Many people contact Fight the New Drug to share their personal stories about how porn has affected their life or the life of a loved one. We consider these personal accounts very valuable because, while the science and research is powerful within its own right, personal accounts from real people seem to really hit home about the damage that pornography does to real lives.
This Fighter shares below what happened when someone stole her image from YouTube, edited it to be pornographic, and nonconsensually uploaded it to a porn site. What happened to Leila is unacceptable and illegal, but it's also not uncommon.
Hey FTND,
My image was stolen, edited, and uploaded to porn sites. This is the true story of what happened to me.
I am a YouTuber who created a video regarding my journey with self-esteem and choosing to wear a bikini on the beach while overweight to battle the negative self-image I had due to hurtful words in my past. The photos shared were tasteful and my poses were not sexy.
A while later, a close friend who worked with computer security to monitor violations of company rules came across my image saved to a computer. They were dumbfounded! My image had been completely altered to appear nude. They found the source, which was Pornhub. On there were several stolen photos of me where I’d been re-created and edited to appear naked and in sexual poses on a beach. My friend was brave enough to reach out and send me the images as proof, as embarrassing as it was because this was their job.
Attempts to have my image removed from the site were met with, “These images do not violate our community standards.” What about my standards and how these images are violating me? I gave zero consent for my videos and images to be used or reused for any purpose whatsoever.
The person who chose to steal my image has my photos saved. They used a VPN to appear as if they operate out of many different counties around the world Due to their frequent recreations of me, I’ve had to put out disclaimers on both YouTube and Facebook that I do not make porn. This has altered my life! After the first incident, I set that particular video to private so it can no longer be accessed.
They chose to take something beautiful, honest, empowering, and vulnerable, and warp it into something pornographic for people to repeatedly take advantage of. They violated my image! I refuse to live in fear and allow creeps like this to keep me from living my life, terrified of ever posting another photo or video of myself. Nobody can breathe let alone live in that kind of anxiety! But I do speak out against it!
This is sexual harassment and definitely not consensual. I hope one day they will answer for what they’ve done.
–Leila
The plague of parasite porn
What happened to Leila is unacceptable and illegal, but it’s also not uncommon.
It’s safe to assume that pretty much all of us have a social media presence of some kind. We scroll through our Facebook timeline, retweet our favorite tweets on Twitter, Snapchat a funny picture to our friends, and follow our favorite celebs on Instagram.
These platforms provide a great way to express and promote ourselves and connect with people around the world. Unfortunately, social media can have a dark side as well. The same pics that you post for friends to see can also easily be taken and turned into something much, much less innocent—just like what Leila experienced.
Leila was a victim of “parasite porn,” a growing porn trend where someone will steal and alter regular photos to be explicit and pornographic. This is all done without the knowledge or consent of those pictured, and unfortunately, it can be nearly impossible to get such images removed once they are posted.
In some parasite porn victims’ cases, uploaders can even threaten to send these images to parents or loved ones if the victim tries to have them removed from the site. Cases can turn to sextortion, sometimes, making a violating situation even worse.
The nonconsensual risks of consuming porn
What happened to Leila is a reminder that not all the content on porn sites is consensual.
How can you be sure that the explicit images or videos on porn sites are there with consent from those who appear? Consider the new reality of deepfakes porn, revenge porn, and now parasite porn.
The porn industry works to convince the public that those involved in their videos and images are there because they love sex and performing on camera. They claim that those involved wouldn’t have this career if they “didn’t enjoy what they are doing.” However, situations like this one as well as our article 10 Popular Ex-Porn Performers Open Up About Their Most Popular Scenes shed light on the truth of the matter—though not every performer is exploited in porn, too many are mistreated, abused, and manipulated into participating.
And in the case of Leila, even regular people who aren’t porn performers at all can become victims of this harmful industry. People are blackmailed and coerced, and in all of these cases, the porn industry is primarily concerned with getting clicks and making money or continuing to let users upload whatever they want to the porn site platform.
Beyond the effects that porn has on its consumers, it is important that we understand the harm it inflicts on those used to create it. Even, and especially, when they’re unwilling participants.
Recent disturbing trends like revenge porn, deepfakes porn, and parasite porn can completely destroy the reputation and livelihood of those depicted. Not only are these genres creepy, they are simply unacceptable. And it’s up to us to spread awareness, and stop the demand. Are you with us?
