I T-sex-t!

There is something about the facelessness of technology that makes us all bolder. We are able to flirt and say things via typefaces that we wouldn’t normally say face to face. Any comment made via digital messenger accompanied with a smiley or “LOL” can take all forms of meaning. But even more seriously, digital mediums allow us more expression than traditional forms of communication. A flirtatious wink, emoticons with batting eyelids, and even the more extreme, top bare or naked photos sent to partners. We don’t have to look too far to see how technology has damaged relationships (or lives), I doubt Tiger Woods will leave a voice message for anyone in his lifetime! More worrying is the recent Icloud leak which has led to the hacking of private pictures of Jill scot, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Mary Kate Olsen, Selena Gomez,  and  other celebrities surfacing online. Although the authenticity of some of these pictures has been called to question, it does seem like women are deliberately being targeted. Celebrities aren’t the only ones who suffer from this immense invasion of privacy. Ordinary women like us are also deliberately targeted. For examples, I’ve read about websites which allow disgruntled men to publish private pictures of their ex’s in a bid to shame them.

A good friend of mine recently called me in tears. She woke me up at 4am and I could barely make out what she was saying. At first I thought someone had died and pleading with her to calm down and tell me exactly what had happened. It turned out her relationship was in ruins. In fact ruins might be an understatement. Her boyfriend had just dumped her. His reason? He had seen naked pictures of her on another guy’s phone! Shikenah! He didn’t want to hear any explanation, no excuses. He was done. In fact my friend was calling me from the gate of his house because he had just thrown her out. When she finally got to mine and had calmed down a bit. I got up my courage to ask her what naked pictures of her were doing on another guy’s phone. She explained that she and her boyfriend had been on a break about a year ago and she had sent these pictures to this guy who she was flirting with at the time. When she and her boyfriend finally got back together, she forgot all about the guy. Unfortunately he hadn’t. Apparently, the guy is a ‘collector’ and once in a while shows of his ‘art’ to friends. One of his friends being my friend’s boyfriend.

Another friend’s distant relative also got a rude awakening, when a intimate recording of her’s started making the rounds on social media. Apparently the guys in her university were fed up with her pretentious attitude and decided to teach her a lesson!

Now I am not a kill joy. I realize this is the global age and everybody wants to experiment. But even scientists wear protective clothing when conducting experiments. So it goes without saying that abstinence is usually the best form of prevention. For example, the phone of a trusted partner could be stolen or his pictures downloaded during phone repairs.  However, for those who feel this may be too extreme, our advice is to be smart and careful! The last thing any sensible woman wants is embarrassing pictures of her floating around the internet for all eternity!