nude Photos‘ — Just Another Form of Victim-Blaming by @CratesNRibbons