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‘Navajo Nude Trading’ becomes a new form of sexualizing Diné women

PHOENIX

What started as a simple “selfie” ended up being a way for men to sexualize Navajo women over the internet.

Reddit is an online platform to share posts and join communities with similar interests. One of the communities on Reddit is called “Navajo Nude Trading.”

Community members in that group share pictures of Navajo women they like and ask the community if anyone has that woman’s nudes.

Renae Blackwater, Navajo, and Oglala Lakota student at Arizona State University, said posting a Navajo woman’s picture is dehumanizing.

Blackwater found out she was on the Reddit account from another person, and somebody had used her face on someone else’s nude photos. In her picture’s comment section, community members said she “looked easy.”

“It’s worrisome if you put yourself out there on social media now and someone takes advantage of who you are and what you post and then sexualizes you,” Blackwater said. “It’s a hard feeling. Personally, it doesn’t make me feel like a human. It makes me feel like an object.”

While the community members on Reddit can stay anonymous on other social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, users are typically not anonymous.

Read the full story in the May 18 edition of the Navajo Times.


About The Author

Kianna Joe

Kianna Joe is Bit’ahnii and born for Kinyaa’áanii. She was born in Gallup. She received first place for best editorial in the student division for the 2022 National Media Awards. She is now an intern for the Navajo Times, covering matters in the Phoenix Valley while attending school at Arizona State University.

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