My own stomach dropped when I realised the image was fake (Picture: X / @georgievpurcell / Nine)
A female MP stands smiling for a photo, with her arms behind her back.
Her arms are illustrated with tattoos, and she’s wearing a white co-ord with a flash of midriff on show.
You’d be forgiven for thinking this was your average press photo for Georgie Purcell, the youngest woman in any Australian parliament. I was certainly fooled, for one.
Except, it has a much darker side to it.
It’s not real. It’s been edited without her consent to make her breasts bigger – and her outfit transformed to make sure that a tease of toned stomach was on show.
‘Having my body and outfit photoshopped by a media outlet was not on my bingo card,’ the MP wrote on X, sharing the original, unedited photo of her in a white dress.
‘Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing,’ she added. ‘Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP. What gives?’
Georgie also revealed that her entire stomach is tattooed – so the seemingly innocent image, posted on a recent bulletin by Aussie TV network, Nine News, is definitely fake.
Her chest has even been enlarged to the extent that the image now features a shadow from the perceived size of her beasts, where there wasn’t one before.
It’s been doctored, without her permission. And it’s vile.
Even though Purcell holds one of the highest positions of power in her own country, her body has been sexualised to fit the male gaze (Picture: AAPIMAGE)
My own stomach dropped when I realised the image was fake. I felt sick that I’d been fooled. Brushed over another sexualised photo of a woman online as if it was the most normal thing in the world to see.
I’m used to seeing women pinched and pulled in the pages of magazines, on film posters and all over social media – but I thought a news channel would be above this. And I certainly never expected for this to happen to a politician.
Georgie Purcell, 31, is the second youngest woman ever to be elected to Victoria’s legislative council. She was 19 – a teenager – when images of her working as a stripper were leaked online.
For years she’s had to fight trolls, feeling the need or right to comment on her body, to become a recognised, elected MP. And now, even though she holds one of the highest positions of power in her own country, based entirely on her worth and hard work – her body has been sexualised to fit the male gaze.
Her boobs weren’t big enough. Her outfit wasn’t revealing enough. Her body apparently didn’t pass the test of attractiveness to be aired to the nation that she serves, so it was altered as if it simply didn’t belong to her.
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It’s not only abhorrent, but it’s terrifying.
Nine News Melbourne apologised ‘unreservedly’ – blaming Photoshop. The show’s Director, Hugh Nailon, said in a statement: ‘I would like to sincerely apologise to Georgie Purcell for a graphic error that occurred in last night’s bulletin.
‘Our graphics department sourced an online image of Georgie to use in our story.
‘As is common practice, the image was resized to fit our specs. During that process, the automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original.
‘This did not meet the high editorial standards we have’.
Apparently, the news network’s Photoshop seemingly automatically created an image of Georgie that was, technically, ‘better’, or more appealing based on its research.
The channel might have not intended – or even noticed – the changes made to Georgie’s appearance.
But that worries me even more. Women’s bodies are being ‘improved’ by technology without their – or seemingly anyone’s – consent.
It not only perpetuates long-established standards of beauty, but harms women by showing them that they don’t own their image or have any control over how they appear in the world.
What’s worse is this comes the same week that pornographic deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X. The explicit deluge was so rapid, that the social platform had to temporarily block all searches for the singer’s name.
Of course, this wasn’t before the fake images had been viewed tens of millions of times, with calls from multiple US politicians to criminalise the act.
Sadly, what’s happened to Georgie Purcell and Taylor Swift is nothing new. A 2019 study by DeepTrace Labs discovered that 96% of deepfake video content was non-consenting pornographic material.
This comes the same week that pornographic deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X (Picture: AP)
This sexual exploitation of women (because that’s what it is, exploitation) has been happening for years – except, with constant advancements in AI, it’s become easier than ever to make highly convincing images from scratch.
And with very little repercussions, too.
While the UK Government made non consensual deepfake porn illegal last October through an amendment to the Online Safety Bill, there seemingly haven’t been any arrests for the disgusting practice.
AI is still fairly unregulated, growing more sophisticated by the day, putting women in danger of having their bodies imagined, manipulated and moulded for sick pleasure.
And with that, the male gaze will become more and more fuelled; more satisfied and more triumphant. Saturating, not only our timelines and socials, but our media outlets too, with idealised, sexualised images of ‘the right’ kind of women. Regardless of whether they seem untouchable, or not.
Just like with what happened to Georgie Purcell.
I only fear that it’ll become worse, and more common as AI becomes more sophisticated and freely available.
And it’ll be at the expense of, and detriment to, women – as ever.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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