Revenge porn (Or: Another reason not to take nude photos)

Image via Wikipedia

When you’re in love, life is glorious. Your paramour seems to be capable of doing no wrong — the paragon of devotion and passion. You’ll share anything with your perfect partner. Home-cooked meals. Your most intimate thoughts. Tales of your family and upbringing. Your friends. Nude photos in the bedroom.

Well, that last one has never seemed particularly wise to me. (Good thing, given the number of ex-boyfriends I’ve racked up. Though only one who kind of hates me.) Because when things turn sour, all that you have shared can be suddenly and painfully used against you as the wooing and cooing transforms into psychological warfare.

While tales of youthful indiscretions and deep-seated insecurities can be employed as weapons in verbal combat, it is the nude photos that become the WMD capable of inflicting the most tangible damage to your life, livelihood and reputation. This is thanks in part to websites designed to house “revenge porn.” A paper by University of California (Davis) law professor, Anupam Chander, on “youthful indiscretion in an Internet age” pointed me to the website Ex Girlfriend Pictures (http://www.exgfpics.com/blog/ — WARNING: Not safe for work…. or ever, really). The tagline for the site is “Submitted Photos of Nude Ex Girlfriends & Former Wives.”

There, angry boyfriends (and ex-husbands) have posted photos of their exes posing naked and/or mid-sex. I looked through what was on the front page, and I was seriously scandalized. There were angles of women’s bodies I never thought I would see without going to med school first to become an ob/gyn.

And those who post are not just driven by hate. Here’s one testimonial relayed by the site’s creator:

Milo says he was always a big fan of his ex girlfriend’s big boobies, and who wouldn’t be!? he also says that there’s no real story behind their relationship or break-up. They had a hell of a lot of fun while they were dating and the relationship just ran it’s course. She loved the attention she got from her huge rack, though. So, Milo knows she would probably be flattered to discover so many men drooling over her chest Well, it’s working for me, Milo. Thanks!

Somehow I suspect that she would not in fact be flattered.

The site has been around and active since 2005. Given that the website creator appears to be doing the posting of the pics and commenting on them, I’m a bit shocked he hasn’t been sued and the site dismantled. Given his active involvement in the posting, he would seem to lose the protection granted by the ironically named Communications Decency Act, which protects content hosters from liability for the content posted by their users. Does not including the women’s names or identifying information really protect him from being sued?

More amazingly, lots of us keep taking nude photos despite the risks of their going viral online. According to a 2008 survey from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy [PDF], if you’ve allowed a nude photo to be taken of you, you are far from alone:

How many young adults are sending or posting nude or seminude
images of themselves?

– 33% of young adults overall

– 36% of young adult women

– 31% of young adult men

via SexTech_Summary.pdf (application/pdf Object).

If you’re more Not-So Privately Progressive than me and you’re cool with nude photos spreading on the Internet like David after Dentist, then by all means, break out the camera in the bedroom. If not, it may be best to commit those nude images to memory rather than a memory stick.