Why are we all doing naked selfies and this is ok
Text: Daria Nifontova
In a world where there is instagram, twitter and facebook, it would seem that nothing is left secret. Ten years ago we learned about the "life of others" from tabloids and press releases, but today we are informed about the imminent appearance of the child or the engagement firsthand: the stars themselves admit us into their lives. We know what the best sides of Kim Kardashian look like and what Drew Barrymore cooked for dinner. James Franco flirts unsuccessfully with a fan with all her subscribers, and Beyoncé will post ambiguous statuses after another wave of gossip about the imminent divorce. You can talk about the desacralization of the institute of celebrity, and you can talk about the fact that we are all human (this is like a half empty and full glass). Yesterday’s discharge of personal photographs of Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, Kate Upton, Yvonne Strahovski and other famous girls confirmed for some reason the captivity of many that surprised many: all people are funny and naked.
Of course, it is worth separating the hacked information from the information provided voluntarily: in most cases, the revelations of the stars and us and them are only on hand - while we study the press Gwyneth Paltrow against the background of her garden and admire Pedro Pascal messing around with nephews on the beach, the stars acquire new ones loyal fans, advertise products and hone their image. But one thing is carefully selected and refined photos of a couple of filters on social networks, and quite another - private photos, intended only for a pair of eyes. The important news is that in the digital era, nothing “for a couple of eyes” exists anymore, and if that doesn't scare you - welcome to the club of authors of idiotic selfies with an obnoxious butt.
Exactly the same nude photos, as in the merged selection, are in the memory of the phone every second (perhaps this statistic is limited to sexually liberated residents of the megalopolis, boldly offer their options) to the owners of the smartphone. We do them for a hundred reasons, the most important and widespread of which came from the mouth of the creator of the notorious home porn Kim Kardashian: "I was horny and felt like it". Any selfie is an attempt to please, and it doesn't matter who you are talking about: your Instagram audience, yourself (take a dozen selfies to see if you are checking for lipstick) or your sweetheart. To be accepted and desired - not so much do all the people of the planet Earth, including celebrities want. Nude selfies are just another proof that the stars are people like us, they also need support, evidence of recognition and love.
We all, as audiences and as people, instead of asking why they took off their underwear, before turning on the camera, should think about why popularity implies an almost communist distribution of one person’s personal life to the entire population of the planet. After all, the main question that when creating such a content, let's call it, should excite the person who is taking pictures - can he trust the recipient of the photos? Stories about how former partners post photos to the public are unpleasant to anyone, but at least there is an excuse, they say, "trusting moral morality", it happens. An attempt on a private space by a stranger is another. And in this case, all the disturbances on the topic “there was nothing” become strikingly similar to the exclamations “there was nothing to dress like that” and “nothing to drink so much” often addressed to victims of sexual violence. Not women need to defend themselves from violence, the possibility of personal data leaks and home beatings, and the rest of society to recognize for us the right to choose who to expose, to whom to send erotic pictures and what poses to take in the pictures. When an unknown person from the Internet violates your personal boundaries, these are not your problems anymore, but his moral defiance and lack of dignity.
It is time for society to recognize for us the right to bare and take any poses in the pictures
How the lives of the participants in the scandal will change now is unknown. In an ideal world, of course, nothing. The hacker will be caught and punished, the celebrities will give a couple of interviews and wipe off all the worries, and we ourselves just forget about this story as quickly as we forgot about the hundreds of memes that flew past, lent by the photographs of Scarlett Johansson and just as soon as we forget about Ice Bucket Challenge. But this is a scenario from the ideal world, and in the real world, unfortunately, the rules of psychology apply to us all. Naked people, whether we like it or not, seem unreliable, unprofessional, and illogical to us. Of course, it is unlikely that any of us will now go to sign a contract with Kirsten Dunst and will suffer about this, but it’s not a fact that a colleague will not post his picture in a swimsuit (a conversation about professional ethics is a separate and now completely unimportant) you want to pin up on the subject of intelligence and frivolity at the very first planning meeting (we hope you are not such a person, but you never know). How exactly this situation affected the self-esteem of the stars, we will never know, but it’s foolish to expect that this news greatly pleased someone from the list: many have already spoken on Twitter about their outrage, and official representatives of our beloved Jennifer Lawrence have said that things are generally accountable by law.
What remains to be done to the witnesses, that is, to us? Yes, anything. These photos are part of the media story, which is not so easy to get out of and that has hurt many. To see the pictures or not is your personal choice and your personal karma. The most useful thing we can do is show the dark side to as many people as possible and explain to a friend, younger sister and maybe mom (just be careful) that your personal life should not be limited to the presence of freaks on the Internet, and loving your body is the best gift for yourself and your loved ones. The lawyers and a sense of humor will help the stars (some people are probably psychologists), but we ourselves will have to cope with this on our own. And that is how we will win.