This week's celebrity nude photo story got me thinking … and made me realise there are a double standards, hypocrisy, and inconsistency when it comes to privacy, fame, and our attitudes concerning women.
If you missed it: this week a loser and/or group of losers released a bunch of naked pics online of mostly female actors and celebrities – all stolen from personal, private collections. Not the old fashioned "through the bedroom window" break in style, but by cracking personal accounts on "the cloud" – a magical place in the sky where anyone can store anything, then access this anything with any device. The cloud sounds lovely, until you realise your "anything" can possibly be accessed by "anyone".
The world reacted in two ways. "I'm outraged", or "where can I see Jennifer Lawrence's boobs?" Many people, clearly fans of the Victorian era, said celebs shouldn't have taken naked pics in the first place. Others said this is the price famous people pay for being famous. Angry people compared the theft to rape, and any attempt to politely suggest more photographic discretion was "victim blaming".
I must confess, I agree with most of these positions. So let's separate pure hysteria and logic, and see what happens.
With all this fancy technology, people are taking more pics of their flesh. Some of these people are famous. Why should fame preclude intimate photography? But, if you're storing pics on "the cloud" – and you're famous – you and your assistant probably didn't realise you can disable that feature on your phone. There's no other logical explanation.
Is privacy harder for celebrities? Yes. Is that fair? Mostly, yes. Crave attention, then recoil at the sharp glare of global affection – boo hoo. No job is perfect. Does this pic stealing cross the line? Absolutely. There are people in this world who suck. They are often men, with no sense of moral compass, and hopefully they'll learn a lot about the real world soon … in prison.
But what's interesting to is the two-tiered celebrity system we now have. In Hollywood's "golden age" there were A grade celebs (Hepburn, Monroe, Bacall, etc), and then the rest. Today, we have genuine actors who are also famous – Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence types … and a whole bunch of no talent "celebrities" famous for no reason at all (the Kardashians) who right now are snapping nude pics galore, slapping them onto the cloud, keeping fingers crossed they'll be hacked next.
This crime is shameful and a violation. But even the most hardened feminist has to admit the online rules are blurry. There are independent, free-thinking women actively using illicit sexuality as a self promotion tool. Sex tape anyone? So like it or not, as a result, some turnips assume everyone is fair game. Which means as unpalatable as this sounds … it's probably up to celebrities to protect their own bodies …and photos. I know it's unfair, but the reality is the online world is still the wild west, and to expect a high standard of civility and respect is frankly naive. How sad.
Tim is a writer, TV producer and proud former Canberra resident who has lived in Los Angeles since 1997. Twitter @timschildberger