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A WOMAN WHOSE intimate photographs were shared on a now-deleted page on the website Reddit has described the moment she saw her image and how she felt physically ill.
The woman, who is 21 years old and from the north Wicklow area, said that a male friend tipped her off to the Reddit page after someone shared her photograph in a WhatsApp group he was in.
The subreddit, called Irish Sluts, featured portraits of families, social media posts, and images of women walking in public or in the gym, but there were also nude photographs taken in more intimate settings.
Details of where some of the women live and where they attend college or school were also posted on the site.
TheJournal.ie earlier this week reported about how the site had “grown exponentially” in recent weeks, according to their administrator. The page was shut down hours after our initial story.
‘Nearly got sick’
Speaking anonymously in the wake of the shutdown, the woman said she felt violated and “nearly got sick” when she was alerted to the page.
“I got a call from a friend of mine who said that my photo was being sent around lots of WhatsApp groups,” she told us.
“I use Instagram a lot so I was annoyed, but I wasn’t really surprised that someone could get the pictures. But when he sent me it, it was a photo I definitely had not put on Instagram. It wasn’t like, fully nude or anything like that, but it was a photo I didn’t want everyone to see.”
“But then I went and I clicked into it [the page] and the first thing I saw was [another] woman’s nude photograph,” she continued. “It had her face on it and the caption was like ‘last night’s Tinder date’ and there were men commenting on her face and her body. My picture wasn’t like that but it wasn’t really one I wanted people to see.”
“Mine had a few comments on it, calling me a slut and a whore and that I’d like anal sex and that I’m from [the area that she is from]. I honestly nearly got sick. It was just disgusting. I wanted the world to swallow me up. I started thinking if my dad was going to see it and if I could go back to work if people saw it.
“For me it’s just a big violation of my privacy. I didn’t really sleep for days when I found out about what was happening. I got in touch with everyone who might have had access to the photo as well but I didn’t really get anywhere.”
I contacted the guards and Reddit and a few other people about my rights. I was a bit put out that there was no way into it for me other than to go to Reddit.
Though she was shocked to see her own image on the subreddit, the woman said the photo – and the comments below it – were tame compared to other images she saw on the page.
She added: “Some things they were saying were about families and that someone’s mother was good at certain sexual things. There was actually someone looking for naked pictures of girls from his town. It’s scary to think that there are young guys around you who are just looking for naked photographs of you.”
Legal protection
Currently, the only law protecting against the distribution of these images without permission is contained in the Non Fatal Offences Against The Person Act. There is a subsection of this act which deals with harassment. However, there are no specific laws in place to guard against this type of online incident.
Last year, Labour leader Brendan Howlin said that Ireland is lagging when it comes to dealing with the issue of ‘revenge porn’.
The Wexford TD said Irish laws covering so-called revenge porn – the posting of sexually explicit images of a person online without their consent, generally by a former partner or date – are not adequate, which is why his party is bringing forward its own Bill to tackle the issue.
The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill would provide for a six-month prison sentence upon conviction. It is still before the Oireachtas.
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The public are against multinational commercial wind farms where the energy is sold to us, not wind energy itself.
Cooperatives like cloughjordan are an example of how beneficial and sustainable these community wind farms are
Nice soundbites, pity you don’t care about policy or facts. Millions will die from global warming but you’d rather stick to your narrow ideology than embrace change.
You mentioned the public are cautious of multinationals selling electricity to us from wind farms. Did you know ESBI is a multinational and owns quite a few wind farms outside of Ireland?? AND, who do you think really owns ESBI??
When the weather turns really bad and the price of electricity goes through the roof, they’ll be begging for the turbine to be erected.
We need change there is no doubt about that but wind turbines are not the way forward.
So what would you propose should be the way forward?? Let us all understand one thing. At this point any renewable energy is an alternative energy, not a primary energy. And please please don’t start with Nuclear energy is the way to go. That’s crap
That’s real internet hard talk David. Community participation is standard in the more civilised energy economies in Europe.
Any chance we could think outside the box for our energy in the future???? What’s the obsession with wind when we have other alternatives, looking more like cartels want to keep renewables to themselves instead of promoting this….. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=839925169365885&id=728257720532631&post_id=728257720532631_839925169365885#
Stanley. There are plenty of renewable energy sources that are miles ahead of wind. Wave energy being one. There are two irish companies pioneering ocean based renewable technology which far exceeded expectatioms and is far ahead of wind aswell. They had to go to scandinavia to test it because the irish government wouldn’t give them permission to test in irish waters. Osmosis is another one which is far ahead of wind energy.
Oh and btw nuclear is a much more efficient option than wind energy.
Eamon Ryan refused to do the legally binding SEA and CBA for windfarms. He is ignorant of engineering and while he may have good intentions at heart his policies have brought disaster to Ireland.
It’s a pity they didn’t cut their prices two !
Yes, it is a pity they didn’t cut their prices in two.
We are subsidising these wind turbines in a PEAK OIL market – despite all the waffle of the past decade… we need renewables because peak oil will put the price of energy beyond reach… to cloak the huge gap between the price of turbine energy and fossil fuels, they applied a carbon tax.
Remove the carbon tax and you would hardly notice the $100 barrel price.
I’d say Eamon Ryan is a wow at parties
He’s a great cure for insomnia!
If they could cut the ESB bills, like the Co2 emissions we be happy!
Eamons dream is a nightmare for the ordinary Joe soap. Cut carbon emission by what…with led technology and cfc bulbs coupled with A rated appliances most house holds have reduced their energy consumption. Wind farm did not reduce the carbon bill on its owen and that’s what’s wrong with Eamon he only sees the top level and always did. What anoys most is reduced energy consumption by the individual and carbon material intake equals an ever increasing energy bill. Why.
Every house hold has to stump up how much for this crap?
Is that why my PSO is going up again
PSO is 2 thirds gas and Peat, 1 third wind.
Wind is Ireland’s second cheapest electricity generation technology (after hydro).
59% of PSO due to wind
Hi, I think it is 28% for next year.
94m out of 335m.
Alan M.
If that much has been saved, where is the reduction in the pso levy or electricity tax????
“serious about transitioning to 100% decarbonised energy in Ireland.”
This statement proves Eamon Ryan does not know anything about energy systems. Its no wonder we are we are now.
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