Gabrielle Union: Feminists Should Demand Justice Over Nude Photo Hack

In an essay for the December issue of Cosmopolitan, Gabrielle Union expands on her original statement about her nude photos being stolen and put online. “My honeymoon was plagued by thoughts of when I would get hit,” she writes. “It was always in the back of my mind: Will today be the day my life gets ruined?”

In the piece, Union discusses the fear she felt when she knew photos would be coming out but wasn’t sure when or which photos, using an apt Hunger Games metaphor (“You’re waiting to be attacked.”) She also argues against those who said it was “a career boost” for the photos to come out, writing that this kind of thing is “new form of sexual abuse” (Union is a vocal sexual assault survivor):

I didn’t like the public perception of this scandal — that we were just a bunch of narcissistic, sexually deviant celebrities who got what we deserved for being dumb. No one deserves to have a private moment stolen, whether it’s a photo, text, or email. Everyone has intimate parts of their life they don’t want the public to see.

Somewhat puzzlingly, Union expresses frustration with the lack of support she and others hit by the hack have received from “women’s groups” and “feminists”:

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. In addition, some 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.

Since the photos got out, Union says she’s found support in at least one surprising place though: