Sex with 100 men in 24 hours: Opportunistic men and a young woman’s self-harm
“The common thread is a culture that normalises the objectification of women while shielding the men who exploit it”
A YouTube documentary released last week records the experience of English OnlyFans model Lily Phillips in her quest to have sex with 100 men in a single day.
The documentary, produced by YouTuber Josh Pieters, follows Lily prior to the day as well as in the immediate aftermath of the sexual feat. Smiling weakly and blinking back tears, her eyes red and stinging from so many men ejaculating in them, the frail 23-year-old describes the ordeal as “intense” and leaves the room in tears.
In response to the viral clip extracted from the doco, many viewers dismissed the obvious damage to Lily on the basis that she chose to participate. She chose to be used by these men, they argue, so the harm done to her doesn’t count. The men who took turns using her body in rapid succession get a free pass. We do not believe it is that simple.
Sex sells, but at what cost?
We all know sex sells. But what type of sex is being sold, and what are the implications for women and girls?
The clamor surrounding Kim Kardashian’s full frontal nude has finally started to subside, and my news feed, haggard and tired, can take a well-needed breather. There were many tweets about choice and empowerment. The heated (and old) debates about “slut shaming” and women’s sexual freedom resurfaced. There was even another nude, though this time Kim was accompanied by another young, it-girl.
“Sex sells”, so why not flaunt it? Yes, sex certainly does sell, and Kim’s nude is a good case in point. But this nude is just one of many images that exist on a broader trajectory of exploitation, in which women are stripped bear, consumed and discarded, until another nude appears on social media grapevine. The sexual exploitation of women through visual media is not a new phenomenon. In fact it is so ubiquitous that we rarely pause to ask why these images continue to be so pervasive. By accepting the objectification of women or simply looking the other way, we not only fail to question the broader systems of power these representations speak to – we actively sustain them as well.
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