There is a common trend amongst lovers, sex partners, and maybe “free minded youths” about sharing nude pictures. This trend entails sending pictures of private parts, sexually appealing pictures to arouse sexual partners and lovers.
The question is, is this act immoral, condemnable and risky? Immoral, this is subjective. Condemnable also subjective. Risky, this is a big yes and here is why.
There is a trend that evolved with exposure and civilisation termed “sex chatting”. This act involves sexual activities with your partner over the phone. There is no form of physical touch whatsoever, but all the sexual activity is discussed in detail over the phone. What this does is that it bridges the gap between the two parties to an extent in the case of a distance relationship. However, while the sex chatting is going on, there is a lot of exchange of nude pictures to spice up the mood and allow it look a bit more real.
Meanwhile, there are so many other reasons why people share nude pictures. Some do it for money, some to satisfy the “wild spirit”, some consider it artistic and some for personal pleasure. For whatever reason this is done, each category seem to be able to justify their reasons.
We live in a world where people will willingly put out their nude pictures on social media in the name of “embrace your soul”, “love your own body” and “your scars are beautiful”. They use this as an avenue to create awareness for people with low self esteem because of their bodies.
However, we have seen cases of people, who did not willingly share their nudity on social media, but somehow these pictures and videos have surfaced. This, infact, has been a very common trend in today’s world as people have been victims of blackmail by their so called lovers and sexual partners who had access to their nude pictures that were shared in confidence.
While this seems bad, it is actually worse.
Reputations have been ruined from issues like this and sometimes these victims even go as far as committing suicide. Some people have a nude library that consists of other people’s nude pictures, they simply find pleasure in collecting these things for some weird pleasure. When things like this eventually get out, they end up causing more harm than good.
People cannot be entirely advised not to share their nude pictures with their partners, but they have to have it at the back of their minds that they are doing it at their own risk regardless of trust, love and understanding between the two parties.
I found this response by a sex educator very fascinating to a question from a young lady and it goes thus;
My partner wants me to send him nude photos, but I’m kind of nervous and don’t feel comfortable. I told him I didn’t really want to, but he won’t drop it. He says I can trust him and that I will feel good about myself because I’m beautiful. Is it okay to send nude photos if someone promises not to share them?
Lena Solow, a sex educator, who advises on your questions about the tough stuff — sexuality, gender, bodies, STDs, pregnancy, consent, pleasure, and more, advised against bowing to pressure.
“Ugh back off, boyfy. It’s NOT OK for your boyfriend to pressure or push you into doing something you don’t want to do. It’s EXTRA not OK for him to act as if this is a trust issue. That’s manipulative — he’s making you feel like you are the problem, when the problem is him not respecting your boundaries! And what’s more, he’s hiding the pressure with a compliment (telling you you’re beautiful), which probably makes it feel more confusing. But let me be very clear — compliments are no longer nice when they are being used to pressure or confuse you, ESPECIALLY when you’ve already said you don’t want to.
“Now, let’s talk about nudes for a minute. Taking and sending naked pics is a sexual activity, and just like with any sexual activity you want to first check in with yourself. If you’re not excited about doing this — forget it! And if you’re being pressured to do it — forget it, and maybe forget the jerk who’s pressuring you. If you do a little self check-in and you ARE feeling totally into it, there are a few things to think about.
“The truth is, there’s always some risk involved with sending a nude pic if you don’t want others to see it. That doesn’t mean it’s your fault if it gets shared broadly, and it doesn’t mean someone has the right to share it without your consent (NEVER DO THIS!). It just means that you should think about that as a possibility, just like you would want to know that you can get an STI from oral sex before deciding to do it! Also, keep in mind that if you are a minor there can unfortunately be pretty serious legal consequences for sending naked pics of yourself or others. And, just like you might decide not to have sex at all or you might decide to use a barrier (like a condom) during sex, you can decide how to lower the risks for those kinds of pics. If you decide to take a picture, maybe you want to take one that doesn’t have your face in it. Maybe you don’t want to be totally nude, but still want to pose in a way that makes you feel confident and good about your body.
“With any sexual activity, it’s good to have a conversation with your partner about these decisions (though you don’t ever have to justify your boundaries), so you can understand each other and decide on things that feel good for both of you. Unfortunately, I don’t get the sense that that’s what’s happening here. It sounds more like your boyfriend is trying to push you to do something you don’t want to, and you have every right to stick to your boundaries,” she submitted.
So my candid advice is don’t ever do it for whatever reason unless it is related to your trade, which is selling your body for money, because your nudes will always find their ways to the internet no matter how much you trust your partner.
Social media has taught us first hand how quick love can turn sour.
Freelanews is the editorial byline of Freelanews.com, used for staff reports, news updates, press releases, and collaborative stories produced by the Freelanews Editorial Team.
