The widespread use of social media and instant messaging applications, in addition to all the ‘entertainment’ and ‘convenience’ it brought to our lives, also created major problems. We can say that this list of problems is quite long, but one item in particular is destroying the lives of countless women and is waiting for an immediate solution.
Unauthorized dissemination of “inappropriate” nude images of women or images of them having sex with their partners has been a major problem for years. These images are often spread for blackmail and harassment by an ‘angry spouse/ex-wife or lover’, this irrational act that turns the lives of countless women upside down. Telegram is one of the platforms where this situation has been experienced the most recently.
Telegram has numerous channels ‘exclusive to nude photos’
A new BBC research and mini-documentary on the subject highlights the gravity of the situation . According to the data obtained, there are thousands of Telegram channels whose sole purpose is to spread nude photos of women. Photos of women are published on these channels, which have tens of thousands of members.
Moreover, these photos are not the only thing shared about women most of the time. As a part of blackmail and psychological violence, many details, from the contact information of the women to the information of their families, are on the channels.
What is even worse is the information that images of underage children are also ‘sold’ in such groups on the platform. This is another big problem and such channels have unfortunately become the home of this terrible situation.
Women experience many problems due to this trauma
The social and social impact of issues such as female sexuality and nudity is unfortunately still a major problem even today. . Concepts such as general morality and honor based on ‘women’ make a woman whose photograph is shared, a ‘bad woman’ in the eyes of society, despite her being a victim. Those who commit crimes and try to exploit a woman with blackmail and violence are not even mentioned in the story.
Since society blames and excludes women instead of blaming those who spread these images, such situations cause women’s lives to be turned upside down, their psychology to deteriorate and all balances to be upset due to trauma. While it is immoral and shameful for a woman to send a ‘naked photo’ to her partner, whom she once valued, spreading the privacy of the person who trusts her in this way is almost applauded.
Another side of the problem is the ‘secretly recorded’ images and photos that women do not send. So much so that in some of the stories in the BBC’s video, the media in question is secretly filmed and spread by the spouses/lovers of the women. In this case, as you can imagine, it is the woman who is excluded again.
‘Sharing of pornographic content’ is prohibited on Telegram, but the platform takes no action
Telegram is basically an instant messaging app, which means that some media on the platform are much more causing rapid and uncontrolled spread. But essentially, sharing ‘pornographic’ content is prohibited on Telegram. However, according to the data obtained by the BBC, this article is not very ‘applied’.
So much so that the 100 unauthorized images of nude women that the BBC complained about during this research remain on the platform despite the months that have passed; No sanctions are applied to the channels. Again, according to the BBC, the employees in the team that Telegram set up to review such content personally say that the process is not working properly.
Unfortunately, it seems that what women experience when they experience such a problem, who receive bad reactions from their families and social circles, as well as from society in general, will remain as an insoluble problem. Platforms need to work more sensitively in this regard and take measures to prevent such scenarios from the beginning. But whether this will happen, it is unfortunately impossible to know, and the landscape prevents us from being optimistic.
If you would like to take a look at the video published by the BBC and the stories of women struggling with this problem
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