Earlier this weekend, WWE Superstar Paige was a victim of
hacking. Someone hacked into her private files, stole, and posted nude photos
and threatened to expose a sex tape that she had made with a previous
boyfriend, former WWE Superstar Brad Maddox and current WWE Superstar Xavier Woods. Social media was buzzing with
speculation of what this might mean for the former Divas Champion. Would she be
punished or worse, fired? If the issues surrounding the fact that she was
hacked weren’t enough, the fact that there are questions about whether or not
she should apologize is perhaps what raises my anger level the most.
First, let me address the hacking itself. Unfortunately,
Paige is not the first female celebrity to have her privacy thus invaded. Nude
photos of Jennifer Lawrence among others were part of a major hack a couple of
years back. In addition to Paige, the cloud accounts for Emma Watson and Amanda
Seyfried were also hacked and similar photos of them have been released. This
goes far beyond the invasion of privacy committed by the paparazzi with their
telephoto lenses. Yet, it goes to the heart of the issues we continue to have
today with the cult of celebrity. There is something that is inherently wrong
with the way we treat women in the spotlight. We treat celebrities as though
they belong to the public, like they are our property. It is this culture that
contributes to the desire for these hacks to take place. Society craves this
kind of media, and hackers meet that desire.
Why does society crave this kind of content? Because they
put themselves in the public eye, we tend to act as though every aspect of
their life belongs to the general public. These hacks are a direct result of
the tabloid media that profits off of the private lives of celebrities. There
are some people that put their private lives in full display of the public.
However, these photos were not released by these women; they were stolen. There
is something inherently misogynistic about these kind of incidents. It treats
women as object solely for the sexual gratification of men.
Some might argue that if you did not want nude photos to be
released then you should not take nude photos. However, this kind of thinking
is more in line with the same mentality that perpetuates rape culture. We might
as well be asking a rape victim why she was wearing the clothing she was
wearing. Paige and other female celebrities were victims of a
sexually-motivated crime. Just because this crime was not violent like rape
doesn’t make it any less of a violation. In fact, I would argue that every man
or woman who chooses to view this released content is guilty of violating these
women the same as the hackers.
This leads me to the thing that perhaps pisses me off the
most: the suggestion that Paige should apologize for the nude photos. Honestly,
fuck that noise. She is an adult who chose to take photos or record videos for private use. She
has nothing to apologize for. Women should not be made to apologize for
expressions of their sexuality. This is nothing more than slut-shaming. Women
who are comfortable with their own sexuality and bodies should not be made to
apologize for that. This is especially true because the same expectation would
not be placed on a man in a similar situation. It especially rings true since another current superstar is involved in the video.
There is also fear that Paige might be fired for the release
of photos. This would be hypocritical on the part of WWE. I know that WWE
programming is considered family-friendly. However, when Seth Rollins had
similar content released on his Twitter by someone other than himself, he was
not punished or fired. He did make an apology, but even I thought that apology
was unnecessary. America’s attitude towards human sexuality is Puritanical and
can inhibit the development of healthy attitudes towards sex.
We need to stop treating female celebrities as sexual
objects who are simply there to gratify the sexual needs of others. Every
individual is entitled to a level of privacy when acting as consenting adults
in a sexual relationship. It’s none of our business if Paige or Emma Watson or
Jennifer Lawrence has taken nude photos of themselves for another person unless
they make the conscious decision to make it our business. Finally, if they were
to make that choice to post these images, then we should not shame them for it.
We certainly shouldn’t shame them for the release of pictures against their
will.
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