The story should not end at just protecting or promoting our women and girls—such as their rights, equality, education or gender-based violence. There is more to be done and let me start with the story about nudity. This topic is not new here and today, I bring a whole new dimension to it. I shall digress from the revenge porn matter and expound a little on what I wrote here recently. For those who missed it, my post was about the possibility of girls and women publishing their nudes for marketing purposes. All along, I have blamed men for publishing the nudes of their exes as revenge.

I have cautioned women about sending their nudes to lovers because experience has shown that some of them tend to share those pictures when a relationship ends. Well, at the rate these nudes continue making rounds on social media, it may not be just men that are to blame. The women seem to be doing it out of their own free will; hence, my suspicion of it being a market gimmick.

Now, women are undressing for money. They are being coerced into stripping at an agreed fee payable once the photos and videos are sent to the ‘buyer’. I have seen conversations between buyer and seller, where the former calls the shots in terms of the kind of poses and expected outcomes. Because of the financial promises, women are ready to bare it all; regardless of what the payer wants to do with their photographs. Some have smiled all the way to the bank upon getting paid, only to get the shock of their lives once the photos leak. And can they blame the buyer for publishing his ‘property’. Other women have been duped. After the suggestive poses, they get nothing, with the supposed payer to blackmail them into paying him or risk exposure.

Last time I checked, selling one’s body and subjecting it to all manner of activity for a fee is prostitution. Britannica.com defines prostitution as the practice of engaging in relatively indiscriminate sexual activity, in general with someone who is not a spouse or a friend, in exchange for immediate payment in money or other valuables.

Women need more than knowing about their rights. Somebody should teach them about dignity. Selling one’s body is an undignified way of earning an income, especially when the pictures are leaked and go viral. Don’t just fall for empty promises for the love of money.

The post It’s still called prostitution first appeared on The Nation Online.