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English
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Published:
2016-11-03
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770
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1/1
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Shame and Dignity

Summary:

Ginny tackles yet another challenge levelled at women when her compromising photos are released. And she wins out.

Notes:

Just a ficlet that I originally wrote after they mentioned the pictures. And I've been tweaking it ever since.

Work Text:

“If people try to judge you or shame you for doing safe, consensual things that make you happy, I can guarantee you they're bad people.”

― Tucker Max, Assholes Finish First

 

Though she doesn’t let it consume her, the worry about those pictures still sits in the back of Ginny’s mind.  It makes her anxious. In her quiet moments, she worries at the thought of them like she used to worry at her loose tooth with her tongue. She knew eventually both would come out.

She cannot believe that Trevor kept the pictures—okay, yes she can, but she can’t believe he let himself get hacked and them be stolen! Which, in her fairer moments, she know he didn’t do on purpose, but she’s still blaming him for this, and herself for being so stupid.  It is only a matter of time before whoever did it realizes the gold mine they sit on. Ginny Baker is the most famous woman in the world, after all. Pictures of her in…compromising positions will be worth a fortune.  So she waits and worries and hopes against hope that the pictures never show up. But of course they do.  And after Amelia rails at Ginny for not telling her about this PR nightmare sooner, they work together and make a plan about handling it. Ginny has never appreciated her agent more.

She’s terrified of the team’s reaction.  She has just managed to become one of the guys and now there are pictures everywhere that show exactly how she is different from them. But Miller beans one of the Nationals after he makes a comment during a game. Blip becomes her shadow. Al says that everyone should be ashamed of themselves when they can talk about nothing else at a press conference. And Lawson—Lawson talks about her game, her stats, her successes and challenges anyone to truthfully say they have never sent a nude. Then someone releases a dick pic and challenges everyone to guess which Padre it belongs to. And she knows that her team’s gonna be all right.

Ginny gets more offers for talkshows than ever, and she accepts some of them.  She tells the same story, though. She talks about being a woman, and, yes, a sexually active woman. She tells girls that it is nothing to be ashamed of.  She says that in the moment, the pictures made her feel beautiful, and explains that she was sharing parts of herself with someone she loved. (It hurts a bit to admit to everyone that she loved Trevor, even if she doesn’t use his name, but she pushes past that.)  She warns girls and boys alike to be careful, to recognize that some day their actions could come to bite them in the ass.  But she also shames the person who stole the pictures and then released them. She takes issue with the media storm surrounding the scandal and the fact that once again, people are questioning her right to be a baseball player.  “How many dick pics do you think the guys take? We’ve been talking about locker room culture, but guess what? I’m in the locker room now too. Just because I have more that you want to see than the guys do doesn’t make me any less qualified to play with them.” She shows people the double standard, the higher standard that she is being held to. And she chastises the outlets who bought her pictures asking what they hoped to accomplish and wondering aloud who made it okay to shame and humiliate other people?

She’s attacked, saying she’s supposed to be setting an example for young women everywhere.  Ginny faces her accuser head on. “I am. I am setting an example. I am teaching them how to deal with a betrayal of trust and an invasion of privacy. I am trying to show that a woman’s body is nothing to be ashamed of, and yeah, sometimes you want to show it off to the person you’re in a relationship with. I want to caution women and men to be careful who they place their trust in, and what they decide to do, because the Internet is forever, guys. Sometimes you have to learn that the hard way. But I also want young women to know that while I’m embarrassed that this came out, and obviously wish it hadn’t, I’m not ashamed. I will not be shamed by any of you.  I love myself, and I love my body, and, yeah, I loved the person I entrusted with these pictures. And there is nothing wrong with any of that.”