America loves a nude photo scandal. In 2014, Jennifer Lawrence, Gabrielle Union, Kate Upton, and more than 100 other celebrities saw their iClouds hacked, and their photos leaked as a result. In 2012, Gawker released Hulk Hogan’s sex tape, a saga that lasted for years and ultimately bankrupted the outlet. In 2011, we learned about Carlos Danger, the alias former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner employed during his sextcapades involving several women, including a minor. Last week, The National Enquirer allegedly threatened to release risqué photos, including a dick pic, of billionaire and Amazon overlord Jeff Bezos, after the tabloid had previously published sexts with his mistress, and Bezos hired investigators to find out who was responsible.

In the years since the leaks, Lawrence, Union, and Upton have resumed their successful careers; they are, by all outward respects, fine—and Bezos probably will be, too. But maybe now is a good time to question the underlying assumption here: that having your nudes leaked on the internet should constitute a scandal—or, as in this case, suggest that you're unfit to run a business—at all. Each time this happens, and the media subsequently frenzies in response, it's reinforcing the idea for people like Pecker that naked pictures are something to be weaponized. When nearly everyone has a cache of raunchy pics on their phone, why do we react in this outsized way?

To find out, we talked to Dr. Kate Balestrieri, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist who studies revenge porn, about its lasting psychological effects and why we're still so ashamed of the human body. According to Dr. Balestrieri, we’re uptight about nudes because “the pervasive thought in our country is that nudity is reserved for private. When people are nude in public spheres it breeches that social etiquette and those constructed boundaries that we have as an American culture.”

Our collective shame and discomfort regarding the human body is deeply apparent in how the culture we consume is regulated. Tumblr, a previously porn-friendly platform, recently banned nudity, including “female presenting nipples,” hurting the careers and livelihoods of many sex workers who use the site. Instagram also won’t free the female nipple (no definitive word on what happens if you photoshop “male-presenting” nipples on a woman). There is still a raging debate about whether or not it’s appropriate to breastfeed in public. Despite our relative progressiveness, America is still rather prudish when it comes to naked bodies, especially bodies that belong to women, femmes, and trans and nonbinary people.

As for why marginalized individuals are at greater risk, Dr. Balestrieri explains, “When someone engages in an act of revenge porn against another person, they’re disempowering that person’s own volition around their sexuality.” So for someone who’s already marginalized, “the impact of that further disempowerment, especially around their sexuality, can take them out at their emotional knees.”

Further, as Dr. Balestrieri puts it, the emotional effects of revenge porn are profound. “Victims of revenge porn are not only sexually violated, but they are sexually violated in an extremely public way. So they suffer many of the same symptoms that someone who is raped might experience.” And Jeff Bezos, as rich, white, and powerful as he may be, happens to be in another one of the more at-risk groups when it comes to revenge porn: celebrities or anyone with a high status role in their community. These people are often targets because there is a lot for them to lose and a pre-built audience for their humiliation. “Anyone in the public eye is at a high risk of being targeted for revenge porn and also has higher consequences because people’s reputations can be easily tarnished even when they’ve done ‘nothing’ wrong,” says Dr. Balestrieri.

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While revenge porn can certainly lead to material consequences—a loss of status or financial opportunity—even more sinister are the psychological consequences of such a sexual trauma. Dr. Balestrieri described many of the possible emotional effects including dissociation, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks or other post-traumatic responses. Additionally, “They can experience hyper arousal—not sexual arousal, but nervous system arousal—which means that their startle reflex is amped up.” In other words, any time the victim thinks about the incident, they can experience physiological symptoms such as sweating, increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, or a panic attack. Just like any trauma, it also might also cause disrupted sleep and eating patterns, especially if the victim already has body image issues, since people who view the photos often make critical comments.

These responses are not just limited to the reveal of the images themselves, either. Often these damaging effects last years and resurface during otherwise postive sexual experiences. Sexual dysfunction is incredibly common for victims of revenge porn. Victims “might feel completely shut down and go into a state of sexual anorexia where they don’t allow themselves to be sexual because in a previous instance when they were, that got them into ‘trouble.’” The effects of sexual assault can be hard to share with other people as well, because talking about the assault threatens to invite more criticism. Dr. Balestrieri explains, “A lot of victims will feel responsible or like they did something wrong for engaging in what can be a very playful and healthy exchange between people if it’s consensual.”

So again, is Jeff Bezos vulnerable? No, not comparatively to literally anyone else, especially since the world already knew about his divorce and his mistress and his sexts calling said mistress “alive girl,” which certainly lessens the potential ramifications of revealing said photos. Bezos will be fine. However, if bad actors think nudes are leverage enough to take down arguably the most rich, powerful white dude on earth, that sends a message loud and clear to everyone else with less resources to defend themselves. And that message is: If you have nudes we will find them, release them, and presumably cost you your job or at the very least publicly humiliate you.

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At some point, as a society, we’re going to have to grapple with the fact that most adults have nude photos, that candidates for public office have probably sent a dick pic, that your kids’ principal has sexted, and your accountant was on r/gonewild. Journalists Siouxsie Q and Tina Horn, in a talk for Woodhull's Sexual Freedom Summit 2016, asked the question, “When everyone is naked on the internet, is no one naked on the internet?” Right now the answer is no. People are still at risk of losing their jobs, and being blackmailed, shamed, and harassed over naked photos, with marginalized people bearing the brunt of the consequences for something most of us do.

Jennifer Lawrence, responding to her leaked nudes, said, “I started to write an apology, but I don't have anything to say I'm sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he's going to look at you.” But even that short disclaimer, in a way, was an attempt to explain herself. No one needs justification: Being alive is reason enough to take a photo of your naked body. And since we’re all going to keep doing it, and we must assume that hackers and shitty ex-partners will continue to leak them, we’ve got to get over our deep-seated belief that a picture of a nude body is scandalous.

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