When unhinged internet trolls tear into a powerful woman whose naked images are shared online without her consent, pay attention — you will hear modern misogyny talking.

In Ghana, it is a crime to intentionally share sexually explicit content (images, videos, etc) of a person without their consent, and to cause ‘embarrassment’ and ‘serious emotional distress’ to them. The Cyber Security Act 2020 (Act 1038) prohibits both the illicit sharing and the threat to share such materials, with offenders liable for a term of imprisonment of up to three years.

This law sets important standards for the handling of such malicious breaches of privacy and the distribution of intimate materials, in what has come to be known as revenge porn or non-consensual pornography. In most cases, the material may have been produced by one party of an intimate relationship with the consent of the other party, at the time.

A 2022 survey found that nearly a third of Americans, have sent a nude photo. But producing such content for private viewing, especially in the case of consenting adult lovers, is more than a fair bit different from sharing publicly.

According to the US-based Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, one in ten ex-partners has threatened to post explicit photos of their partner online; 60% of those followed through on their threats. In Ghana, 27% of cases reported to the Emergency Response Team of the country’s Cyber Security Centre are related to the non-consensual publication of explicit images and online child abuse.

So, anyone could be a victim of revenge porn.

But in the depths of cyberspace, where users are empowered by anonymity, cruel internet trolls find perverse pleasure in tearing into the victims. Unfortunately, the voyeurism attached to women’s bodies, makes them the more obvious targets — about 90% of all victims of revenge porn are women. And when the women in question happen to be as influential or powerful as popular Ghanaian broadcaster, Serwaa Amihere, the intensity of vitriol is even worse.

There is hardly anybody in Ghana, even among the least informed, who has not heard of or knows about Serwaa Amihere. She is not only popular for her work as a news journalist and presenter, but also for her entrepreneurial and philanthropic exploits as well as her fashion influence. With over two million followers on Instagram and nearly the same on X (formerly Twitter), she is just the perfect target for whoever is looking to fan their egos and assert themselves as powerful.

Serwaa’s ordeal unfolded just like many others — an intimate moment recorded and shared in trust, only to end up being weaponized against her. Apart from how the video became public, the re-sharing, reproduction, commentary and reactions after the leak have demonstrated a deep-seated misogyny — a toxic brew of entitlement, objectification, and control — within Ghana’s online public sphere.

Look, sharing those deeply personal and private images without consent is not only a violation of her privacy — which is criminal anyway — it is an assertion of faux power in an attempt to diminish her stature and undermine her achievements.

Even before now, her rise to prominence and influence in her field of work have been unreasonably and unjustifiably linked to her supposed sexual escapades with her male bosses. In the minds of her critics, women can only get a seat at the table of influence if they pay up with sex. And so, unlike their male counterparts (who are automatically assumed to have attained their own heights through hard work), accomplished women must consistently explain how they got where they are.

I know this because when I left the University of Ghana and joined Joy FM/Joy News, my rise within the space was nothing short of meteoric. I became the anchor of the 6am news (one of the three major bulletins on radio), barely a month after I started as a national service person. In my relatively brief stint at the station, I had covered nearly every major beat, from politics to health, to security, while anchoring some of the most important programmes on both TV and radio.

But I never had to contend with rumours that I was sleeping with my managers for ‘juicy’ assignments or for more airtime.

So why does Serwaa, and in fact many other female journalists and other professionals, have to contend with this? The response to this may not be straightforward but whatever it is, the answer cannot be too far from misogyny!

That is why when videos or photos showing these women in their most vulnerable state emerge, as it has now, it is considered the smoking gun which legitimises the so-called suspicions held all this while — a scandal. But it is no scandal at all. It is a sex crime perpetuated to actively humiliate the victim (and to a reasonable extent, her close associates) — nothing more than this.

Don’t take my word for it. Refer to the alleged comments of the gentleman captured in the video with Serwaa Amihere: “…Next time, I will come very hard and I will bury every reputation you have built…”

Now her taunters hope that she will be silenced and robbed of her voice as a public figure and denied any form of privacy and agency over her own body and sexual life. But I am glad she has refused to be shut out, and I hope she never gives in. While she is taking this gracefully, it unfortunately does not end here.

Many victims of revenge porn have suffered unimaginable levels of bullying and online harassment or stalking. And even without seeing Serwaa’s dms, the public comments across social media prove that this is already happening.

What is even more intriguing is how nearly everyone, including some highly educated and big personalities, has come to accept this as right. I see comments from boys, men and even some women and then wonder where this sort of behaviour is acceptable. They condemn Serwaa, the victim, in the most unhinged ways and accuse her of inviting this unto herself just because she had the nerve to record herself. It is her fault that her photos have been shared online, without her consent.

After all, as a woman, she must know better than to do anything which could be exploited by people who should be rather held accountable for their actions. Inherent in this thinking is an admission that the male gaze rules supreme and women’s bodies are but just commodities for voyeuristic pleasure — of men.

Of course, this thinking is madness and if you think it ‘Fitz’ Serwaa then think again.

At the least, powerful women like Serwaa, who go through this must make sure it does not end at just social media trolls. They must make formal police complaints, sue perpetrators, test the laws and get hefty sentences for their abusers. While it is true that this may not change things entirely, the ripple effect is that fewer people will be emboldened to violate other women similarly and even if they do, the victims will be encouraged to take action rather than suffer in silence.