And Janet, as a side note, I would not put you under the conservative umbrella I look forward to your WIW's precisely because you are not wearing what I can see in any mall in suburban America.

No, but not because I'm a prude. It's because (as you all know) I hate the idea of being objectified as a sex object.

ETA: I have no problem with other people wanting to do it though.

Yep. When my husband started photography and one of the classes he took was portraits, they did a section on black and white nudes to learn about curves, shadows and light. I was his model - taken in private I add. We still have those pictures and I think they are beautiful. Plus they were taken in my mid 20's and damn, I looked good - lol!

But would I ever do the cell phone selfie thing where anyone could see! Nope.

I think I was the first yes in the thread. I'm happy I didn't come back to a bunch of head shaking and side-eyes.

"Posting something on the web is an entirely different thing from having your personal email or cloud documents or photos hacked and leaked."

Janet, I couldn't agree more, just like I agree with the sentiments expressed in the article. JL was the victim of an unlawful act, and, no, she didn't do anything wrong in taking a nude photo of herself, and, yes, people who search out those pictures add to her victimization--and the fact that her images are probably lovely doesn't give the whole mess any legitimacy.

What I do find amazing, though, is the assumption running through so many comments that privacy on the Internet is somehow even possible, much less assured. Hacking was born at the same time as the Internet. Despite strenuous attempts by governments and organizations to nullify or eliminate it, hacking is always going to be the dark underside of the cyber experience--with consequences that are often a lot more serious than a celebrity's embarrassment.

I'm fine with nudity (worked at a nudist camp one summer), and have filmed and videotaped nude people running around outside for art projects. I've heard that in Finland for example it might not be unusual to share a sauna in the buff with your bank manager or grocer. I kind of wonder if cultures (like the US) that have more issues with nudity also tend to sexualize it more overall. That said, when I taught high school it would have been pretty personally embarrassing if nude pics of me became available to my students for example -- because culture is what it is.

I also think until recently maybe folks thought that cloud storage WAS fairly private, or maybe didn't even realize it was happening with certain devices. There are security measures, and you don't think about people riffling through your itunes collection for example.

Hacking exists, but so does crime in all it's forms, and personally I've had a lot more stolen from someone running my credit card physically over one of those imprint machines or breaking into an apartment or wallet. While I take basic precautions, I'm not going to clear my browsing history daily for example or hide my ISP.

Like Janet, I'm already partly in the public online sphere (both in RL and in other online communities under usernames), and get feedback from strangers (not always positive) on a weekly basis. Actually my entire career is the result of social media/online blogs so for me the positives of giving up a certain amount of privacy outweigh the negatives.

One day I discovered a site where guys were posting photos of their naked exes. After such discovery, I might share photos of my naked self with someone I have been with for a long, long time... and trust. However, I know that if I ever hurt that person in any way... it could backfire. Quite badly. Unless I have naked pictures of him, I say no. Sorry, I don't trust anyone at this point in my life.

Besides, I'll never understand why people like JLawrence (or any other celebrity) take naked pictures of themselves if they don't want them all over the place. Yes, they have the right to do whatever with their bodies without being abused by millions of people. Whatever. They also have a right to get married in private without no one knowing. And to go the grocery store without being photographed with bad hair and a horrible outfit. They also have the right to date whomever they want and not share their relationship status until they feel ready to do so. But here's the truth: it doesn't matter whether they have a right or not! They are famous. They take a naked picture, it's going to get out there because millions of people care! Are they stupid? I don't think so. To be honest, I think they know what they are doing. Come on!

This is why I have my mom as a FB friend. Keeps me from posting stupid stuff, not that I would ever do that (mom on FB or not). I don't post anything that could backfire me in any way. I just don't.

1) I'll admit it, I looked, and Jennifer Lawrence (if the photos are real, and they may not be) looks FREAKING AMAZING. When she's 80 she's going to look back on this and laugh.

2) I disagree that she and any others who may/may not have taken nudies somehow deserved to have their photos shared because they happened to have taken them and they were digital. No one blames someone for using a credit card when their card is stolen, no matter how famous they are.

3) Sometimes people take naked pictures just for fun. My trainer admitted to taking pictures of his back so he could see what it looked like, since he can't see it. Makes sense to me. (No, I didn't ask to see it.)

4) All this changes if the pictures are taken without your consent. That's a whole different story.

My mum went off about this whole issue today, and I had to keep from laughing. She is VERY private and the whole world of cell phones and social media is a little outside her grasp, but her tirade went something like this, "Did you hear about those celebrities and the nude pictures? Do people really DO that - take naked pictures to send to their boyfriend or husband? Wait, don't answer that. But if you want to see them naked, just have sex again! Why the need for pictures? I think a person would get a little more if someone didn't have pictures to refer to, anyway!" I just sat and tried not to laugh too loudly.

But it seems that there is a lot of confusion over the cloud, too, and what sort of security we're talking about. While people are correct that ANYTHING can be hacked - all the way up to Pentagon and gov't computers - the security on cloud storage for phone data and the security for commercial purposes are two entirely different animals. Personal data is only as protected as someone's password is strong, and most people use junk passwords. Commercial, business, banking, etc. sites have security for their stored data that is exponentially tougher to crack. Again, we all know that it can happen, but there are businesses dedicated to staying ahead of the hackers, and they know that customers will be more than happy to replace them when/if they fail. So online banking information, for example, just isn't even in the same league as the data from one's personal devices. Not all cloud storage is protected equally.

Sure, Echo, that's true. But it's still blaming the victim to me: "Didn't she know those hot pants were less bulletproof than the scuba suit? It's like she was asking to be shot!" The burden should be on the criminals, because this was a theft, or if not a theft, fraud.

Anyway, I'm guessng that means you never took a nudie?

Like I said in my previous post, I agree that taking nudies is not a crime and that hacking someone's account IS a crime. However, if a few teenagers learn how they might be able to prevent this happening to them, I think that's a good thing. In a perfect world, we would all be able to never worry about our personal information being stolen; we could walk at night anywhere without fear; we could have cash sticking out of our purses without risking anyone taking it. Heck, in a perfect world, why would anyone need passwords at all?

But the world is NOT perfect, and a little common sense goes a long way (so does understanding one's technology and realizing that normally a smart phone doesn't store much inside it at all, so almost everything has gone to the cloud at some point, even if a person thinks they have deleted it). Like I mentioned cities posting signs about locking one's car and not leaving it running and unlocked, that isn't "blaming the victim"; it is reminding people to take reasonable precautions to protect themselves.

I believe one or more things will likely happen:
- the cloud will move toward being more secure
- the cloud will morph into a different storage solution
- the stigma of naked pictures will decrease

It would be interesting to see which option happens, IK (or how many).

IK, I endorse all three! I do hope for one more outcome: less tolerance for the practice of making women's bodies a matter of public ownership.

http://www.refinery29.com/2014.....k-response

"Those who share or view a woman's — or anyone's — nude photo against her will, whether she's a celebrity or someone's ex-girlfriend, do so because they believe themselves to be a stockholder in that body. They believe they have a controlling interest in it. What the woman wants is irrelevant; her anger and shame and sadness might even add savor in some cases. And, it's not just sociopaths who act like women's bodies are unoccupied public land — it's anyone who considers this a "leak" and not a theft, who considers the photos to be something to look at, not evidence of a crime.

I understand the desire to see Jennifer Lawrence naked, I really do. It has not escaped my notice that her body is very beautiful. But, here's the other thing about Jennifer Lawrence's body: It has Jennifer Lawrence living inside it... in charge of feeding it and working it out and... deciding when and where and for whom it takes its clothes off.

Women... are not hermit crabs. Our bodies are not pretty shells strewn on the beach; they are permanently occupied by us. And, it's become manifestly obvious that many men either don't understand this or simply don't care."

I'll take it one step further and say it's become such a 'tool' used by way too many young ladies to further their fame (even when no such objectification should even need be used - Beyonce for example. Her pipes are plenty to further her music career. But now all I can notice is her writhing around half sweaty as if post coitus all the time).
mini rant of mine

I did, back in the Polaroid days. (Also a few of DH.) Some for diet/body fitness comparison (seen by no one else) and a few just for fun. I destroyed most of them ages ago, but kept a few of the better ones, and keep them hidden where I don't think they will be found for years if I were to suddenly die--and I was thinking about getting rid of them too.

I am extremely cautious about my privacy and wouldn't put such photos online or even on my computer. Not that anyone would be interested outside of a few people, but I never completely got over the "your body is a temple" stuff I was taught as a child.

No. Like so many others, it just wouldn't dawn on me to do that. I get enough of myself in the shower ! LOL !

Of course! Why wouldn't I? And I did since I had a digital camera like at 16 or something like that. I was curious. For me, it was like looking yourself in the mirror. It gives you another perspective and is kind of fun. I deleted those pictures, the minute after I took them, of course. Now that I'm a 'grown up', I have shared naked photos too, this to my bf, who I really trust and using a somehow safe system. I know my boyfriend, I know the type of person he is and he would never put those photos out there even if we broke up. Yes, famous people get hacked but regular people like us are not a good target, come on, who would want to see us and what would the hackers win? Nothing. Also, you can hide your face or something like that to remain 'anonymous' even if someone else get access to those pics.

No photos, but I worked some as an artist's model in uni.