tallahassee, florida. — state senator. Lauren Book has often told the story of how her nanny sexually abused her for six years as a child. she channeled the pain into a life of helping other survivors of abuse.
now, after years of working hard to heal herself and restore her life (running a nonprofit to help victims, getting married, having children, and winning her senate seat), book has been victimized again, this time by someone trying to extort money from her by threatening to reveal stolen nude photos.
You are reading: Lauren books nude photos
What’s worse, during the investigation, he learned that the images had been bought and traded online since 2020.
“I hate that this happened to me,” the book told the Associated Press in an interview. “I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. but I will accept it, because I know I can do something about it.”
book is acting as only a legislator can. while the pain came back quickly, so did his fighting spirit, and he’s looking for a new law to try to prevent others from being victimized.
See Also: Who Decided Which Books to Include in the Bible? | HowStuffWorks
The bill sponsored by book, a Democrat, will have its first hearing in committee on Tuesday. It would strengthen Florida’s revenge porn law by making it a felony to buy, sell or trade sexually explicit images stolen from someone’s phone or other digital devices. it would also make the dissemination of sexually explicit images altered or created, known as deepfakes, a serious crime.
book vented his anger in the phone interview with Monday night as he described international trade and the sale of stolen images to people without their knowledge. she cursed out loud sometimes, and sometimes swallowed back tears. she called it a sick, perverted subculture that pays more for images of celebrities and elected officials, but also victimizes women who aren’t well known.
“To tell the truth, if it weren’t for my children, I would have ended my life,” he said. “brought up all things. all that stuff you think you have under your belt, that you’ve fixed it and changed it and then all of a sudden here it is right in front of your face.”
And the conversations people were having on the website made the horror worse.
“You were reading about who I was and talking about how I’m a rape survivor, so let’s try to get some rape videos. can we get anything from her being raped, murdered, tortured? can we do something about that? can we find it? how can we get it? book said.
The book had pictures of her and her husband on her phone and she said she shared a post-op photo of her lumpectomy scar with a friend. she doesn’t know how they were stolen. But she said investigators told her the images the teen used to try to extort money from her were sent from virtual private networks in Sweden and Russia.
As the 17-year-old daughter of an influential lobbyist, she found the courage while battling anorexia, sleepless nights, and crying spells to go to Tallahassee and convince legislators and the then-government. Ella Jeb Bush to pass a law requiring HIV testing for rape suspects.
Now a 37-year-old senator, she feels blessed to be able to defend herself, with the resources to hire an attorney to remove the images from websites. many others don’t.
Still, even though the abuse she suffered as a teenager had a beginning and an end (the babysitter was prosecuted and jailed), this case will continue forever.
“there are still things up there. yet. they will never leave. people bought it, people traded it, and this is not unique. this happens every day, predominantly to women, ”she said.
See Also: Can&x27t Confirm That Quotation? Search Google Books | KQED