My Story with Nonconsensual Porn
Someone recorded a video of me naked and posted it on a porn site without my consent.
It was online for an entire year and reached 20,000 views. And I had no idea until a week ago when someone slid into my dm’s and informed me.
I’m watching a video of my two friends and I—naked—at the nudist beach; it’s obvious we’re completely unaware we’re being recorded.
The man who captured us has been going to nudist beaches, recording women, and then uploading them onto sites to make profit.⠀
I’m not humiliated. I‘m angry, I’m indignant. It’s violating. It’s invasive. It’s objectifying. It’s exploitation. It’s not consensual. It feeds into the very frameworks and behaviors that work against women.
And I won’t stand for it.
There’s a lot to unpack here, so let me start with this:
We don’t have control over other people, we do we have control over how we react. How can you respond in a way that empowers—you, and those around you?
For me, it’s using my experience to continue raising awareness. It’s demanding they take down the video (they did) and canceling this man out. It’s sharing because one person can relate and feel less alone. It’s going back to the beach and reclaiming that space. It’s using this as an opportunity to reflect more on all the ways this relates to conversations were having today.
It’s not staying silent.
Silence breeds shame. Silence keeps harmful, oppressive systems in place. Silence lets people get away without the repercussions of their actions. Silence is deadly. Silence disempowers.
And there’s a solution.
You, I, we—have voices.
Reclaiming our power is using them, not silencing them. Through sharing our story, vocalizing what we won’t tolerate, demanding justice, we heal, we take our power back, we make noise, and we create change.
Look at what we accomplished in 2020. Work still needs to be done, no denying that, but how amazing is it that our voices were powerful enough to make a global impact.⠀
Let’s keep it up.
Your voice is your right. Use it to raise awareness. Use it to share your story. Use it to share this story. Use it to heal yourself. Use to heal the world.