It’s always incredibly shocking how much of the blame is put on the victim.

Zara rose to fame on Love Island and while she was still in the villa and unaware of anything happening on the outside world, nude images of her started circling, mainly on WhatsApp but online too. So when she finally left the villa this was the first thing that she was greeted with.

Revenge porn is something that is so life changing to not only the victim but their family and friends as well. No person deserves their trust to be broken by someone that they felt they had a connection with and no perpetrator should get away with thinking that, that is ok for them to do.

I wrote about it before in terms of sending explicit pictures and in that review I talked about how to do it safely with your privacy intact, but really why should you have to worry so much about sharing a photo with someone that you trust and possibly love? Why should you ever think that this person could use this image against you? That is not something that someone should think about or even have to worry about because they should be able to trust in another person.

I find it disgusting that it’s often the victims that are shamed for what has happened rather than the perpetrator who shared the image being penalised for doing that and breaking that trust. The victim can share this image because it’s their choice and their right to share it, it is not the right of the person receiving it to then share it to anyone else around them without that person’s consent.

One thing that was spoken about in the documentary was Zara’s Instagram and how online she posts a lot of bikini and lingerie images, but the difference between that image and the image that circled during her time in Love Island was that those images she’s putting on Instagram are consented to. She has said that she is ok for that image to be spread, she wants people to see that image because it shows her feeling confident, and strong, and sexy, whereas the image that was circulated by an ex-boyfriend was not consented on and he had no right to share that image with anyone.

Once again this argument is victim blaming saying ‘oh we can’t have one without the other’ but we can! The whole thing comes down to consent and if you consent to having a lingerie image on social media then that’s perfectly fine, but having an image that is shared around without your consent is disgusting and in some ways could be seen as online sexual harassment.

I am so glad there are laws in place now to have these people taken down for what they have done because it is not fair on anyone to have something so damaging sent around. When you’re in a relationship where you feel safe with someone else and you feel you can share these images you should not feel ashamed for doing that, you are a consenting adult (hopefully) and you should want your partner to find you attractive and sexy, and for them to use that against you later on if things go sour is disgusting.

I think people should be able to share explicit images of themselves if they so wish, if they are an adult and are doing it with their own consent, they should be allowed to send their partner pictures of them in the nude or in lingerie or whatever. I see no issue with that but I do think it’s wrong when these images come out and people immediately blame the victim, the victim should not be blamed in this situation, the victim should be empathised with because they are going through a very traumatic experience. All eyes should be on the perpetrator who shared the image and they should be penalised for exactly what they’ve done.

Watching the show I do not see Zara as a victim, of course she is still working through a lot of the mental strain that these experiences had on her, but I see her as a strong, independent woman who has grown from the situation and who has learnt to be more careful with herself. Because, as horrible as it is, there are people out there who will treat you terribly and will betray your trust but for her to come out the other side and notice her self-worth and how sexy she is and be proud to put these images online I see as nothing but commendable, because going through that situation she could’ve gone back into her shell and she could’ve hidden herself away, but instead she came out stronger.

The people that feel it is okay to share these images need to be sorted out and people need to be spoken to more about consenting around these sorts of images, and why you shouldn’t share them. I don’t care if your ex-girlfriend cheated on you with five different men and made you feel terrible and told you you were terrible in bed, that doesn’t matter and does not give you an excuse to share an explicit image of her, be the bigger man or woman and move on. Don’t stoop to a level where you could end up with jail time, it’s disgusting, it’s wrong and it’s horrific that we live in a society where people think it’s ok.

What do you think of revenge porn?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding