Mid-year new year's resolution.

I'll be starting my New Year's resolution in September this year. Autumn seems like a good time to do it. My resolution is to blog more often. Here's today's. 

You might have been following the rather depressing saga of Jennifer Lawrence et al's nude photos appearing on Reddit, and just generally all over the internet. Pictures of Lawrence, and others, which they took for personal use, were stolen by a bunch of basement-dwelling perverts, who circulated the pictures amongst themselves. So far, so sordid. 

The pictures appeared in public when one of the basement-dwellers tried to sell his collection to the highest bidder. In order to prove that the pictures actually existed, he posted a number of them on 4Chan. These later circulated to Reddit and other sites. (This basement dweller apparently also later complained that he was only bid $120 in bitcoins for the rest of the collection. As though other people had something wrong with them.) 

The comments beneath any internet article about this whole debacle have been the most depressing aspect of the whole thing. It's like misogyny whack-a-mole down there, below the line. A popular variant is: "These women rely upon beauty as part of their job; therefore, if I want to see them naked, I have every right to see them naked." Well yes, they do rely on beauty - because the film industry dictates that beauty=value, and you can't get anywhere as a female actor without it. But that doesn't mean they have to show you their tatas, just because you want to look at them. 

(Another popular comment, probably posted by people who send their comments into the internet by carrier pigeon, reads: "If these women didn't want people to see their pictures, they shouldn't have put them on the internet in the first place!" By the way, Grandpa, they didn't. Their phones were maliciously and systemically hacked by criminals.) 

In short: Jennifer Lawrence has achieved a lot in her 23 years, but let's not task her with the job of single-handedly smashing patriarchy, as well. She's got a job to do (i.e. being ace in films.)

On a related note, you want to see boobs? I'll show you boobs! 

Currently reading

Good Company (unpublished novel) Armin Koomagi