Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) does not like the phrase “revenge porn.”
The presidential contender explained why in an interview published Tuesday morning for Cosmopolitan’s “The Candidates Come to Cosmo” series. Revenge porn refers to situations when exes (usually male) publish nude photos of their former partners (usually female) on the internet as a way to get back at them after a breakup.
Harris told Cosmo that she’s asked the press and other people to stop using that phrase because both terms, “revenge” and “porn,” don’t apply.
“‘Revenge’ suggests that she’s done something wrong that then deserves this kind of response, which, of course, is ridiculous,” Harris said. “What she did is she was in a consensual relationship, taking photographs, sharing them in a consensual relationship, and then she breaks up with [a] dude and he’s upset about it and then tries to figure out how to embarrass her and demean her and belittle her and then publishes these photographs. So she has done nothing that deserves this conduct.”
She added that porn is a term “loaded with judgment,” telling Cosmo that a woman who shares nude photos with a partner did not take those pictures with the intent of sharing them publicly.
“So it is not ‘revenge’ or ‘porn,‘” Harris continued. “And for that reason, I’ve said that the term should be ‘cyber-exploitation,’ which is the use of cybertechnology in a way that has been designed and intended to exploit predominantly women.”
Head over to Cosmopolitan to watch Harris’s full interview.