Victoria’s Secret model takes on paparazzi who shot her sunbathing topless

Sara Sampaio, a Portuguese model who works with lingerie company Victoria’s Secret, has spoken out against paparazzi who shot her pictures while she sunbathed topless and published them online.

Sampaio wrote on Facebook that the pictures had been snapped while she was “privately minding her own business”, according to Time.com that quoted People magazine. She said that she felt violated.

The model was on vacation in the south of France at the time. She wrote: “I had no idea that there was someone far away with a big telescopic lens taking pictures of me. Some of you may say that I’m a public figure and it comes with my job. Others that I’m used to being photographed in swimsuits. There is a difference though.”

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That difference, pointed out Sampaio, is consent.

“To the person that sold my picture to the press, I really hope that one day you don’t wake up with your daughter’s naked picture all over the Internet,” she wrote. “To the press, please stop funding people to take these pictures and to the people that hate and body shame, let’s show more compassion and love.”

Consent is an issue that women all over the world struggle with, whether it relates to paparazzi chasing celebrities, or sex.

While Indian celebrities have less of an issue with the paparazzi than those in the west, Indian women are often filmed without their consent and find their images posted online.

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Late in June this year, a young woman in Tamil Nadu committed suicide after a stalker posted a morphed nude image of her on her Facebook account.

Feature image credit: time.com