UQÀM sues student over nudes
UQÀM is suing a student over the publication of nudes of herself on social media that also include the university’s logo. Hélène Boudreau says she’s making a “powerful” point about how women who pose nude are just as educated and intelligent as anyone else.
Some NSFW-ish evidence here. I note that Ms Boudreau writes her captions in English. Maybe a note to the OQLF is in order.
John B 08:43 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
The Streisand effect is strong with this one.
Also, this seems like a double-standard. Someone showing displaying their diploma with their body, (probably because it’s a woman’s body): bad. Someone displaying their diploma in the office where they’re a lawyer for the mob? A-ok. (I don’t have evidence of the a-ok situation, but I bet nobody would have a problem with it).
steph 09:03 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
shame on UQAM for their body shaming.
Kate 09:28 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Is this body shaming?
Ant6n 09:28 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
I feel the world has become very complicated when it comes to figuring out what’s right or wrong, proper or improper.
jeather 09:32 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
I don’t really understand why UQAM has a case here, but the civil code is super weird. Anyways I assume this will successfully drive people to her onlyfans account, so I think she is winning.
Joey 09:32 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
John B’s assessment seems right to me – UQAM does not appreciate its logo (as if it were not a public institution belonging to all Quebecers, even the Onlyfans ones) being used in an NSFW setting, which would have to imply that the female form as displayed by Helene Boudreau is inappropriate. Seems like body shaming to me. Also a huge overreaction and a foolish use of university staff time.
Chris 09:39 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Ant6n: ain’t that the truth!
I also feel there’s some media commentary to be made here. We have an article all about some photos. Yet no photo is there. And now here we are discussing a sight unseen. Weird, no? It’s like when a news article talks about some website and doesn’t link to it.
Kate 09:42 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Chris, La Presse would not usually display nudie shots. This is why I linked to the Clique du Plateau article, from which you can easily see her username and look her up elsewhere.
jeather, you’ll notice that although she’s called a student, the photo was taken in her graduation gown, so presumably UQÀM has no power over her any more – they can’t say “take those photos down or we’ll withhold your degree.” I think they do have a case that by using their branding she’s associating the school with her online exhibitionism, and they’re not “shaming” anyone by trying to shut it down.
This young woman knows she’s getting a lot of free PR this week.
Bill Binns 10:17 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Anyfans pages are powerful examples of female agency and empowerment. A risque calander hung on a mechanic’s tool box is an attack on workplace safety and a serious barrier to all the little girls dreaming of being diesel mechanics.
Ephraim 10:25 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
@Bill Binns – Please explain to me the difference between OnlyFans and a Pimp. (I have no problem with sex work… but OnlyFans takes a 20% commission on other people’s sex work.
dmdiem 10:34 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
She should sue for defamation.
Nudity is used to sell things all the time. By saying she damaged their brand, UQAM is calling her ugly.
Kate 10:37 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
dmdiem, I don’t agree. No judgement was made on her personal appearance. UQÀM simply doesn’t want to be associated with the cultural trend to display nudity for gain.
dmdiem 10:39 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
I was attempting to make a funny, Kate. Obviously I failed. My bad.
steph 10:50 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
It’s shaming to decide which square inches of your body you can/cannot show. It’s far from a cultural trend, technology has just made access easier (this applies to ALL media).
Criticize the simps willing to pay her money, not her for taking it. Is ‘gain’ actually an essential element here? (would the school take the same steps if he balance sheet was 0$?)
DeWolf 11:06 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Given that Instagram famously doesn’t allow nudity or pornography, I have trouble imagining how UQAM will prove in court that the images are obscene. In poor taste? Sure. But you’d have to be operating on some very 1950s definitions of obscenity to consider this pornographic.
Also, if you’ve obtained a degree from a university, are you not allowed to publicize that degree if the university finds your lifestyle distasteful? Does UQAM have a morality department? I’m no legal expert so maybe somebody can illuminate us on the difference between a commercial brand and a non-profit publicly-funded educational institution.
Tim S. 11:59 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
I would put this less in the context of female-body shaming, and more in the context of the centuries-long struggle of universities to develop reputations as serious institutions, even though their primary clients can sometimes be a tad immature. UQAM had no choice here – even if they don’t win, they can’t really stand aside while their reputation is eroded.
Although she doesn’t seem to have tagged UQAM, so I’m curious how they ever found out, or if they pursued cases of say, male students posting equivalently unsavory images, perhaps binge-drinking or something.
jeather 12:04 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
I’m going to take this seriously but the problem with calendars full of naked women at your workplace is that other employees, vendors, customers, etc, have to see it at work. Watching someone’s onlyfans at work would be a problem, also, even though neither the calendars nor the onlyfans are problems at home.
I assume that onlyfans calls itself a payment processor and hosting service, as well as an easy place to be found. Whether you agree with the amount they charge or not, they’re providing a service not unlike patreon/substack/etsy, with little control over what people post or how often etc.
Su 12:47 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Lots of PR success for previously unknown and insignificant Hélène Boudreau ! What exactly was her academic specialty anyway?
DeWolf 14:38 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Tim, UQAM had no obligation to do anything. It could have respected the freedom of expression of one of its graduates. Instead it decided to intimidate her for posing half-nude with the degree that she earned.
UQAM gave a degree to Mathieu Bock-Côté, it did absolutely nothing when Maïtée Labrecque-Saganash was subjected to so much racist abuse that she had to drop out of university, and yet somehow its reputation is seriously injured by… boobs?
Raymond Lutz 15:43 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Ma douce moitié affirme en plus que ces nichons sont faux! Elle a travaillé deux ans comme photographe ‘médicale’ dans une clinique de chirurgie esthétique et passait ses journées à photographier les seins des clientes pré et post opération (principalement pour que le chirurgien puisse se défendre d’avoir introduit des imperfections qui n’y étaient pas avant). Elle a en a vu des seins et ceux-ci sont faux d’après elle. C’est tout à fait anecdotique et impertinent comme information et n’apporte rien de substantiel au débat, je l’avoue.
😎
Le tatou sur sa main, lui, a l’air vrai par contre. Son sourire aussi!
«Couvrez ce sein, que je ne saurais voir.
Par de pareils objets les âmes sont blessées,
Et cela fait venir de coupables pensées.»
Chris 18:04 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
>Chris, La Presse would not usually display nudie shots.
My point exactly. They wouldn’t write an article about a 70 car pileup without a photo. Or a sports victory without a photo. etc. etc. But an article *about* a photo, excludes the photo. They could always just cover “disagreeable” parts with black squares. At least then we could see how prominent, or not, the school logo is.
lol 13:29 on 2021-04-02 Permalink
well she was flipping the bird and flashing in public which is a trashy thing to do on the 50th anniversary of the uni. plus she was trying to monetize on the school logo, that’s a big no-no in any country. Do you think she was filing taxes on her income? If not then she’s gonna come off as a big dunce
lol 13:51 on 2021-04-02 Permalink
I think she wus asking for it too because she was going around telling people how much money she made as she started taking more trashy pics with the school logo and pushing her luck legally recently the past month, in Diana Nguyen’s words “this is an offensive display of wealth”. assume she doesn’t pay taxes, imagine what would happen if a drug dealer brandishes guns and flaunts his wealth-not surprised if agencies start investigating you and put you on a hitlist for not keeping a low profile. The only fame you can hope to get nowadays is if you’re claiming to be a victim of something sensational and not mention your income. It wouldn’t make sense to beg the public to fund her legal defense because apparently she’s loaded and doesn’t need the money. Maybe she can appropriate the slogan “save the titties” without claiming it’s about breast cancer to stay out of legal trouble. but anyway- double whammy: play stupid games, win stupid prizes
Astrid 14:11 on 2021-04-02 Permalink
well, the school didn’t consent to her imposing her body sexually on the school’s identifiable logo. Could say she raped the school’s reputation
Björk 16:51 on 2021-04-02 Permalink
If this is the best feminism has to offer, I guess the plus side is that fake tits are the culmination of man’s domination over nature. Every woman should diet, train and aspire to be a bimbo.