Since nude pictures of Amber Rose surfaced last week, Rose has been put on the defensive.

The graphic, NSFW pictures, which depict her posing nude in high heels and touching herself, apparently in the privacy of her home, were leaked to MediaTakeout.com, a celebrity gossip site.

Many have been quick to judge and shame Rose in the aftermath of their release, suggesting that the pictures prove something new or unsightly about her or her career. At the same time, they fail to acknowledge that there’s little difference between posing provocatively in a magazine, for which she has achieved praise and compensation, and posing fully nude in the manner that Rose has done in the leaked pics. Their contradictory opinion shows that her current predicament is symptomatic of a culture in which we reward women for being as sexy as possible, but look down on them or judge them for actually having sex.

When the explicit pictures first emerged, MediaTakeout published them along with a story that accused the 27-year-old Rose of sending them to hip-hop heavyweight Nicki Minaj’s assistant and rumored boyfriend, Safaree Samuels.

But on June 28, the website, already notorious for its vicious gossip and often unsubstantiated claims, retracted the original report. “Amber claims that she did NOT send these pics to Nicki’s boyfriend. Even though our source was reliable, we’re gonna give Amber the benefit of the doubt on this,” they wrote.

Rose has vehemently denied releasing the photos to the public at all, tweeting “I have so many young girls that look up to me. I would never put those pics out of myself.”

Even so, the pictures remain on the MediaTakeout site, with small areas blurred or blacked out, placing Rose within a small but growing cadre of celebrity women who have nude photos, sex tapes, or both released in the public, often against their will, and always as they continue to pursue a career in other areas.

Like many of the women who traversed this path before her, Rose’s life, career, and relationships have been thrust into the spotlight and subject to even more public scrutiny than usual since the pics were released (notably, without her permission or compensation).

The attention has taken its toll. Rose has described herself as “really hurt and embarrassed” by the scandal on Twitter, and admitted to crying for days as a result. She claims that the photos were stolen from her computer by someone she trusted, and she is dealing with the situation by relying on the love and support of her friends, family, fans, and high-profile boyfriend Wiz Khalifa. “No matter what I go thru or how embarrassed I am I have a man that Loves me & has my back thru everything.” she tweeted last week when the scandal broke.Compounding the situation, haters and detractors have come out of the woodwork to comment on the explicit images, and make predictions about their effect on Rose and her career. Most have had negative things to say.

SOHH declared that her career was “finished”. Bossip issued an entire list of celebrities whose careers didn’t take off even after they released nude pics to the world- or someone else did. Times LIVE recommended Rose “hide her face”. And these were some of the more banal comments and reactions. Various publications, celebrity gossip sites, and Internet commenters (not generally known for their benevolence, but still) have gone to town on the 27-year old in even more harsh and critical ways, attacking her character and questioning her respectability.

It’s not just faceless individuals that are rushing to judgment about Amber Rose’s nude photo scandal — companies that had backed Rose in the past also reacted to the release of the photos.

While there had initially been rumors that Amber Rose’s talent agency, CAA, has dropped her in the aftermath, she recently clarified on Twitter that the company that dropped her is not her agency, CAA, but another company she works with.

Either way, the rumors threaten to “mess up her business” as she explained on Twitter.

It’s a shame to see her career threatened by something like this. After all, as Vibe magazine points out in their recent interview with Rose, she has come a long way, going from ” virtual anonymity in a small apartment in Bronx, N.Y., to sitting in the front row at Fashion Week in Paris.” And while it was her high-profile relationship with Kanye West that brought her onto the scene and launched her into the spotlight, it has been her swag, fashion sense, sexy curves and business savvy that has kept her there well after their breakup.

I’m glad Rose has a support network to help her get through this rough patch, but it’s unfortunate that this ordeal has caused so much pain to begin with. Rose shouldn’t be shamed and embarrassed by the scandal. She’s built a career and a fanbase around the allure of being young, bold, and yes, sexy, and has recently announced that she’ll be starring in and executive-producing a new reality show, Behind Her Shades.

But perhaps in some ways, this nude photo scandal has already brought a dose of reality to the public in regards to Amber Rose, and celebrities in general: ultimately, we can’t celebrate celebrity sexiness while shaming celebrity sex. And these are the pictures that prove it.