Release Your Own Nudes
I wrote this quick tweet about nudes, and how the fear of them being exposed stops young women running for office.
I woke up this morning and that tweet has 66,000 likes. And the screen cap of the tweet on FB has 283 shares. It’s obviously hitting home for some people.
So, in a very, very scary act of bravery here, I want to talk about something I don’t think I’ve told anyone.
The reason that I have never run for office, despite how many people have asked, is revenge porn.
When I was in college, an older guy got me super drunk at a time when I was very vulnerable and took a photo of me that he then used to ruin my life.
He sent that photo to my boyfriend at the time, he posted it on a message board I helped moderate. He blackmailed me, and threatened to send it to my parents and my boss if I didn’t comply with his demands.
It’s been 10 years, but I can still remember the feeling of watching my entire life collapse around me. It ruined a relationship with a man I loved, who I had dated for 5 years. It made me get out of the first community I had ever felt home in.
And until today, that photo sat prominently in the back of my mind whenever anyone asked me to run. The immense, crippling fear of exposure of it kept me from even exploring the idea of running for office.
I was a whore, and I didn’t deserve to lead. This one thing was a disqualifier for the rest of my lif
You know, because I got drunk and made a bad decision when I was 20, and someone engaged me in a sexual act without my consent (wait, that’s rape), documented it without my consent, and used it to hurt me.
Well, guess what guys?
I’m done being scared.
If I run for office one day, I can now stand up and say, I am actually not ashamed of this photo. I’m ashamed to live in a culture where women who get naked or have sex are the ones shamed for their actions — Not the men who rape us.
Not the men who release our nudes.
Not the men who publish a tape on a website or send it to our whole schools or all their friends.
They carry no burden. I want to be that free.
This is me lightening my load.
This is me, unafraid.
