Clicks Over Consequences

I read a terrible story recently about a 25-year-old woman who was filmed having sex with 22 guys in 11 hours. Then I came across a story that was even worse of a 23-year-old woman who was filmed having sex with 101 guys in 14 hours. These women were both interviewed about the incidents and described the physical pain that occurred during and afterward. You might think their interviews happened at a police station and that these women were sex trafficking victims. But it turns out their interviews were with major publications and podcasts to help promote their “accomplishments.” You see, both did these sex acts to create video content for their OnlyFans pages, and they were more than happy to tell their story in great detail to get more people to log in and sign up for their OnlyFans accounts.

If you are like me and thought these women were just part of the seemingly endless list of sex trafficking victims, you aren’t alone. However, because they both seemingly chose to participate, they weren’t trafficked. But in my opinion, they are still victims. They are victims of a society and culture that makes them think that these over-the-top sex stunts are ok. And let’s not forget about the 123 men who also agreed to participate in this. They thought it was ok to take advantage of these women. Sadly, society has devalued sex to such an extent that we’ve ended up with people recording exploitation to get more clicks and become more “famous,” no matter the consequences.

In my work at The Dark Side of the Web, I have come to understand that much of the fault for the devaluation of sex is due to the prevalence of internet pornography. And exposure to it happens before most kids become teenagers. Studies show that, when being exposed to pornography at such a young age, many children want to copy the behavior they’ve seen without understanding the
implications. Internet pornography has been around for almost 30 years. Is it possible that the two women and the 123 men mentioned above were exposed to internet porn at a young age and are now copying the behavior without understanding the implications? I’ll let you decide. What I do know is that we are tasked as a society and as parents to protect our children from the dangers that lurk on the internet because if we don’t, their exposure to it could have life-altering consequences.

What do you think of this news? What questions do you have? If you are a parent, how are you talking to your children about internet safety and culture?