MANY women and girls’ online experiences are often marred by objectification and harassment, having their images posted on their social media pages weaponised against them, digitally altered to make them appear in a compromising state.
Malaysian actress Emily Lim shared her disturbing tale of discovering her photos from her Instagram account to have been digitally manipulated to have her appear nude and circulated around.
“Someone took the personal photos I had posted on my Instagram account, edited them to remove my clothes, and subsequently circulated these altered images.
“The individual who did this not only violated my privacy but also sought to demean and objectify me through their actions.
“This experience has left me feeling vulnerable, angry, and fearful about my online presence, prompting me to question the underlying societal attitudes and behaviours that allow such incidents to occur,” Emily voiced out in an Instagram post.
She also highlighted that she may not have been the only victim of this sort of case, underlining that many other women have been “objectified and harassed this way” as well.
In another post, she also spoke up about how “mentally tormented” she felt about the altered images, although the actress believes that this incident should not affect her.
Things then took a dark turn when the perpetrator threatened her to remove her post or he would “take his own life”, forcing her to prematurely cut short her long-awaited trip to Yogyakarta to lodge a police report back in Malaysia.
“I have no choice but to end my trip and lodge a police report once I am back. I chose to stand my ground because I know many girls, even influencers, suffered in silence and chose to brush it off. Some victims were even blackmailed for this,” she added.
In an Instagram story posted yesterday, she had updated that she had lodged said police report, stating “What is supposed to be done is done.”
According to WeirdKaya, she mentioned that this was not her first time going through such an incident, having experienced a similar one two years prior.
“I received a similar DM (Direct Message). I’ve blocked the account but two years later with a different account, the old altered pictures were sent together with the newly altered image again,” Emily recounted.
She was even told in other messages that “this is very normal and it happened to many other artists and influencers”.
On the culprit’s threat to have her take down her post, she said that she sought legal and psychological assistance while being abroad, ultimately leading her to take the matter up to the authorities.
