Nude celebrities on the Internet
Encyclopedia
Imagery of nude celebrities is in widespread demand and is a lucrative business. Depictions of celebrities
have been exploited by vendors of pornography
and others in many different forms of media. Genres include celebrity sex tape
s, paparazzi
photos capturing unintentional or private scenes, film screenshots, faked or doctored images, and shots from magazines.
magazine
is renowned for offering famous women large amounts of money to appear nude in its magazine, and more downmarket pornographic magazines search far and wide for nude pictures of celebrities taken unaware — for example, when they are bathing topless or nude at what the subject thought was a secluded beach, or taken before the individual was well-known. These paparazzi
photos are in high demand among sensational magazines and press.
In many nations, privacy law
and personality rights
can lead to civil action against organizations that publish photos of nude celebrities without a model release
, and this restricts the availability of such photos through the print media. On the Internet, the difficulty of identifying offenders and applying court sanction makes circulation of such photographs much less risky. Such photographs circulate through many online photo distribution channels such as Usenet
and Internet forum
s, and commercial operators, often in countries beyond the reach of courts, also offer such photos for commercial gain. Copyright
restrictions are often ignored.
In some cases, when the depicted person is young and the photo is an actual photo, nude media of celebrities may fall under the purvue of child pornography
laws, a legal regime with harsh penalties for distribution. When the photos are faked or doctored, the media is classified as simulated pornography
.
A final form is the increasingly frequent occurrence of an "upskirt
" shot of female. Most such images show underwear, but some situations (such as celebrities exiting cars) have resulted in snapshots which are claimed to show genitalia.
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
have been exploited by vendors of pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and others in many different forms of media. Genres include celebrity sex tape
Celebrity sex tape
A celebrity sex tape is typically an amateur pornographic video recording involving one or more celebrity famous person which has been, intentionally or unintentionally, made available publicly....
s, paparazzi
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
photos capturing unintentional or private scenes, film screenshots, faked or doctored images, and shots from magazines.
Background
The commercial demand for images of nude celebrities has been known for many decades. PlayboyPlayboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
is renowned for offering famous women large amounts of money to appear nude in its magazine, and more downmarket pornographic magazines search far and wide for nude pictures of celebrities taken unaware — for example, when they are bathing topless or nude at what the subject thought was a secluded beach, or taken before the individual was well-known. These paparazzi
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
photos are in high demand among sensational magazines and press.
In many nations, privacy law
Privacy law
Privacy law refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private organizations and its storage and use....
and personality rights
Personality rights
"Personality rights" is a common or casual reference to the proper term of art "Right of Publicity". The Right of Publicity can be defined simply as the right of an individual to control the commercial use of his or her name, image, likeness or other unequivocal aspects of one's identity...
can lead to civil action against organizations that publish photos of nude celebrities without a model release
Model release
A model release, known in similar contexts as a liability waiver, is a legal release typically signed by the subject of a photograph granting permission to publish the photograph in one form or another...
, and this restricts the availability of such photos through the print media. On the Internet, the difficulty of identifying offenders and applying court sanction makes circulation of such photographs much less risky. Such photographs circulate through many online photo distribution channels such as Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
and Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s, and commercial operators, often in countries beyond the reach of courts, also offer such photos for commercial gain. Copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
restrictions are often ignored.
In some cases, when the depicted person is young and the photo is an actual photo, nude media of celebrities may fall under the purvue of child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
laws, a legal regime with harsh penalties for distribution. When the photos are faked or doctored, the media is classified as simulated pornography
Simulated pornography
Simulated child pornography is defined as pornography depicting minors that is produced without the direct involvement of children in the production process itself...
.
Types of nude celebrity media
Media of nude celebrities fall into five main categories:- Film screenshots: Many actors and actresses have done nude or partially nude scenes in non-pornographic mainstream films. ScreenshotScreenshotA screenshot , screen capture , screen dump, screengrab , or print screen is an image taken by a computer to record the visible items displayed on the monitor, television, or another visual output device...
s from these films are circulated widely and can usually be recognized by the low picture quality (from video). Increased popularity of broadbandBroadbandThe term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
internet access makes possible the distribution of actual video clips and higher quality images, usually copied from DVDs. Often screenshots of these scenes are displayed in several frames as tiles.
- Paparazzi photographs: Occasionally, celebrities are photographed in revealing real-life situations. The most common scenario is a woman sunbathing toplessToplessnessToplessness is the state in which a female's breasts are uncovered, with the areolae and nipples visible, usually in a public space. It can also refer to a female not wearing any clothing above the waist, which is the female equivalent to a male barechestedness.The history and even the present-day...
, usually on a beachBeachA beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
, yachtYachtA yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
or by a pool. The photos are usually taken from a distance and rarely reveal more than breasts, although some celebrities have been photographed fully nude. Other types of paparazzi images of nude celebrities include 'nipple slipsWardrobe malfunctionA wardrobe malfunction is a euphemism for accidental exposure of intimate parts. It is different from flashing, as the latter implies a deliberate exposure...
', in which low cut dresses, lack of a bra, an accidental fall of clothing or camera flash glares may reveal a celebrity's nipples.
A final form is the increasingly frequent occurrence of an "upskirt
Upskirt
Upskirt refers to the practice of making unauthorized photographs under a female's skirt, capturing an image of her crotch area and underwear. The term "upskirt" can also refer to a video, illustration or photograph which incorporates the upskirt image. The term is also sometimes used to refer...
" shot of female. Most such images show underwear, but some situations (such as celebrities exiting cars) have resulted in snapshots which are claimed to show genitalia.
- Nude photo shoots: Mainstream sex magazines such as PlayboyPlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
or photographic art magazines such as Black And WhiteBlack+WhiteBlack+White was a bimonthly Australian magazine published by Studio Magazines that debuted in the summer of 1992. For a period it was also known as Black+White magazine....
routinely feature nude shoots of celebrities. Some celebrities have modeled for nude photographs prior to becoming famous. Such images are often later redistributed in digital form by the publisher, or by a third party.
- Stolen private materials: Rarely, private sexual photographs or videos are stolen or obtained from a former lover/spouse and show up on the Internet. See celebrity sex tapeCelebrity sex tapeA celebrity sex tape is typically an amateur pornographic video recording involving one or more celebrity famous person which has been, intentionally or unintentionally, made available publicly....
.
- Fake or doctored photos: Many images found on the Internet and in Yellow journalismYellow journalismYellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism...
are fake images, primarily made with various image editingImage editingImage editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they be digital photographs, traditional analog photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs, or editing illustrations with any...
techniques. These typically combine the most recognizable features of a celebrity, such as their face, with the nude body of a suitable lesser-known pornography actor. Unlike other forms of nude media of celebrities, faked photos can be produced with little effort or resources and do not require access to the celebrity, making them a popular option for amateurs. Another form of doctoring celebrity photos is known as "Celebrity X-Ray". This technique involves the use of digital image editing software to modify photos of celebrities dressed in skimpy, sheer or see-through material, in order to reveal what is hidden or obscured beneath the cloth.
Famous cases
- On October 19, 1998, a website called ClubLoveSeth WarshavskySeth Warshavsky was a pioneer in the Internet pornography industry and the founder of Internet Entertainment Group . During the dot-com boom years of the late 1990s, Warshavsky's welcome media attention made him the face of the online pornography industry to a public fascinated with what was then...
posted nude photos of Laura SchlessingerLaura SchlessingerLaura Catherine Schlessinger is an American talk radio host, socially conservative commentator and author. Her radio program consists mainly of her responses to callers' requests for personal advice and has occasionally featured her short monologues on social and political topics...
("Dr. Laura"), which were taken in the 1970s by her then-boyfriend. The photos received a fair amount of controversy due to Schlessinger's conservative political beliefs. - Prior to becoming famous, Heather Mills worked as a glamour model and was photographed nude in a book entitled Die Freuden der Liebe.
- Photos of actress/singer Vanessa Hudgens of High School MusicalHigh School MusicalHigh School Musical is a 2006 American television film, first in the High School Musical film franchise. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful film that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2 released in 2007 and...
fame, appeared on the Internet in 2007. The photos included several of Vanessa in her underwear, and another with her breasts and genitalia exposed. Another set of photos, taken on a cell phone, were released later.