By now you might have heard about the 17-year-old girl who was photographed giving blowjobs in the crowd at an Eminem concert in Slane, Ireland.
There are supposedly three pictures of her in existence: one showing her performing oral sex on a man and then two others showing her kissing a different man and then performing oral sex on him, too. After these three pics were uploaded online and made their way around the Internet, SlaneGirl (as she is being referred to) had her full name revealed and her school identified. She’s been called a “slut,” a “tramp,” a “stupid bitch” and told that she deserves to be made a mockery of.
I’m sure you will be shocked — shocked! — to hear the young man photographed getting head, with both his arms raised in the air in triumph, is not gathering quite the same scorn.
The pictures spread via Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit and 4chan; #SlaneGirl even became a trending topic on Twitter. Much of the commentary on the images was virtually high-fiving this guy for being the man (who wouldn’t want to be fellated to the sweet sounds of “Brain Damage”?) but she’s a national embarrassment whose face is now being cropped onto photos of Adolf Hitler. As the Irish news site Waterford Whispers News noted, “Many users spent considerable time carefully perfecting pun-heavy jokes to accompany the controversial image. They were, it appears, less concerned with whether or not the girl was underage …” It’s like the social media version of ‘shoot first, ask questions later.’ Update: A commenter has pointed out that Waterford Whispers is an Irish joke news site, a la The Onion. I apologize for the error!
Look, I get it. These kids were reckless to do this around cameras; stupid, even. Their parents probably want to wring their necks. It feels like a lot to ask usto feel bad for young adults who performed consensual sex acts in public (especially at an Eminem concert, good God) and then complained when it gets broadcast on the Internet. They should have a clue, right? It’s 2013. Everyone has Instagram and Vine on their phone. But the problem here isn’t just that the photos were taken or spread around with the teen’s full name, but rather the sexist reaction after the pictures hit the web. The girl bore the hashtag #SlaneSlut, while the boy was called an “absolute fuckin’ hero!” and “a legend.” She became an international public mockery, while hewas just a dope in a green hat enjoying a public blowie.
The barrage of slut-shaming has not surprisingly caused the teen girl unimaginable emotional distress. According to Ireland’s Independent newspaper, she was examined and “sedated” at a hospital on Monday night because she is “distraught” over the negative attention. The Daily Dot also reported that the girl reported having been sexually assaulted that same night (though it is unclear by whom or even if it occurred at the concert or somewhere else).
She has recently spoken with police, along with her parents, but has not filed a formal complaint. It’s unclear what steps will be taken next: in Ireland, 17 is the age of consent but as VICE notes, sharing pornographic images of anyone under 18 is child porn (so even if she participated in them consensually, anyone who shared the pics performed an illegal act). A source told the Independent:
“The teenager has not been medically fit enough to make a formal statement yet, but when that happens this could turn into a sexual assault investigation.”
Facebook removed at least one page with an image of SlaneGirl, stating it violated the site’s terms of service, according to the Independent. Twitter also suspended many users who shared the pic; some Twitter users have gathered the handles of accounts that tweeted and retweeted the images. But the cat was out of social media’s bag, so to speak — once again proving that when a young woman dares to behave sexually, we’re all too happy to punish her.
[Daily Dot (1)] [Daily Dot (2)] [Know Your Meme: SlaneGirl][Jezebel] [Independent IE (1)] [[Independent IE (2)] [VICE]
Original by Jessica Wakeman
