Blog Post #12

Click Here To Watch The TED Talk

I am at a loss for words. I recently watched Darieth Chisolm’s TED Talk on “How revenge porn turns lives upside down”. At first, I chose to watch this segment because I have never heard of revenge porn. When I started to listen to Chisolm’s story, I could not imagine what she had been through. Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their permission. When you’re in a relationship you would never think someone would take photos of you sleeping, or save photos you may have sent and it is so scary that it’s something we have to worry about. To put things into perspective, imagine your friend posts an embarrassing photo of you. The photo makes you upset and uncomfortable and you want it to be taken down. Hopefully in your scenario, your friend will delete the photo and there is no need to worry. Well, Chisolm states, “How would you feel if your naked body was exposed for the world to see, and you waited helplessly for the content to be removed?” In this scenario, it’s not as simple as telling your best friend to remove the photo immediately. These women have to wait for it to circle the world, for it to reach legal authorities, and then have it removed. It really puts things into perspective. The world gets scarier and scarier and we need to be cautious of our surroundings. It saddened me to hear that 1 in 25 women are impacted by this disgusting act. Due to the fact it’s not criminalized, there is no protection for women put into these situations. Technology and social media are growing as we speak. It is constantly adapting, upgrading, and changing while reaching larger audiences. It is important for our legal systems to recognize these acts and put a stop to it. A fine is not sufficient punishment for this. We need to realize how powerful the internet can be, and try out best to filter it the best we can, and not abuse the power.