Women's bodies have unfortunately been a battleground since the beginning of time and the latest target has been Bella Thorne. She recently posted on Twitter and shared that a man had hacked all of her technology and that he was threatening to leak her nude photos. Thorne then decided to post the nudes herself on Twitter as a way to take the hacker's power away from him.
She explained,
"For too long I let a man take advantage of me over and over and I'm fucking sick of it, I'm putting this out because it's MY DECISION NOW U DON'T GET TO TAKE YET ANOTHER THING AWAY FROM ME."
Thorne was rightfully upset because the photos she took were meant for one specific person to see but then she was backed into a corner and was left with no option but to post them publicly because of the hacker's threats. Clearly, she is the victim in this situation, but to people like Whoopi Goldberg, this concept is difficult to understand.
During an episode of 'The View,' Goldberg brought up how a hacker had accessed Thorne's nudes, but instead of taking her side, she took the side of the hacker. She stated,
"Listen, if you're famous, I don't care how old you are, you don't take nude pictures of yourself...Whether it is one picture or a million pictures, once you take that picture, it goes into the cloud and it's available to any hacker who wants it."
I was completely appalled at Goldberg's take of the situation because her words have the potential to negatively impact thousands upon thousands of young girls. She both victim-shamed and slut-shamed Thorne for having private nude photos of herself because she "should have known" that a hacker would find it. Basically, she thinks Thorne should be held responsible and not the hacker because she was the one who put herself at risk.
I've seen a lot of people agreeing with Goldberg and saying that she made a good point when really, her point makes no logical sense. By her own definition, she shouldn't be using a cell phone, or any other technology, at all. She knows she could be hacked at any moment and have her personal information stolen. So really, it would be her own fault for owning a piece of technology in the first place. I'm sure that Goldberg would be furious if, for example, her credit card information was stolen. She would expect everyone to clearly side with her, much like Thorne.
To be told to just not take nude photos is as ridiculous as telling someone to not use their cellphone entirely. The digital era that we are living in clearly comes with its risks, but that does not mean that people should have to make compromises and avoid certain functions of their technology because of these "hacking risks." And yes, I know, the camera on your cellphone wasn't put there for the sole purpose of taking nudes, but it is an option available to us. Plus, Goldberg's snide remarks at Thorne's experience is not even about trying to "educate" her viewers about the dangers of technology. She was using that as a facade to cover-up her actual issue with Thorne: her embracing her body and sexuality.
Women are expected to be ashamed of their bodies, which causes people like Thorne to be chastised for loving their bodies and wanting to document them. There is nothing wrong with taking nudes and wanting to keep them for yourself or wanting to send them to a consenting adult. The female body is beautiful and many women have been able to feel empowered through nudity. Whether a woman is a celebrity or not, she should be able to explore her sexuality however she chooses (as long as it is not harming anyone.)
Blaming Thorne for her hacker's crimes is exactly like blaming a survivor of rape and not the rapist. No amount of nude photographs that a woman takes of herself makes her deserving of having her privacy violated and being publicly humiliated.
No one is entitled to any woman's body - not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
