As I continue working to expand our team, of mostly volunteers and supporters who are committed to bringing voice and dignity to victims of cyber harassment, I’m forever grateful to each of them. I’d like to introduce you to our new apprentice, Judnise Guillet, who will be working with us as we move closer to completing the documentary. I invited her to share a few words about how Revenge Porn is viewed among her generation. Welcome Judnise, we are excited to have you on board.
“As a millennial, I personally have experienced how the culture around revenge porn has changed. I have not been a victim of cyber harassment or revenge porn but I have seen it ruin others’ lives. I specifically remember a young girl in my high school who was threatened by one of her ex-boyfriends that he would leak a video of her having sex with him and multiple boys my senior year. Tragedy turned into to triumph as she took him to court, especially because she was a minor and he was eighteen years old. As I reflect on that situation, so many of my peers slut-shamed her and asked why did she put herself in that position. We had no remorse and empathy for this young girl. But unfortunately, we were just participating in a culture that shamed women for the same thing that we praise men for doing. A culture that takes away the privacy and consent of a young woman and gives license to men to continue being boys that will be boys.
Now that I am older, “leaked photographs” are a part of a larger picture. Cyber harassment and revenge porn is not the victim’s fault and anyone who has been through tribulation is strong in every sense of the word. I am glad that the conversation around revenge porn is changing because it means that we are evolving. It means that a documentary named 50 Shades of Silence will have the platform to educate and advocate the masses. Thanks to the Enough Act and the Shield Act, we are taking a step in the right direction. Consent and protection in one’s relationship need to be taught to the younger generation. No one should live in fear that their significant other will violate them in any way.”
Judnise Guillet