Lately there has been a lot of fuzz going on about some leaked celebrity nudes and I must say that I am quite chocked at the cultural development.
My first thought was: who is stupid enough to put nude pictures online? Somehow people must know that it is just a matter of time before outsiders crack the security measures. I mean even for everyday Janes and Joes this would be a strange thing to do, but if you are famous it is terribly stupid – or ingenious.
The media has completely exploded with news about these hurt / violated / appalled actresses that now can be found displaying their skin, boobs and lady parts. Forums and gossip sites exploded with where?! where?! Where can I see the pictures? Jennifer Lawrence that was not an unusual face in media before is now placed on every webpage I visit looking disturbed while apparently suing everyone who dares to send the pictures further.
A rather cynical question enters my thoughts: who gains the most from this exposure? Is it really the obsessed fans who finally get a glimpse of their movie-crush’s boobs? Cause honestly…
Sadly my thoughts move to another idea. It is really not a secret that nudity gets the publicity ratings going. In fact it does not even matter if it is in a scandalous manner (who does not know of Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian) or as in this case a victim-kind of manner – the latter is of course to prefer. The fact is that nudity sells and I strikes me as implausible that the actresses’ careers would go downhill after a thing like this.
The second thing that hit me was: who gives a crap if some pictures of people naked are found? Why is it such a big deal to see Lawrence’s nipples? The entire Internet is filled with pornography I am sure that one can find millions of nipples out there without a fraction of the effort put into gathering these celebrity nudes. One would think that this kind of Internet culture would relax humanity in the face of nudity. But apparently it has not.
I can totally sympathize with the victims of this tale. I would probably also not be too happy if there were nudes of me online. But the reason for this lies not so much in the fact that I believe nudity to be a shameful thing, or that nakedness is special in anyway. Instead it is because of the absurdly over-proportionate attention nudity is given. It is like people cannot believe that celebrities also have naked bodies – ordinary human naked bodies – and in situations like this when there is proof of celebrity nudity it suddenly hold some insane value.
While I too can find it a bit uplifting that these generally Photoshopped-to-nonrecognition celebrities can be displayed in a more natural light; with loop-sided boobs and skin imperfections, it strikes me as absurd to hunt these pictures down for some level of self-satisfaction, whether it is sexual or for some other reason.
Maybe it would be healthy to not make such a big deal about a few naked bodies regardless of who they belong to.