I was six months free of an abusive relationship when I got the text. It was from Beau, a coworker.
“Someone sent me nude pics of you,” he wrote. I’d spent the entire morning trying to figure out what I was going to eat for lunch, not realizing my naked photos had already been sent to half a dozen people. An overwhelming sense of shame overtook me as I told him to prove it. He replied with a photo: It was definitely me, and I was definitely naked. Below it, the original sender had written: “Forward these to everyone you know.”
It wasn’t the sight of my own skin that embarrassed me, but the idea that my older brothers, little nieces, best friends, and work colleagues might find out these photos existed. I could hear them all asking the same question: What were you thinking?
