The Elephant in the Room: How A.I has Brought Out the Long-fought Battle for a Woman’s Body

 

Recently the A.I generated pictures of Taylor Swift were all over the internet. These pictures were generated to show Taylor Swift being molested in public. Her clothes were edited off her too. This caused an outrage that brought an issue we have been shoving under the rug for quite some time: the attempts to take control over women’s bodies.

After Taylor Swift’s pictures circulated online, this became a topic of discussion and it was revealed that a fourteen-year-old girl, Mia Janin, from London had committed suicide after her male pupils had generated compromising photos of her.

To make matters worse, a few months ago, there was a Telegram A.I capable of editing the clothes off women and girls. It was spreading around like wildfire.

Seeing corporates being so invested in the development of A.I, I seriously doubt whether they would ever address this issue. This is matter that requires some serious attention.

A.I poses many threats such as displacing jobs etc., but more than all of that it threatens the basic dignity of a human being. From a celebrity like Taylor Swift to a teenager living in a village every woman and child are under a huge threat.

The internet also saw the emergence another use of A.I. This time it was used to ‘cover up’ women who are ‘not dressed decently’

Yes, there are A.I capable of making women look ‘modest’

I agree that different cultures have different yardsticks to measure what it is appropriate and what isn’t appropriate to wear but they can at best be applicable only in professional settings. In a personal setting, however, we have no right to command someone’s modesty.

So, to take a woman’s photo – who is a stranger and from whom permission was not seeked – and to ‘cover’ her up reeks of entitlement. There are boundaries we are not supposed to cross and this is one of them. We have no right to even save someone’s photo without their consent, much less edit it.

The emergence of A.I, therefore, has brought out the issue of men trying to take control of a woman’s bodily autonomy. It has revealed the disturbing amount of entitlement men have towards a woman’s body and this has existed for centuries.

A man’s body belongs to a man but a woman’s body has always under the risk of belonging to everyone.

It’s high time that we come together and rise our voice against such heinous acts. It’s not about who is right or who is wrong. It is only about being human.