Welcome to Full Frontal.
I'm Samantha Bee.
This weekend, Congresswoman Katie Hill resigned from office,
after allegations surfaced that she'd had inappropriate relationships with staffers.
Katie Hill facing ethics allegations that she had a relationship
with a member of her staff.
That news coming during a nasty divorce involving nude photos
posted on the internet of her.
Hill has admitted to an intimate relationship with a campaign staffer,
apologizing, calling it inappropriate, "Some Democrats in Hill's district say personal
issues don't matter in the Trump era."
"I'd rather have someone F something rather than F our country."
God, I can't tell you how fast I'd vote for a candidate whose slogan was just:
"I'll F something, but I won't F America."
Hill's resignation is the right thing to do.
You should not have sex with the people who work for you.
Unless you're Captain Von Trapp.
I make an exception for the Captain, because he has raw sex appeal, fights Nazis,
and you know he hit it good after he saw Maria yodel about goats.
So yes, Katie Hill is making the right call, but she herself is a victim of something that
is disturbing and wrong.
I made this decision so that my supporters, my family, my staff, and our community
will no longer be subjected to the pain inflicted by my abusive husband
and the brutality of hateful political operatives.
Some people call this electronic assault "digital exploitation”.
Others call it "revenge porn”.
As the victim of it, I call it one of the worst things we can do
to our sisters and our daughters.
There is an attack against her regarding the revenge porn,
the nude photos that have come out in some conservative news sites.
It's egregious and those people doing this to her should be held accountable
because revenge porn is a crime.
Hill says her private photos were leaked, without her consent,
by her estranged husband, and published by Redstate and the Daily Mail,
two of the vilest, nastiest things to exist on the Internet
outside of this tweet from Corn Nuts that says,
"What's the craziest place you've nutted, I mean ate Corn Nuts”.
Revenge porn weaponizes people's sexuality against them,
and it doesn't just hurt people living public lives.
12% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29
have had intimate photos shared without their consent.
That is horrible, but also, I am proud to live in a country
where people "take" that many intimate photos of themselves.
Get down with your bad self, America.
I am sure your nudes look amazing and not at all like uncooked biscuit dough.
The issue isn't with people taking nude pictures.
The issue is with the people who share them without consent.
You may be thinking, “Wait, aren't there laws against this?”
and yes, 46 states do have laws against revenge porn.
But those laws don't always go far enough.
The name itself shows you the problem: "revenge porn".
In many states, the law forces a victim to prove
that the person who released her nudes did so maliciously,
and that is a very high bar.
Revenge is not always the motivation for sharing someone else's nudes.
There's also horniness, boredom, greed, and boasting,
which is coincidentally the special skills section of Trump's resume.
Intent should be a factor, but what's more important
is what nonconsensual pornography can do to the victims.
For example, what the posts from this incredibly shitty Facebook group might do.
The secret Marines United Facebook group had hundreds of Marines as members.
Reportedly thousands of photographs of naked female service members
and veterans were shared on the page where users made obscene comments.
A Marine Corps spokesperson said investigators are most concerned
about the victims, many of whom were identified by their rank, full name, and military duty
station.
Of all people, service members should know how dangerous
that kind of breach can be.
The Military won't even name the dog who helped take down the leader of ISIS this
weekend.
Mainly because they don't want him to become the target of Cat ISIS.
No one is saying this is easy to get right.
While some state laws don't go far enough, other legislation, like Arizona's, went way
too far.
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to block a new Arizona law
that criminalizes so-called "revenge porn"- - the lawsuit filed today argues that the
law is so broadly written that it makes any person who distributes or displays a nude
image guilty of a felony- - even photos that are deemed artistic, educational,
historic or newsworthy.
According to the ACLU that could even include waving a friend over
to see a cute naked baby pic.
How did they not make an arrest?
Their entrapment case against Anne Geddes was airtight.
Because it was so broad, the law was blocked on First Amendment grounds.
So at least Anne Geddes can give up her life on the lam.
it is possible to write laws that protect victims
without making innocent sexting a crime.
A few states, like Illinois, have laws that don't require proof
that the nonconsensual image was shared specifically to be mean.
They focus instead on whether an image was shared without consent.
That is a much better structure, because whether or not
the pics were shared to hurt the victim, the victim will likely be hurt.
One study showed that victims of revenge porn can suffer from PTSD, anxiety, depression,
suicidal thoughts, and other mental health effects.
PTSD doesn't go away just because you weren't hurt on purpose.
I still have flashbacks to the time IHOP compared their pancakes to flat titties.
I know you didn't mean to hurt me, IHOP, but you did.
You did.
It would be great if all our state laws took this as seriously as Illinois.
And hey, since the Internet doesn't stop at the state border,
a federal law would be great too.
If there's one politician who definitely has intimate recordings
that he doesn't want to get leaked, it's this guy.
We'll be right back.