The Fappening — Are Naked Jennifer Lawrence Photos Worse For Apple or Feminism?

The Fappening — that’s the name that’s been given the gigantic booty of sexts and other steamy photos that leaked all over the internet after first being posted on 4Chan earlier this weekend. Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez — the list of female celebrities includes just about every A-lister you could imagine.

Of course, the possibility of action in court has already come into play — The Inquisitr reported earlier that Lawrence’s legal team is already on stand-by. Mary Elizabeth Winstead has already taken to Twitter in order to shame those who are looking at the intimate view that “The Fappening” has given into her private life.

To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves.

— Mary E. Winstead (@M_E_Winstead) August 31, 2014

Just like about anything else having to do with women and sex lately, the conversation about the photos has quickly been directed toward “rape culture” — the buzzword that is being used by activists to put a name on the pervasive sexualization of women in media and on the street. Advocates of the term say that our culture often turns a blind eye toward sexual violence, not to mention bizarre events like The Fappening.

Monday morning, an editorial by Roxane Gay appeared in The Guardian discussing the greater issues surrounding grainy amateur photos of Lawrence, Grande, Gomez and others.

“It’s not clear what the people who leak these photos hope to achieve beyond financial gain and a moment of notoriety. I suppose such impoverished currency is enough. The why of these questions is hardly relevant. These hackers are not revealing anything the general public does not already know. BREAKING: beneath their clothes, celebrities are naked. What these people are doing is reminding women that, no matter who they are, they are still women. They are forever vulnerable.”

Gay continued to point out that The Fappening only included two men — Dave Franco who was unlucky enough to be caught in a nude photo with Allison Brie and Justin Verlander in one with Kate Upton.

“It goes without saying that there aren’t many nude photos of men being released. Men are largely free to bare their bodies as they choose without repercussion, unless… the man happens to be in a picture with a young woman, collateral damage.”

Beyond social issues, The Fappening also has the potential to be very bad news for Apple. Its iCloud service is thought to have been the source of the hack, which may lower consumer confidence in the product’s ability to safeguard their information according to an editorial at Betanews.

“For the many people who were considered paranoid about distrusting the cloud, this justifies their concerns… even if the leaked photos were of people fully clothed, that doesn’t change the fact that their privacy was violated.”

How big of a violation of privacy do you think “The Fappening” was? Does it hurt your faith in Apple’s ability to deliver a secure cloud service when even Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence and Ariana Grande can’t catch a break?

[Photo via 20th Century Fox]

The Fappening — Are Naked Jennifer Lawrence Photos Worse For Apple or Feminism? is an article from: The Inquisitr News