For the Internet, 2014 was a year of epic screwups and hating on women, much like every other year. Here鈥檚 a look back at the best, worst, and inexplicable from this year.
The Sochi Olympics were plagued with controversy from the beginning, due to Russia鈥檚 anti-gay stance. But the best (worst?) was yet to come when journalists and athletes arrived in the city to find that organizers were totally unprepared for them. Construction everywhere, stray dogs in hotel rooms, bare wires in the bathrooms, the list goes on. There was a bit of confusion regarding bathrooms: some had urinals not connected to pipes, some had two toilets, one inexplicably had three black chairs ominously facing the toilet, and some had signs saying not to flush toilet paper. There were open manholes, double booked rooms, no doorknobs, and sometimes no power. One bobsledder had to break out of his bathroom when he got locked inside.聽 Surprisingly, Russia ended up spending five times more on the Olympics than Canada did in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
This year had a couple of high profile awareness and fundraising campaigns: #nomakeupselfie and #icebucketchallenge. The concept of No Makeup Selfie was simple: women post pictures of themselves without makeup and 鈥� somehow this has something to do with breast cancer? Apparently it was more successful in the UK, where it began (and managed to raise several million pounds), but over here in North America, it sort of morphed into a 鈥渇eel good about yourself鈥� thing, AKA doing exactly nothing for charity. People undertaking the Ice Bucket Challenge were nominated to either donate to an ALS charity or dump ice water over their heads (it later changed to donating regardless). As with many online trends, people escalated it in an attempt to one up the multitude of videos online. A teenager died after jumping into an icy lake and a firefighter died after being shocked by a power line while dropping buckets of water on some college students from a ladder.
The Internet was taken by storm with a nude photo leak of many different female celebrities like Kate Upton, Amber Heard, Gabrielle Union, Kirsten Dunst, Kaley Cuoco, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, and Jennifer Lawrence. Rather than the women apologizing and slinking away in shame (like Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus in the past), Union reiterated that no one who took the photos did anything wrong, and Lawrence blasted the hackers and people who looked at the photos and called the leak a sex crime.
Kim Kardashian鈥檚 Paper Magazine cover was purported to 鈥渂reak the Internet鈥� and while I personally found it underwhelming, it did generate a lot of talk 鈥� about whether she has a point or not, whether exhibitionism is valid, whether that鈥檚 her real butt, and whether being a mother means someone is not allowed to sexualize herself. Real question my boyfriend asked me when we were discussing it: 鈥淒id you ever think you would read a thinkpiece on Kim Kardashian鈥檚 butt?鈥�
For the last few months, everyone鈥檚 been talking about sexual assault, due to a large number of women speaking out against first Jian Ghomeshi, and then Bill Cosby. The Ghomeshi scandal began with a lengthy Facebook post saying that the CBC fired him for his tastes in the bedroom. It quickly unraveled when women started coming forward to say that he had beat them without their consent or forced them into sexual acts; the first two women named were lawyer and author Reva Seth and Trailer Park Boys actress and Air Force captain Lucy DeCoutere. Piece after piece came out from women detailing their personal experiences with Ghomeshi and how there have been rumours about him for years. More articles came out detailing his tyranny and unpredictability on Q. Ultimately, he was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one charge of overcoming resistance by choking. He will next appear in court in early January. Meanwhile, sexual assault allegations have plagued Bill Cosby for years. He was sued by Andrea Constand in 2005 for allegedly raping her, and 13 women consented to being anonymous witnesses. The suit was settled in 2006 without anyone testifying. The accusations flew under the radar until October of this year when comedian Hannibal Buress publicly called Cosby a rapist. Since then, more women have spoken out against him, Netflix permanently shelved a planned comedy special, TV Land pulled Cosby Show reruns, more performances got cancelled, and someone scrawled 鈥渞apist鈥� on his Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
And to end this on a lighter note, Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked this month, revealing dysfunction, a hatred of Adam Sandler movies, and a remarkably cavalier look at personal security. One Sony executive called Angelina Jolie a 鈥渕inimally talented spoiled brat鈥� while many Sony employees said the studio needed to focus on better movies, not just yet another Adam Sandler film. Their passwords are also kept in plaintext documents with no protection, with titles like 鈥渕aster password list.鈥�
Here鈥檚 hoping that there鈥檚 just as much hilarity and fundraising for charity next year, though hopefully less sexual assault.
