Chrissy Chambers, a YouTube musician with half a million followers, has won a
four-year legal battle against the man who released revenge porn of her. Welcome
back to What's Trending, I'm Martini Beerman. Revenge porn, which is when nude
images or videos are shared online without a person's consent, are strangely
common, but the legal precedent for punishing those who release revenge porn
is not. In fact, according to the Guardian this is the first civil case of its kind
in England and Wales. Chambers sued her ex-boyfriend for harassment, breach of
confidence, and misuse of private information. He posted a secret sex tape
of her online without her consent. Chambers told the BBC news: "There's not
an area of my life it hasn't touched. It has affected my life in every way
imaginable and I'm sure it will continue to for the rest of my life." This reminds
me of when Jennifer Lawrence experienced the same thing when she had somebody
hack into her cloud and they released pictures of her when she was naked and
she just said there's nothing that can ever bring that back. Like, there's
nothing in the world that can ever bring that moment back to you. And can you
imagine being around, being in the public eye like that, and being around people
and then wondering what people are thinking about you? Is everybody seeing
you naked now? How vulnerable of a moment for anybody
is that? Chambers met her now ex-boyfriend when she was just 18, and he
was an older British man who moved from the UK to the United States to be with
her. In a 2015 interview, she described him as jealous and controlling. According
to her timeline, they broke up, then they both got drunk together, they hooked up,
which she doesn't actually even remember, and then he moved back to the UK. Four
years later, when the 22-year-old Chambers was a successful YouTube star
in a happy and healthy relationship with a woman, Bria Kam, her ex-boyfriend
released a video from the night of their breakup. I don't know. Let me know what
you guys think, but to me it seems premeditated. She's clearly intoxicated,
she doesn't consent to it, and you never actually see his face. In the
International Business Times, Chrissy wrote about that moment when she first
discovered those videos. "My heart stopped as I googled my name and the videos
popped up. I press play and discovered that I'd been filmed by my ex back in
2009 without knowing it. That night I'd suggested we take a break from the
relationship and he suggested a night of drinking. I don't remember us having sex.
Age 22, I have become a victim of revenge porn and it was the most devastating
moment of my life. There were seven videos in total, none of which I consented
to being filmed or uploaded online. I also did not consent for my life to be
almost ruined for every day to become a struggle, but this tends to be the new
reality for revenge porn victims. Their lack of consent to the images being
uploaded and shared is all too often ignored by the legal system and the
perpetrators get away clean not caring about the damage they inflict. Damage
that will last a lifetime." Revenge porn is illegal in the UK, and in
just 38 of the United States. How is it even possible that in today's age it's
not illegal in every single state in the United States ? I just... I don't get it!
Use Google to make sure that one of your states is one of those 38, and if not,
make sure you contact your congress person.
When Chambers ex-boyfriend released the videos back in the UK, the law had not
actually been enacted yet. Chambers said: "I was here in the UK the day the law
passed and we went to the police to try and get criminal charges. They said the
statute of limitations on my case had long passed and I was not going to be
able to pursue criminal charges." That's awful. I cannot imagine how
powerless she must have felt knowing that, but times change
and I do believe that the laws need to change with them. Thankfully, Chambers did
not let it rest. She crowdfunded enough money to take her
ex to civil court. She said: "I won monetary damages from my ex as well as
being a signed copyright to the videos. That was the most important piece of the
puzzle because if these videos are ever shared again I can now go to the
websites directly and submit takedown notices or pursue legal action." And,
understandably, it affected her mental state and her reputation. Poor girl. This
experience left her with PTSD, which is post-traumatic stress disorder,
alcohol abuse, anxiety, and night terrors. And there's even studies on revenge porn,
so it must be more common than we even know, and they say that these are really
common side effects of it. As I previously mentioned, it's happened to
Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and dozens of other high-profile women, but it also
affects roughly 10 million Americans who aren't famous actresses or models. This
must have been crazy traumatic for her to relive and to go to court and be in
front of cameras for, but my hope is that this will create a situation where
future victims of revenge porn have a way to get justice. So what do you guys
think? Have you been a victim of revenge porn? Do you know somebody
who's been a victim of revenge porn? How did they handle it if they were in one of
those states where you actually can't pursue any type of justice for it? Let us
know in the COMMENTS, and for more trends head to whatstrending.com.