It’s time we give celebrities the right to their bodies back.
Hulu’s Pam and Tommy aired its finale on March 9th, 2022. Surrounding the 1995 scandal regarding Baywatch actress, Pamela Anderson’s (Lily James) and Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee’s (Sebastian Stan) stolen sex tape, the show touches on what it means to be sexually autonomous.
Sexual autonomy is defined as the freedom to choose when and who someone is having sex with. In the show, when the sex tape is released without their knowledge or consent, Anderson and Lee are treated in different ways because of it.
Lee is seen as a sexual idol, someone to be praised for getting with Anderson. However, Pamela is slut-shamed and looked down on for having and enjoying sex.
Both Anderson and Lee were married at the time the sex tape was filmed, a tape that was meant to stay private. However, media coverage never mentioned that the couple’s tape was stolen and leaked, they only portrayed it as a deviant act while ignoring the crime that had taken place.
Another thing to note is that Rand Gauthier, the man who initially leaked the tape, never faced jail time or any consequences for his actions.
In the time since the Anderson/Lee sex tape was released, other celebrities have had similar tapes and nudes leaked (Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lawerence, etc).
These celebrities, mainly the women, have been shamed and scrutinized for taking nude photos of themselves and filming themselves having sex, but the main message is that these were meant for private eyes. These celebrities had their privacy breached, which is something no one bothers to mention when scandals like this come to light.
The most impactful quote of the show is from Anderson herself. After the couple loses a lawsuit against Penthouse, the magazine is allowed to print pictures from the tape. To this verdict, Anderson says, “they tell Penthouse they have the 1st amendment right to print photos of me because they don’t want to say that sluts don’t have the rights over what happens to them.”
Throughout the show, Anderson is seen as a sex object by the men in media and the men she works with. During the trial against Penthouse, they use her Playboy photos against her.
Anderson had to work ten times harder to be seen as serious and to get respect in the industry compared to the men on the show. Her sexuality and sexualized image are constantly thrown back at her as if she is the one who chose to be seen that way.
Anderson lacked sexual autonomy, yes she chose who and when to have sex, but she couldn’t control the fact that people oversexualized and still oversexualize her. All she wants is respect, to be seen as a person rather than a fantasy.
Anderson raised the point that when someone is sexualized, the media thinks that they aren’t entitled to the same privacy as everyone else.
When asked about the tape in a 2020 interview with People magazine Anderson said, “I’ve never seen it. I made not one dollar. It was stolen property…I’m not going to court anymore. I’m not being deposed anymore by these horny, weird lawyer men. I don’t want to talk about my vagina anymore or my public sex — anything.”
Anderson has made it clear that she is taking back her right to privacy despite what others think of her. Instead of forcing women to go through years of shame and grief to “earn” their sense of privacy back, there should be more action placed on those who leak photos, tapes, etc.