Skip to main content

Sexplorations with AJ: Is Sex Work Really Empowering?

Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had a happy, safe, and sexy Halloween. 

As we head into the winter months, I can almost guarantee that we are all feeling that primal urge to stay warm and cosy with someone. It’s called cuffing season for a reason, I suppose. 


Relationships and intimacy definitely go hand in hand at this time of year, and they're already in full swing in university towns and cities. But this past week, some freshers have been involved in something a lot more sinister. 

 


Adult entertainers and OnlyFans creators, Bonnie Blue and Lillian Phillips, have been at the centre of an internet-wide controversy after creating content focusing on having sex with a number of freshly 18 year-old university students. 


In a viral TikTok video, Blue and Philips stand excitedly giggling while Phillips states that they “have countless men waiting” to have sex with both women. Phillips then proceeds to walk along a queue of young men who are implied to be waiting for sex with both creators. Online sources and both women themselves have since claimed to have slept with over 150 students, lecturers, and even students family members during Nottingham’s freshers fortnight. 


Phillips then made another video after a separate filming session claiming to have slept with 101 men while also complaining about the condition of her eyes after the acts. 

 

Backlash towards them has been explosive with other creators calling Blue and Philips 'pathetic', 'hungry' and 'disgusting'. Despite this, both women have continued to make content across their public and private pages as well as appearing on other platforms, such as guest spots on podcasts interviews, stating that they enjoy their work and want to break their own 'personal bests'.

 

In an age where sex work is progressively seen as more empowering and normal for young women, why are the negative aapects glossed over? 


To address both Blue and Philips’ actions, actively seeking out sex with barely legal, inexperienced men is abhorrent alone but to do so specifically to make content is even worse. In fact, Blue has publicly referred to her intimate partners as 'schoolies' and 'barely legal'.



Both women insist that they dont charge for sex and only request ID and permission to film from those who are in their videos. This doesn't negate the effect that the sex acts themselves or the videos of them could have on the participants later in life. Despite the legality, 18 is not an age of full maturity and to seek out this age bracket to use as a novelty for entertainment purposes is just exploitative.

 

After looking at responses to the situation on TikTok, I came across post by creator @graceyaptoomuch. In this video, she perfectly encapsulated my stance on the issue of sex work; “If you wish to choose to be a sex worker, you have the right to that choice but we cannot forget the fact that that system is historically built on the oppression of women. That system has never been put in place to support women.”

 

The basis and creation of sex work was always to benefit and physically satisfy men. 


Sex work is still a dangerous and taboo profession and, despite it's rebrand as a girl boss / boss bitch money making venture, at it's core it is still a persons body being used for a means of entertainment and satisfaction. Even if that is something the individual allows to happen, the very premise negates being empowering. 


Your body does not belong to anybody. Your body does not have a monetary value. 

 

Thank you for reading this edition of Sexplorations. Come back on the first Thursday of next month for a brand new article.

 

Written by AJ Craig 

Edited by Emily Duff

Most Popular

Fashion For a Cause: Brands That Stand with Palestine and the history of fashion as a form of Activism

by Oana-Maria Moldovan For over two months, there has been an ongoing genocide war in Gaza. To simplify a long and horrific issue, the situation that started, on a larger scale, around one hundred years ago, and has only become amplified since October 7th 2023. Taking place around the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Israel–Lebanon border, the armed conflict is between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups.  The problem is about “stolen” land. Said land is seen as an important holy part of both religions involved. But really, how holy can we consider a land to be, if people kill other people for it? It’s important to remember that this genocide is about three things: forced occupation, zionism, and religion. It’s also important to remember what ethnic erasure is. This terrible expresion, also known as cultural or ethnic assimilation, refers to the process by which the distinct cultural or ethnic identity of a particular group is gradually diminished or erased, often due to...

Now What? The Aftermath of the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl'

by Susan Moore Here is a bit about me: I am an open, excitable, creative AFAB who is also moderately attractive. I have a unique sense of personal style and a personality that on the surface can only be described as “bubbly” and “quirky”. For this reason, dating is a nightmare. To be sure, I do not have a hard time finding dates or potential suitors. The problems arise when said dates spend some time with me and decide that I am a rare specimen, and the connection they feel with me is “unlike anything they have felt before”. Then, things go one of two ways.  Either a) they decide I am too high maintenance and no longer palatable, or  b) they choose to never look further than the surface and are content to date the idea of me rather than the real me. There is something rather interesting, perhaps funny, about my situation. It is in no way unique. I have met so many people who constantly dealt with the same problem. Even funnier still, is the fact that there is a trope that simu...

‘Make Tattooing Safe Again’: Sheffield Based Tattoo Artist Exposed for Indecent Behaviour

 by Emily Fletcher TW: SA, Animal Abuse, Transphobia Photo Credit: @ meiko_akiz uki Recently, an  Instagram account  has been created to provide a  ‘space to safely give a voice to those who want to speak out about the behaviour of one, Sheffield based tattoo artist’. A  total of 40+ posts have been made by the above social media account regarding  one of Sheffield's most popular tattoo artists .  Thankfully, all posts are prefaced with a Content Warning prior to sharing screenshots of the messages that have been sent anonymously to the page. The majority of Content Warnings refer to sexual behaviour, abuse, and sexual assault. It is clear that there is a reoccurring theme within each submission, as many clients appear to have had the same experiences with the tattoo artist. Women, mostly, are being made to feel uncomfortable while being tattooed. One of the most vulnerable positions anyone can be in, tattoo artists should make their clients feel ...