TED response

I was really fascinated by Darieth Chrisholm's TED Talk. I have seen firsthand the implications of revenge porn's rise, particularly in the advent of social media, and I can say that there are more horror stories than successes in battling this. 

I remember in middle school, Snapchat had just caught on, and people in my year were frequently using the service to send videos or images of themselves naked/in sexually promiscuous positions to those they were either dating or courting at the time. I had always found it to be a terrible idea, and I don't even think I got snapchat until high school because I didn't get why people used it, I was a laggard, if you will. 

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But, there was a girl in my grade, who didn't think it was such a terrible idea. And as it turns out, her idea got saved and spread around the circles of boys at my school within an instant. Video content or photographic content showing a minor nude or in sexual acts is ILLEGAL by all standards, but a boyfriend of hers clearly had no regard for this and sent and spread her personal communications to him around. She ended up facing severe criticism and bullying for the video, and I think it was likely a really traumatic experience. 

Having witnessed this, I can really see why dealing with this phenomenon is so frustrating, especially if you don't know what the resources are or don't have any. I hope that with the proper education, we can teach young people to be so careful with anything they share on the internet, but especially so anything that can be used against them in such a damaging way. The lack of legal pathways to help women through this process also needs to be attended to, because without proper channels and resources, people will be afraid to come forward and try to get their situation solved.