The Wise Words of Spider-Man

Growing up, the Spider-Man movies may have had it right when Uncle Ben would ever so wisely advise Peter Parker that “With great power comes great responsibility”.  Lately, there has been a lot of buzz about some nude photos being leaked to the press. One author, Scott Mendelson, is trying to say through his article that the whole celebrity sex scandal is not necessarily the fault of the female celebrities, but instead that of those who stole these private photos. Mendelson feels that this is another blatant example of the overpowering sexism in our culture by scolding the women who chose to take these photos with their own rights to privacy, and were perpetrated by the men who exposed these private entitlements. Mendelson states here that “Instead of condemning those who would steal the private photographs and publish them online for all to see, we condemn or belittle the women who chose to create said private photographs in the first place.” I would personally have to disagree with Mendelson’s argument however, because I feel that it doesn’t take into account some very key points. First of all, Mendelson never actually took into account the fact that these women are celebrities and not everyday soccer moms.  Had that been the case, his argument would have had much more substance and I probably would have mostly agreed with his take on the situation. I personally am a strong advocate for women’s rights having known many people close to me who have been perpetrated sexually by men. This however to me is not the same thing. When you become a celebrity in my opinion, you automatically give up some of your rights to privacy. This is recognized even from a legal standpoint in terms of slander. Everyday, celebrities are bombarded by the press and media exposing truths and non-truths about them. This can be applied to all celebrities, whether you have facial hair or not. If Mendelson feels so strongly about perpetration, then why are all of these cases occurring million and millions of times worldwide completely ignored? 

Not only that, but also another key argument is missing in the article from my understanding. It was their choice to take these pictures in the first place.  They were not forced to take these pictures, and there’s nothing wrong with the fact they did. But having said that, these women are fully capable in understanding like everyone else that these photos could be exposed. Not because men are perpetrators of woman, but because anything that we do always has the possibility of being exposed. If they were not fully proud of sharing their birthday suite with the world, then they shouldn’t have electronically captured it at any point in time. The same principle applies for men just as much as woman. This is even putting aside the idea that these women are celebrities, and should have been fully aware with the freedom to make their own choices that this “non crime or sin” may make its way to the public eye. Now I’m not saying that these women would have to apologize because I’m not saying that this act was a crime. I am saying that they need to take responsibility and own up to the fact they took these pictures, as anyone (male or female) should before taking pictures of their most personal self, and maybe listen to your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man every now and again.