Samantha Bee uses Rep. Katie Hill's resignation to tackle the complicated scourge of 'revenge porn'

Samantha Bee on revenge porn
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Full Frontal)

First-term Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.) will give her final floor speech on Thursday and resign on Friday after she acknowledged an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staffer but denied allegations about a sexual relationship with a congressional aide. Her departure may raise issues about double standards for male and female politicians. But "Hill's resignation is the right thing to do — you should not have sex with the people who work for you," Samantha Bee said on Wednesday's Full Frontal, making one exception for Capt. Von Trapp of Sound of Music fame.

"So yes, Katie Hill is making the right call, but she herself is a victim of something that is disturbing and wrong," revenge porn, Bee said. "Hill says her private photos were leaked, without her consent, by her estranged husband, and published by RedState and the Daily Mail, two of the vilest, nastiest things to exist on the internet. ... Revenge porn weaponizes people's sexuality against them, and it doesn't just hurt people living public lives — 12 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have had intimate photos shared without their consent."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.