On Aug. 31, 2014 there was a leak of nearly 200 private celebrity photos from iCloud that revealed quite a bit more of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Kaley Cuoco than the individuals would have liked for the public to have access to.

Many sites that initially hosted the photos took them down, but not after thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people downloaded the photos to their personal devices. This event has been popularly called the “fappening” by many internet users and media sources. The main body of criticism that has taken place is over the leaking of the photos, and the invasion of privacy involved, but I think there is something more to be said in addition to this atrocious breach of privacy.

Lena Dunham on twitter asked that people not view the photos because doing so would “violate these women over and over again.” Right, to view these photos would violate these women, but why so? One response is that as these were private photos, to view them would be to breach the privacy of the individuals involved and thusly violate them.

This is largely correct. It would violate their privacy, but the force of the retaliation from many celebrities and individuals seems not to be just about mere violation of privacy.

Perhaps there’s something more than a horrid breach of privacy here… These photos were of very sensitive nature and viewing them violates the person of whom they are taken.

If private photos were leaked of more tame nature such as of a plain old party or vacation trip, there would be not nearly the fuss that these particular photos have created. Certainly viewing private photos of a party would violate the privacy of the individuals involved, but we live in a digital age and one in which it seems almost nothing is private. So what is the big fuss about?

Perhaps there’s something more than a horrid breach of privacy here. What we could read into the quote from Dunham is a focus on the violation being one of person, which I take to be the true tragedy of this photo leak, and the real reason not to view these photos. These photos were of very sensitive nature and viewing them violates the person of whom they are taken.

The fact that they are private is important but does not matter as much as the content of the photos themselves. Many of the photos that were leaked appeared to be selfies or taken by another party in private, but why and who these photos were taken for in the first place baffles me to some extent. Why would someone take nude photos of themselves, and who are they for?

It can broadly be guessed that the photos were meant for another party, after all, I don’t think many people take nude photos of themselves to keep for themselves. So if they were taken for someone else, why would someone else want the photos, and why would someone want to give them away?

A possible response is that they were created to objectify and degrade the women involved and the women agreed due to pressure from a misogynistic society that promotes the objectification and degradation of women as being a cool and positive thing. This is way too broad of a response, although it may carry some truth in it.

At best we can say that they were created in private between individuals and that only those individuals have access to the reasoning and intent with which the photos were to be viewed and used. In other words, we just don’t know why or for whom the photos were created. They may have been taken out of love, or any number of reasons.

There may be nothing in fact at all wrong with the reasons and intent they were taken. I will concede to that, but even if they weren’t created with any degrading purposes they have largely become “fappening” material which objectifies and dehumanizes those of whom the picture was taken against their wishes, and that is why viewing these photos truly violates these women over and over again.

These women did not go into acting to be appreciated only for their looks, but for their acting abilities. Viewing the photos takes away from what they have accomplished in life as actresses and shifts the focus to being about how they look which is contingent upon uncontrollable biological factors.

They may be blessed with good looks, and there’s nothing wrong with recognizing that, but when you look at a rock as a rock you are looking at it for what is it. When you look at a body as a body, you’re missing what is truly beautiful lying inside.

-Matthew Glasier