Olympia Valance: Why she was right not to apologise over nude pics
Olympia Valance’s steely defence of herself over leaked nude pictures was a line in the sand moment for victims of sexploitation. She didn’t owe anyone an apology, writes Fiona Byrne.
Opinion
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Olympia Valance has shown herself to be a role model for young women by taking control and standing strong after the violation of having private photos published online without her consent.
Valance has, and will continue, to garner tremendous respect and support for her genuinely brave decision to go public with details of the cyber hack she suffered a year ago and the subsequent drip feeding of her personal intimate images on the web.
Her steely choice to draw a deep line in the sand and say this is not acceptable has allowed her to take back control of the situation and no longer live in fear of the photos creeping out of the seedy corners of the internet or of trashy mainstream media exposure.
She has given a high profile public voice to silent victims of hacking and sexploitation.
Valance, 27, is one of the most popular and influential young actors and presenters in Australia.
She is admired for her work, her professionalism and is aspirational.
By speaking out about the hacking of her phone and theft of a series of private nude images she is showing her fans, followers and the public in general that this is a crime, that it is not all right, that the impact is painful and profound and that it could happen to anyone.
In a powerful statement released on Instagram on Thursday, Valance described hacking as designed to humiliate, degrade, control and blackmail a person.
“As a victim of this, I have had to fight to try and contain these images from reaching the broader public and for media not to publish stories using my name,” she wrote.
“Imagine the level of profound violation if this happened to your daughter, your sister, or to you. I am a public figure, but I am also a human being. I am not immune to these scandals. I hurt and I certainly feel pain.
“I’m not ashamed. I’m not embarrassed. I will not apologise. I have done nothing wrong.”
She is right; she has done absolutely nothing wrong.
But everyone looking at the pictures in Whats App groups or trawling the web for the photos needs to stop and remember they are stolen personal images that were released without consent and were never taken with the intent of being made public.
Anyone helping to disseminate these images is part of the problem.
As a society we need to be better than this. In a year where there are constant calls for people to be kind and supportive and to look out for each other, we need to work together to be part of the solution.
In 2014 Academy Award winning actor Jennifer Lawrence was also a victim of a cyber hack which saw a series of her private nude photos splashed over the internet.
Lawrence chose to speak about the incident because she was: “afraid that by sitting and doing nothing, that made it seem OK for other women and girls to just let it happen to them, because it isn’t.”
Her stand brought huge awareness to the issue of cyber abuse, theft and bullying.
“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. … It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting,” she told Vanity Fair magazine.
There is a huge difference between consenting to artistic photos in the full knowledge they will be published and having private photos taken from your personal storage device without your knowledge or consent.
Everyone, famous or not, has a right to privacy and private moments.
No one is entitled to see these images.
And if you think you are, well then, you need help.
fiona.byrne@news.com.au
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