I was so surprised to see this photo on Yahoo! Naturally, I felt a little guilty that one of my first thoughts was that she looked strangely hot, with the decolletage and all. I mean, this really looks like a bondage shoot's money shot. Crime victims generally look rumpled and messy and ashen and dazed. Still I felt so guilty because OMG the poor thing, how awful, how terrifying. OMG.

I showed it to Will.

"I think I've seen that before," he said drily. "In some porn thing somewhere."

"You're kidding!"

"Look at her hair," he pointed out. "It's perfectly coiffed! And her make-up is perfect too."

Hummm!

I asked Jen.

"OK, ok, I confess, I'm a sick bitch," I IM'd her, "Now look at this picture - kind of sexy, no?"

She replied. "The poor thing! But..indeed." Then she pensively added, "Are you sure it's real? I've seen that same gag in tons of bondage movies."

HUMMMM.

So readers - what do you think? Is this a real victim? Or has someone at "Citizen Council" done a little creative marketing and perhaps borrowed an image from, oh, the portfolio of someone like Mexican-American porn star Ariel Rose to draw attention to their very worthy cause?

With the spate of revelations about journalists inventing stories and editors not vetting articles or images to find out if they are what they claim to be, it's gotten hard to believe anything you see on a media site.

In this photo released by the Mexican non governmental agency, Citizen Council for Public Safety...an unidentified woman is seen inside a trunk of a car, liberated by police after being kidnapped in Mexico in the year 2005....

By the way, this photo has generated a 5-star rating on Yahoo!

HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

December 20, 2005 in Post-Traumatic Tabloid Disorder | Permalink

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Your Comments

I agree she looks a tad too well coiffed for a kidnap victim. No signs of any struggle? No disheveled clothing, etc. that a struggle or even being grabbed would likely present. Still, it's an intriguing shot ... 4 stars!

Posted by: paul at Dec 20, 2005 7:24:50 PM

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Yup, way to polished to be real.........

Posted by: rt at Dec 20, 2005 9:06:48 PM

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She couldn't have lifted that gag off with her thumbs? The "kidnapper" was able to tie the wrists of a strugling woman together so neatly? For that matter, she wasn't able to get loose from that simple tie? With all the rest of her body free?

Nope. I don't buy it, either.

Posted by: Nightheron2 at Dec 20, 2005 9:45:12 PM

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Well, gee! Guess what? The image is gone from Yahoo! Oh my goodness. Pouf! They've pulled it off their site. Does this mean it really WAS a fake shot, taken from a porn site? LOL!!!

Posted by: Gloria Brame at Dec 21, 2005 3:10:46 AM

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Maybe the real crime, here, was copyright infringment.

Posted by: Nightheron at Dec 21, 2005 11:13:55 AM

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You can definitely be sure it's fake if they've taken it off Yahoo. The performance is Oscar material, but the costuming is B rated. Not a bad way to get your face spread over the internet... hmmmm. ;)

Posted by: RWF at Dec 22, 2005 6:23:22 PM

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That seems to be Joy Giovanni. It's from some wrestling show. The movie was posted some month ago somewhere.

Posted by: gn at Dec 28, 2005 5:03:33 PM

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Wow, no kidding. Is Joy Giovanni a porn star? Actress?

Posted by: Gloria Brame at Dec 30, 2005 12:55:03 AM

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Aha. Answered my own question (thank you, Google). Actress!! http://joygiovanni.com/

Posted by: Gloria Brame at Dec 30, 2005 12:56:48 AM

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DEBO DECIR QUE ESA IMAGEN ME PARECE EXCELENTE, YA QUE SOY FANATICO AL BONDAGE SOFT Y ME ENCANTA VER A UNA LINDA CHICA ATADA Y AMORDAZADA

Posted by: rony at Jan 10, 2006 12:51:22 PM

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Looking for this?

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10546934/

Posted by: Nestor Makhno at Jan 11, 2006 11:24:07 PM

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That's the one - and it's interesting MSNBC is still running it. The more I look at it, the faker it seems.

Posted by: Gloria Brame at Jan 12, 2006 12:03:38 AM

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Aha. At last, corroborative evidence that this WAS Ms. Giovanni, doing a prank for a professional wrestling event!

Scroll down for comments by other folks who know the video:

http://www.bondageblog.com/2005/12/22/bondage-kidnap-victim/#comments

So--new question:

How come NONE of the news sources which ran the phony picture have bothered to issue formal corrections (or apologies) for being hoaxed by this Mexican organization and publishing this as a news photo?

Posted by: Glory at Jan 17, 2006 12:39:45 PM

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Wait - I think I'll answer my own question:

Because they're a bunch of big fat hypocrites, that's why!

They don't want to admit the obvious: that media will jump on ANY sesnational image of sadomasochism they can get hold of when there is a *negative* anti-sex tale to tell. (Remember Abu Ghraib? Oh media loved that one.)

Liberal media. Oh yeah. What a laugh.

Posted by: Glory at Jan 17, 2006 12:42:31 PM

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