Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past 48 hours, you’re familiar with the expression “revenge porn” and what it means.

If you happen to be a person who lives in California (or 38 other states) and you post inappropriate photos of your ex-girlfriend on a social media site, you could be breaking the law.  

How did we get here? Where did the idea of revenge porn come from? To no surprise, it was born in, well, porn.

In the 1980s, Hustler magazine started a column called Beaver Hunt, which ran reader-submitted images of naked women. At first there were no consent forms required and for the women, once it ran in the print magazine, obviously there was no taking it down. In the column, there were usually some kind of identifying comments, including names and cities where the women lived and worked. After some complaints from featured women, consent forms were required but they were often forged.

Fast-forward a few decades and the concept of what was called realcore pornography would expand to the internet. Hacker and internet personality Hunter Moore started a site with explicit photos that linked directly to a person’s social media accounts.

Let’s go back and think about this one. There was a time, just five years ago, when a website would post hacked explicit pictures and videos of unsuspecting women and tag them on Facebook and Twitter.

This is where posting random women, as Hustler did, turned into something different. Pictures submitted to Moore’s sight were often done so with the direct intention of humiliating someone, usually an ex-girlfriend or ex-wife.

After the efforts of several activists, almost every state has laws designed to prevent what is now known as revenge porn, or more accurately, non-consensual pornography.

So, let’s break down exactly what revenge porn is.

Let’s just say, hypothetically, you’re having a meltdown on social media because the woman you’ve allegedly spent millions on is now sleeping with someone else. And let’s say she’s allegedly having these trysts in your bedroom, with dudes wearing your Versace robe. Allegedly.

Now let’s say this soon-to-be ex-girlfriend texted you extremely explicit pictures. After seeing your Versace robe on some other dudes back, you might be mad enough to screengrab the photo and post it to your seven million followers.

What’s the possible blowback?

The laws against revenge porn are pretty clear. In California, the charge occurs when a person intentionally distributes an image of a person engaging in specific sexual acts when the person distributing the image knows or should know it will cause the person distress. It’s a disorderly conduct charge and comes with a maximum six-month sentence.

Here’s where it gets interesting. If the party involved doesn't contact the police and press charges, it’s up to the law to open the case. So this hypothetical person’s soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend could skip going to the authorities — and perhaps take a hefty keep-quiet settlement instead.

While there’s been outrage about non-consensual pornography and how it can affect those victimized, the laws on the books seem pretty relaxed. Someone can have their pictures or videos hacked — or even voluntarily given up — and the person who does it can get a $1000 fine and up to six months in jail? The public shaming — which never ever goes away online — seems to warrant a much more severe punishment.

How does this affect the common folk? It’s pretty easy to avoid catching this charge. If you have explicit pics and videos from anyone — delete them. Everything is safer that way. It’s way too easy to accidentally post things. It’s also too easy to lose your phone and have things posted that you didn’t mean to. And again, the internet never forgets and never forgives.

As for protecting yourself, it’s even easier. Remember that every picture and video you take could end up somewhere you don’t want it to. If, for some reason, you have to do it, forget about putting it in the cloud. That means no texting, no DMs, no private groups — none of it. Once you send it anywhere, no matter how locked down it is, it can end up anywhere. Save it to your laptop and make sure it’s got a good password. 

Better yet, never create content that you don’t want to see online. We all make someone angry every once in a while and you just never know what the punishment could be.