Monica Lewinsky Felt "Outrage" and "Compassion" for Victims of Nude Photo Leak

"Like so many others, I feel outrage—as a fellow victim, as a civilized individual, and as a woman—when other women are so easily and publicly violated."

By Bruna Nessif Sep 12, 2014 9:06 PMTags
Monica LewinskyDavid M. Benett/Getty Images for Marie Curie

Monica Lewinsky is no stranger to having her privacy invaded.

While the 41-year-old has never dealt with a nude photo scandal (although there was a close call once), Lewinsky still felt "compassion" for Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and the numerous other female celebs that fell victim to the recent nude photo leak.

In her second piece as contributor for Vanity Fair, Lewinsky begs the question of whether or not we have crossed the double yellow line when it comes to nude traffic.

After recalling a time when there were purported photos of the former White House intern in her lingerie (it didn't end up being her), Lewinsky wrote, "In the last week or two, as new batches of nude celebrity pictures have circulated around the Web—again violating the privacy of the women depicted—I was reminded of the few moments of sheer panic I had undergone before I realized my photos were not real. I felt compassion for these young women."

Lewinsky also noted that once upon a time, more than 20 hours of surreptitiously audiotaped "girl talk" between her friend Linda Tripp and herself were published on C-SPAN, and while that's nowhere near the humiliation that comes with seeing your intimate photos all over the web, there's still a shared feeling of anger.

"Like so many others, I feel outrage—as a fellow victim, as a civilized individual, and as a woman—when other women are so easily and publicly violated."

She later continued, "It is immaterial that the recently purloined photos revealed under-dressed celebrities. And, yet, being human we often find ourselves torn between our own right to privacy and our dissolute desires as voyeurs and gossips in an image-and trivia-fueled culture. How much we indulge our inquiring minds is an individual choice. But certainly we can agree that stolen private nudes of actresses (or of anyone, really) is crossing the double yellow line."

The FBI is currently investigating who hacked and leaked the naked photos of Lawrence, Upton and many more stars.