Not a Scandal

Let's talk a wee bit about something thoroughly distasteful that his happening in the news lately:  the "celebrity nude scandal." Although I have deliberately avoided most of the reporting, my understanding is that some hacker apparently broke into the iCloud, and stole -- and subsequently made available to the world -- nude photographs of a variety of (as far as can be determined, solely female) celebrities.

This is not a "scandal".  It's a CRIME. And a violation of privacy.

The one thing that I find more repellent than the crime itself, is the shaming that has accompanied it:

"Why would anyone take nude photos of themselves? What a bad idea.  And if you did, why would you put them on a computer with internet access? Or in the Cloud? You take naked pictures of yourself and then complain when they end up published? Give me a break. They should have known." 

Let's just imagine for a moment that instead of a nude picture, it was financial information.  How many of you have credit card information stored somewhere? Or a pdf of your tax return?  Would the degree of "shame on you, you should've expected that" be the same?  Methinks not. People might shake their heads and wiggle a finger at you, reminding you that there are thieves everywhere and you need to be careful.  It would not have the same vitriol, the same schadenfreude, though.

It all comes back to sex.  It's as though the critics are saying: shame on these women, for being sexual creatures, for enjoying and appreciating their bodies, for -- gasp! -- sharing pictures of their bodies with a lover, a husband, a friend who would like them, or even just keeping the pictures for themselves.

Why is that so terrible?

There's nothing wrong with a nude photo.

What is wrong is stealing it and publishing it.

End of story.