#jada pose

It's All Funny When They're Binary Code - #jadapose #tech

I’m normally not one to give press to bad news– especially news that mainstream media will likely use as a diversion– but this story particularly disturbed me. A young man allegedly drugged and raped his classmate, Jada. He then proceeded to take pictures of her limp body which he posted on social media, inspiring assholes across the internet to recreate the “Jada pose” in their own posts. Look,

i was actually hoping to write about something lighthearted and fun today- maybe about improving body image or female empowerment.

but then, i turned on the news and heard about this:

words cannot describe how vile this is. it literally made me sick to my stomach. the fact that this poor girl, this 16 year-old child (because 16 year-olds really are still children), went through such a terrifying and traumatic ordeal that is now immortalized in a cruel, senseless internet meme shows just how desensitized our generation has become to things that we should be wary off.

#jadapose? do you realize that you are making light of an event that could physically, emotionally, and mentally scar this young woman and change her life forever? do you realize you are imitating the pose of a girl forced to do things against her will and treated as an object instead of a human being? do you realize that her dignity was stripped away with the documentation of that crime, and now you are turning that into a joke by mocking her situation?

"but i didn't even know what #jadapose was about! i was just following the trend!" really? that's like laughing at a joke without understanding the punchline. and not only that, it doesn't matter whether or not you understood what the "jada pose" was about - you still contributed to immortalizing this woman's experience on the internet, when most victims are still too terrified to come forward and admit they've been raped.  

and of course, what happens on the internet, stays on the internet...forever and ever and ever. jada won't be able to google her name for fun anymore. her friends, her family, her future bosses and coworkers, anyone she meets will be able to access information and see what unfortunate experience happened to her, and how the internet generation, her peers and even complete strangers, reacted to the event. 

i am ashamed. i am ashamed of all of the people who posted anything about #jadapose that wasn't to condemn it. i am ashamed to be a part of the internet generation that allowed such cyberbullying to occur.

if anyone on your feed/dash/whatever posts something with the "jada pose" on it, i implore you to block and report them. let's stop this degradation before it grows any stronger.