Media MonsterWeird But True

Man Who Sent A Photo Of His Genitals To A Female Olympian Gets Publicly Shamed

With new technology comes endless opportunities to offend, harass, and generally make other human beings feel uncomfortable. Olympic high jumper (and policewoman by trade) Ariane Friedrich found this out first hand, when a man sent her a photo of his junk in an email. Cooool opener, dude.

Friedrich was so disturbed by this photo that she decided to publicly shame her harasser, and posted the man’s name and email address on her Facebook page. Some people thought this was brave. Other people thought it was crass. And thus, an internet fight was born.

Friedrich’s justification, according to an accompanying post on her Facebook page, was that “[She's] been offended in the past, sexually harassed and [she's had a stalker before...It’s time to act, it’s time to defend [herself]. And that’s what [she's] doing. No more and no less.”

Becoming a public figure, as Friedrich is doing by participating in the summer Olympics, does not mean that her personal boundaries are open for violation. The anonymity of the internet, however, makes some people feel that they can do things they never would were they face to face with another person. This can manifest in sending people dick pics or revenge-posting the dick pic sender’s personal information online. Although I might worry that antagonizing one’s harasser in this way is not the safest strategy in the world, Friedrich clearly feels that she can handle it. She said in response to the controversy, “[it's] a way of making clear that I am prepared to act.” She’s also planning to bring formal charges against the man who sent her the picture, though I’m not sure what punishment the authorities could come up with that would be much worse than the humiliation he’s already suffered at Friedrich’s hands. Lesson for the day: send a naked picture, prepare for the possibility of a public shaming. At this point, it’s basically a law of nature.