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Daisy Jeremani Gender Editor
THE leaked pictures of Miss World Zimbabwe Emily Kachote and the blame that was heaped on her make for sad reading, given that the pictures were taken in private, but were unfortunately distributed by a cowardly jilted lover. I believe she was the victim in this debacle and the pornography-peddling boyfriend should be brought to book, as this is not the first time he had done it. He allegedly was also behind the downfall of former Miss World Zimbabwe Thabiso Phiri, when he yet again leaked her nude pictures leading her to step down.
At the moment there is no specific legislation which outlaws revenge porn in Zimbabwe, but with the number of victims of this destructive behaviour rising, it’s time to consider this law.
The United Kingdom enacted an anti-revenge porn law last month and any person caught peddling such explicit pictures or videos online can be jailed for up to two years.
Locally, this revenge from jilted lovers mostly has claimed scalps of a number of people, among them celebrities who had to endure shame and embarrassment in their communities, families and workplace.
Tinopona Katsande and Pokello Nare are some of the victims of these social media and cyber crimes and the two have been doing all they can to reclaim their dignity.
Their videos, which were taken in privacy, found their way to the internet and social media. They received backlash from the society which somehow forgot that these two were also victims. People should understand that revenge porn is not consensual. Even if the victim consented to the shooting of the pictures or videos, they did not give up their right to privacy or the right for them not to be shared.
Most of the times people allow their intimate pictures and videos to be taken out of trust and in any relationship people have every reason to believe that their loved one would be the only person to see these pictures and not share them. Unfortunately their trust is broken after the relationship ends acrimoniously, as has been in most cases where pictures or videos were leaked. Even friends and acquaintances have also had a hand in the leaking of explicit material and the law will deter such people from sharing private material without the consent of the subjects. There are people out there who have had their naked pictures or videos taken, but their lovers were decent enough not to publicly violate their trust.
In the case of Miss World Zimbabwe, it seems this guy who has not been named is in the habit of luring his lovers to take nudes and then use them as weapons to get back at them. To me he is not only a sore loser, but a sadist too, and should be stopped once and for all. Women rose up to defend the young woman who was stripped naked at the 4th Street Bus Terminus in Harare and again they should rise and call for the government to expediently enact a cyber crime law, which hopefully will address the revenge porn menace.
This world is full of creeps and criminals, next time you view a video or a picture that is leaked, spare a thought for the subjects. They are victims, flawed as they are, yes they are victims.
Online Reporter