Privacy in a World of Social Media I

My best guy friend met a hot chick in a bar one night. They exchanged numbers and within a few days he had a sweet collection of very hot photos, which he showed us all. The guys gawked while I thought, wow, is this what a first date looks like these days?

Fast forward to a few weeks and a couple of live dates later…. My friend kind of liked this girl. When we all finally met her, there were definitely snickers and inside jokes made at her expense among the guys. Not in a mean way but come on, with a birthmark like that, right there.

Fast forward a few months and a few home cooked meals… My friend thought this woman was really wonderful. Though we all knew better, it was hard not to make snide comments about how he’d scored big time in the titty arena or to ask if she was still putting out in any soft porn kind of way. At this point my friend begged us to forget everything we’d seen or come to believe about her. He insisted that she was so much more than the pictures she’d sent him during that first week.

Fast forward to the bun in the oven and this lady was going to be Mrs. Friend! Holy donkeys! I had to wonder if she knew or cared about her reputation among all of us. I don’t think anyone necessarily thought less of her. Some of us probably thought a lot more of her! But there would always be the irrevocable bunch of images that begged certain questions.

Now, rewind to those first few days when showing the guys (and me) sexy pictures of the hot slutty girl from the bar was really cool. And when sending mostly nude pictures to a virtual stranger seemed like a reasonable come on (which it clearly was)!

Now imagine announcing your engagement to a bunch of people who have seen your fiancé naked. A bunch of guys who have likely had delicious fantasies about the mother of your child because a), she took and sent provocative photos to a guy she barely knew anything about and b), it doesn’t take a psychologist to assume that said guy would proudly flaunt said photos to as many people as he could show his jackpot to.

There is no judgment here. I just got to thinking about the controversy of privacy these days. Where is our privacy taken from us and where do we give it away…