Jennifer Lawrence is speaking out about the nude photos that were stolen from her hacked account and published on the Internet. In an interview for Vanity Fair, she asserts that what happened was a sex crime.

“It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world…It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”  (Source)

Jennifer Lawrence: Stolen Nude Photos “A Sexual Violation”

Before everyone starts going off the deep end at her terminology, a “sex crime” does not always equal “sex assault.” Jennifer Lawrence is not claiming she was a victim of sexual assault, or that what happened to her equals sexual violence or rape. She is not lessening the horribleness that is sexual assault or making light of what victims of rape and sexual violence face. However, hacking, theft, and sexual exploitation are all very serious and do equal a crime, and that crime is of a sexual nature to some degree. This was not just a simple scandal. Her private nude photos were spread all over the Internet by someone whose motivation was to humiliate, exploit, and make a profit. Investigations are still ongoing and the actual criminal laws that will apply to this case is yet to be finalized.

The general feeling that I am getting from the comments about this story, both today and earlier this year when the story broke, is that it’s her own fault for either a) taking the pictures in the first place, b) trusting that her password-protected cloud storage was secure, or c) both of the above.

Let’s see…if someone hacked your bank account and stole all your money, it’s technically your own fault for putting your money out there in the first place?

If someone hacked into, say, Target or Home Depot, and managed to get your bank card information and go on a spending spree, it’s technically your own fault for using such an unsecured means of making a purchase?

Or…one step further…if you’re sexually assaulted while crossing a dark parking lot, it’s your own fault for getting groceries alone after dark?

Many many people take not-meant-for-the-public photos. Nude photos of themselves or their partner. Naked baby pictures. Little kids running through the sprinkler in their underwear, in the privacy of their own fenced-in yard. Men and women who take “before” and “progress” shots when trying to lose weight or gain fitness. Pregnancy and breast-feeding shots. Saving these pictures on a password-protected server is no less secure than the days when your envelope of developed photographs sat in an unlocked rack out in the open at your local photo development department. What if she had kept her private photos printed and in a dresser drawer, and then what if her house had been broken into, the photos stolen and distributed to every print magazine and newspaper? Is that still her fault? Should she have no expectation of security or privacy?

People have every right to expect privacy, especially if they take measures to ensure it as much as possible. The constant refrain of “why would someone even take nude pictures of themselves anyway?” is nothing but indirect blaming of the victim. Why would someone do that? What were they thinking? Of course, it was stupid and risky. It’s all the victim’s fault.

Let’s take a look at what is really the saddest part of this whole thing. It is not that someone’s private photos were hacked and distributed. It’s that millions of people actively searched the Internet so they could gawk at the photos. Millions of people have such little respect for others that they couldn’t wait to find those photos and see for themselves. Thousands upon thousands of “shares” made the photos spread like wildfire all across the Internet. And then, these same people, turn around and condemn her for taking those photos in the first place?

Oh yes, now I see. Jennifer Lawrence is definitely the problem.

#ImNotLooking

The full interview will be available in Vanity Fair’s digital edition on October 9, then on newsstands nationwide October 14.