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Over the last years we’ve seen a slew of celebrities that have been the victims of their sex tapes being leaked online.
And people lap it up the moment the news breaks.
Whether through being hacked, or having their homes broken into or even being betrayed by a partner, the results of these leaked tapes may have firmly placed already famous women (Paris Hilton, for one) in the spotlight, or have launched careers (most famously, Kim Kardashian).
One of the very first celebrities whose tape was leaked after their electrician stole it in a fit of anger, was Pamela Anderson and then husband Tommy Lee, whose intimate activities were first exposed back in 1995 and caused quite the stir.
In a recent interview, the star has admitted that the leak has been embarrassing for her and that it was hard on her loved ones to have to see explicit material of her. She also adds that it was devastating on her marriage and that it was a struggle to get over that.
Pamela goes on to add that she feels like she started an unfortunate trend and that she wishes that celebs like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton didn’t use their tapes to become famous, or more infamous, according to IOL.
For those who need a reminder, Kim K's sex tape first made it's way onto the internet back in 2007. The video featured her and then boyfriend, Ray J, while Paris Hilton's video, which featured her and Rick Salomon, came out in 2004.
READ MORE: Why we should all follow Bonang’s "My private parts. My business" motto
There’s a lot to take away from Pamela’s confession and her views on sex tapes.
For one, it shows that no matter how comfortable someone may be with their sexual appeal and sexuality, it’s never ever okay to think that they’d be okay with having explicit material of them viewable to the rest of the world.
It also doesn’t mean that it’s okay to exploit them for that very reason. Because while Pamela may have been comfortable with being in very little clothes on screen, she controlled and had agency over that.
The sex tape? That was never meant to be seen by anyone except her and Tommy.
While I can totally understand where she’s coming from – I do feel like we shouldn’t look at it as Kim profiting from it, but rather the fact that she flipped a difficult and embarrassing moment on its head, took back control of it and went on to become incredibly successful because of and in spite of it.
She couldn’t control the fact that it was out there for everyone to see, but she took control by capitalising on it to cement her career. Not only that, but I think she has inadvertently also led the way in terms of helping women to start seeing nudity in a new and revolutionary way.
And frankly, if that’s what her sex tape resulted in (not saying it makes it okay, by the way), then that’s the best kind of revenge to get out of something that was meant to humiliate her.
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