An Adelaide woman was horrified to discover photos she posted on Instagram with her friends when she was 19 had been photoshopped into pornographic ads.
Adelaide musician Alexia Damokas, known by her stage name Aleksiah, detailed the traumatic experience four years later in her new song “Pretty Picture”.
Ms Damokas, 23, said she had no idea the edited photos existed until an acquaintance found them on Twitter.
“Someone literally saved photos that were public online of me being a normal 19-year-old and photoshopped them into pornographic images and posted them on Twitter,” she said. Adelaide now.
“Someone I did karaoke with sent me a message saying, ‘Hey, we don’t know each other that well but I just found them on Twitter and thought I should tell you.’ .’
Adelaide musician Alexia Damokas (above) found fake and pornographic photos of herself online when she was 19.
Creating fake pornographic material without consent is illegal: A Brisbane man was sentenced to 12 months in prison for Photoshopping his teenage stepdaughter into pornographic photos in 2018.
With the help of friends and family, Ms Damokas was able to report the Twitter account and the photos were removed.
Unable to fully process her feelings at the time, she bottled them up and tried to downplay the incident.
“When it first happened, I laughed about it and took it as a joke, but as I got older, I realized how much of an invasion of my privacy and a disrespect for my body,” she wrote in an emotional Instagram post.
It was only when the images resurfaced years later that Ms. Damokas was able to overcome her emotions and understand the impact the edited photos had on her.
“I was angry, I was really confused, I was extremely embarrassed that people were seeing these photos of me because they weren’t me,” she told Adelaide Now.
“It was embarrassing for people to see that, especially when I don’t feel comfortable sharing images of my naked body online.”
Ms Damokas said she was initially bothered by the adverts (one above)
Ms Damokas (above) said she has since realized the images were “an invasion of my privacy and a lack of respect for my body”.
Now, Ms. Damokas sees the release of her new song as an opportunity for her to come to grips with the history and shame she once felt.
“The song is about regaining the pride and security that I had lost and realizing how sad and pathetic the person who took these photos was,” she said.
Ms Damokas’ song Pretty Picture is available now ahead of her tour with Adelaide band Teenage Joans in November.
