Emma Freedman has explained her comments on the Richmond nude photo scandal that saw an immediate backlash accusing her of ‘victim blaming’.
On Sports Sunday, presenter Emma Freedman was asked by Peter FitzSimons for her thoughts on the punishment AFL footballers should be subjected to after a nude photo of a woman wearing a Richmond premiership medal was leaked and circulated.
“My opinion on it, Peter, is, don’t take your clothes off, to be honest,” she said.
After she was asked whether she thought it was the woman’s fault, she responded, “If you’re in a position where you think you might be put in a vulnerable position later on, for me, I wouldn’t take my clothes off.”
Last night, Freedman posted on Twitter a further explanation of what she really meant by her comments.
"I did not blame the woman involved. I did not 'woman bash'. For those who have gone over the top to abuse me for what I said today let me clarify," she began.
"I consider myself a feminist. But I also take into consideration, in this modern day and age, the vulnerable position of women."
She went on to say that while she believed the player who distributed the photo unlawfully should be held accountable, choosing to take part in the taking of the photo was "dangerous".
Listen: Don't be naive about nude selfies. Post continues after audio.
"I'm not saying it's wrong, or bad. I'm saying it's dangerous... I feel very sorry for the woman involved. It's humiliating for her. But the taking of that photograph put her in a vulnerable position," she wrote.
"How can we absolutely trust someone will delete the photograph? We can't. As we've seen over the last week.
“Maybe I’m overly careful and very distrusting of others, possibly to my fault. You may not agree with me, but hopefully you can understand."
She said that she hoped in the future things like this wouldn't happen.
"Let's hope that in the future we can all be free to engage in things like this (if we choose to) and feel protected and safe. Sadly I think that's a long way off. I wish that wasn't the case".
Top Comments
Why no backlash over the person who says their should not be any punishment to the Richmond player.
Emma is more prominent in the media and is subject to more backlash than the other panelists. Although it seems the other panelist have an opinion that is more damming.
She was asked her opinion on the punishment of the footballer, so it's somewhat telling that she instead chose to focus on what the victim should have done.
Look, there's nothing wrong with teaching women to be careful, but when something like this DOES happen, the focus should be on what the PERPETRATOR did wrong wrong, not the victim. Where are all the articles and comments saying "see boys, this is what happens when you don't treat women with respect"?
Though to be honest I found the bald guy's comments even more disturbing. "There are two parties involved here, why are they coming down so hard on him?" Uh, because she didn't actually do anything wrong? Because HE broke the law, not her?