Gabrielle Union writes essay on how nude photo leaks are equal to sexual abuse

Gabrielle Union’s nude photos were leaked in September along with several other actresses. Union recently wrote an essay about the experience explaining how the situation was like sexual assault in her eyes. Union was sexually assaulted as a teen while working at a shoe store. She also discusses the effect the experience had on her, and new husband, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.

Gabby said she was alerted to the hack the day after her wedding while on her honeymoon. Thoughts of the leak consumed her for weeks until the final moment when she and DWade heard the photos dropped, while they were on a family trip in Turks and Caicos.

“I called my reps and attorneys, pleading, ‘Get the photos taken down,’” she writes. “They said it takes time — the shots were spreading fast, to some 50 sites within the first few hours … I thought, this is a targeted attack, a hate crime against women.”

“Apple has said the celebrity accounts were compromised by a targeted attack … that iCloud was not to blame. I’m not so sure … I also want to know: Where are all the women’s groups, the feminists, demanding justice in this case? The silence is deafening. Any time you lose control over your body, it’s a violation and a crime … [S]ome of the stolen photos reportedly depict women when they were underage — that’s child pornography. I hope people think about all these things when they consider clicking on these private images.”

Gabby said the photos were old, she had sent them to DWade years ago, they both deleted them but didn’t understand the power of the cloud.

I knew there would be more to come. I wondered how a photo that was shot and deleted three years ago could be found. Sure enough, later that night, more pictures started popping up, one after another. All of them had been shot and deleted years ago. Yet there they were, online for the world to see. I felt extreme anxiety, a complete loss of control. I suddenly understood that deleting things means nothing. You think it’s gone? It’s not. What is the point of even including a delete function on a phone if it doesn’t really delete? I had deleted the photos from my phone, but apparently they had remained on some server somewhere, unbeknownst to me, where hackers could find them.

I know this is random, but one of the photos showed Gabby’s iPhone case with their engagement photo on it, so they couldn’t have all been “years” old. Not that the point is of importance to the message Gabby is trying to bring, just wondering why she felt the need to state the timing on the photos.

Some people say the publicity surrounding the photos helps our careers. We don’t need this kind of press. Jennifer Lawrence is the face of two billion-dollar franchises. It’s not a career boost — it’s a new form of sexual abuse.