If there’s one refrain we keep hearing over and over during this latest celebrity nude scandal, it’s: “If you don’t want nude pictures of yourself on the internet, then don’t take nude pictures.” If only it were that simple. Salon magazine posits that nude selfies have actually become essential to modern-day sexual self-expression.
New York sex therapist Ian Kerner explains there is an element of submission in sharing a naked selfie. “To be able to share a sexy photo with a partner can be an expression of the safety and security in a relationship, which makes them all the more arousing,” he explains. Kerner adds that “nude photos can be a kind of sexy secret between two partners, a token and totem of the intimacy between two people.” When you share a nudie pic in the context of a relationship, it’s both a pledge and leap of faith that nothing will go wrong in the relationship. No cheating, no lies, no betrayals, no heartbreak — nothing that could fracture trust or inspire revenge. A naked photo is a virtual promise ring.
What about celebrities, though, who ought to be more vigilant about their privacy? Why do they continue to take them?
Kerner makes another point that might be especially relevant in the case of female celebrities’ nudes: “We live in an age of sexual objectification, and taking a sexy selfie or allowing a partner to do so is a way of taking control of the objectification process and feeling sexually empowered, or enjoying that objectification through the eyes of an intimate partner.” A naked selfie might be a powerful way for a female star, whose career is built around her physique and sex appeal, to reclaim her body — which just makes the recent photo thefts that much more of an insult.
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