Tia Emma Billinger, best known as Bonnie Blue, has begun her tour of major UK cities during Freshers’ Week in her “Bang Bus” – yes, really.
Bonnie rose to infamy after creating an OnlyFans and engaging in dangerous publicity stunts, including supposedly sleeping with 1,057 men in one day. As a result, her account was terminated for violating the sites’ guidelines on “extreme challenges.”
The 26-year-old has attracted controversy for filming sexual content with freshers and for comments she’s made about cheating spouses. She’s often claimed that sleeping with married men is acceptable if their wives fail to satisfy them, which many have interpreted as both misogynistic and deflective. There’s often a consensus among critics that the adult film star refuses to take accountability for her home-wrecking behaviour, even suggesting she’s doing these women a favour.
She’ll be sleeping with ‘barely legal boys’ this Freshers’ Week
@clips.daily4you No way have I just spotted Bonnie Blues bus
This back-to-uni season, Bonnie is claiming she’ll be showing up at Freshers’ Weeks across the country, with the aim of sleeping with “barely legal boys.” Many have seen Bonnie’s “Bang Bus” on British motorways, which is expected to be the site of her stunt.
According to The Herald, the University of Glasgow’s requested that its students report the adult film star to security if she’s spotted on campus. MP Joani Reid has also told STV News the planned event in Glasgow is “not empowering”, highlighting concerns about the commercialisation of women and sex.
Glasgow Uni has set an important precedent with its notice. Universities have obligations to protect students, even adult ones. Her actions will certainly test the limits of higher education safeguarding policies across the country.
Why it’s a good thing she’s not coming to Durham
Bonnie is part of a long line of infamous public figures who are questionably attached to both age and legality when it comes to sex. In many of her interviews, she often coldly rebuts any appeals to morality with the claim that she’s not broken the law.
While the 26-year-old’s targets are legally consenting adults, this doesn’t undermine the fact there’s major ethical problems with her content. Firstly, many see “barely legal” content as built to appeal directly to those who are interested in illegal content, which, thankfully, isn’t easily accessible.
And while technically consensual, there is absolutely a blurred line when young people may feel pressured to sleep with an older women because of influence from peers, intoxication, or the lure of notoriety.
In early August, the Guardian outlined proposed action by Conservative peer Gabby Bertin in response to the Channel 4 documentary 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story, arguing there should be legislation to combat a type of “barely legal” content. Dame Rachel de Souza, children’s commissioner for England, condemned the film for “glamorising and normalising” extreme pornography.
Secondly, taking part in any Bonnie Blue content will be extremely damaging to any of the targeted freshers, who could come to regret a decision their 18-year-old selves made much later down the line.
As Bonnie’s team will be requiring all participants to sign consent forms, students will have virtually no control over how that content is used or circulated in the future. This puts them at risk of harassment, and may impact future opportunities. There are, undoubtedly, long-term consequences of having explicit content online, particularly when these students aren’t afforded a different identity like Tia (“Bonnie Blue”).
This risk is magnified by the way tabloids and social media amplify her stunts, turning them into a national spectacle.
Beyond reputational harm, there are also very real physical risks. Many have raised concerns about the risk of STDs after previous sexual stunts. In these instances, participants were supposed to show proof of clean test results, but many criticised how rigorous these checks were.
The wider impacts on women, from misogyny to sexual violence
via Youtube
While the adult content creator is targeting men, her rhetoric and content still reinforces damaging power dynamics related to gender, and the wider commodification of women’s bodies.
Likewise, although Bonnie is intentionally targeting younger males, this doesn’t mean these students have no personal responsibility. In fact, there are thousands of men participating in these extreme challenges, and even more paying to watch them, yet there’s only one Bonnie – a reality that is often overlooked. Stunts like the “Bang Bus” raise serious concerns about the treatment and reception of women within student circles.
This feels particularly evident when we look at the now cancelled “petting zoo” stunt, which undoubtedly presents women (or, at the very least, Bonnie herself, which serves to affirm participants’ concerning misogynistic attitudes) as akin to cattle.
Content like Bonnie’s ultimately perpetuates the idea that women are objects at the complete disposal of men – a notion that already feels far too common in some university circles. I’ve got no doubt that the infamous star’s antics would certainly not help in combating a culture of misogyny and sexual violence among student communities.
We are lucky that Bonnie Blue is not coming to Durham this September, because our uni doesn’t need to be shown that women are commodities to be passed around like a pencil at Freshers’ Fair.
Tia Emma Billinger has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Featured image via @onlybonnieblue on Instagram
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