Woman’s Day have ignited a fierce debate on revenge porn after publishing naked photos of Collingwood players Dane Swan and Travis Cloke that they purchased from an anonymous source and published online and in its print edition.
In its current issue, on news stands today, Woman’s Day printed a number of explicit photos of the two, along with two other former Collingwood players, Lachie Keeffe and Tony Armstrong.
The magazine implied that the photos of Swan and Cloke had been taken “recently”, and sent to women other than their partners – Cloke is engaged, while Swan is in a long-term relationship.
The images are thought to be at least a year old, but have only been offered to media organisations recently. Woman’s Day claim to have received them from various anonymous sources, one of whom was a woman saying she had met Swan in a Melbourne bar.
A selection of them is currently up on the Woman’s Day website – with yellow modesty dots to cover the most explicit bits, because they are a family publication after all.
The magazine – who bought and paid for the images and then attempted to goad Collingwood into taking action against the players – has since been heavily criticised for publishing what amounts to revenge porn images.
Some have raised parallels with The Fappening, in which thousands of images of mostly-female celebrities were hacked and released onto the internet, without their permission.
At the time of that incident, Jennifer Lawrence, who herself was caught up in the leak, said:
“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it.”
As noted in an earlier version of this article, upon publication of the images today, Woman’s Day effectively dared Collingwood to take action against the players in question, saying:
The selfies and videos appear to contravene the AFL’s social media policy, which bans players from “accessing, downloading or transmitting… any sexually explicit material.”A full investigation from the Collingwood footy club, which is presided over by Channel Nine personality Eddie McGuire, is likely to commence immediately. It’s predicted the AFL will also examine the incident carefully.
EXPLICIT CONTENT! #AFL stars Travis Cloke & Dane Swan have been busted sending nude pics https://t.co/udOCP53xKP pic.twitter.com/0gpzj9Q1Jg
— Woman’s Day magazine (@WomansDayAus) January 17, 2016
This morning, Collingwood club president Eddie McGuire spoke to Triple M about the leak, labelling the players involved “idiots” but saying that no action will be taken against them by the club.
“It would seem that somebody’s sucked these idiots into sending out photos and as a result they’ve got them and sold them to the media. Apparently they were offering them up to the TV stations, who passed.”
McGuire downplayed any suggestion that this might prove to be a scandal for the club, saying that “it’s got nothing to do with Collingwood, ring their managers and the players’ association.”
The Magpies will not take any action against the players, as the images were shared consensually, and do not breach any policies with regards to respect and responsibility.
Eddie’s final thoughts on the matter?
“Good to know that Swanny has got some room for some more tatts.”
McGuire’s words have been interpreted by some as victim-blaming, and have criticised both him and Woman’s Day for laughing off a serious invasion of the Collingwood players’ privacy.
Woman’s Day have been contacted for comment.
Story: Fairfax
Photo: Michael Dodge / Robert Cianflone / Getty
Photo: Michael Dodge / Robert Cianflone / Getty
