Bonnie Blue, one of the UK’s most divisive public figures. Her name frequently adorns headlines and pops up in conversations, she’s simply inescapable.
However, with her increasing popularity, she’s opened up a number of conversations surrounding young women entering the sex industry and how she may be influencing them to do so.
All you have to do is click on a social media post about her to read the continuous berating comments, with countless users shaming her acts and claiming that she could be encouraging girls to turn to sex work.
But, many people seem to be missing the point that she’s an adult film star, and Bonnie Blue has never once made it seem like she wants to appeal to young girls as a role model or as a positive influence.
So, why are we calling her out when she doesn’t act like a role model?
Firstly, there’s no denying that Bonnie Blue has said harmful things, especially about women
Bonnie is free to do what she wants with her content, as long as she’s not hurting anyone. However, that doesn’t mean that away from OnlyFans, she hasn’t created harmful narratives.
As a feminist, I can’t ignore Bonnie’s blatant disregard for women. She has been quoted as saying women who don’t give their partners sex, will be cheated on.
“From my experience in the industry, they will cheat if they’re going off to work and they’re helping you around the house and other additional things, and they’re not having sex.
“Even though that woman does not need to give it to them, it’s all about consent, and you do what’s right for you, but you need to expect they’re going to go elsewhere if you aren’t sleeping with them,” Bonnie previously said.
She has also publicly defended Andrew Tate, as well as having done a podcast with him. In the podcast, she talked down about stay at home mums: “When I click on the comments of these women that are like ‘Oh you’re taking us back 100 years’.
“Then in their bio it says stay at home mom of two I’m thinking ‘what the f*** was you rooting for?’ Because you have just stayed at home.”
These comments are frankly unacceptable, but can also be used as a topic of discussion and education around women and relationships.
Bonnie Blue’s work is for adults, so why are you asking her to tone herself down for your children?
Moving onto her sexual videos, I think we can all agree, Bonnie Blue makes content for adults, not children, and children should not be having access to her content.
However, what we might not agree on, is that it’s not up to Bonnie Blue to censor herself for the youth, just because you have concerns about her potential influence.
At the end of the day, Bonnie’s content is 18+, and if your children happen to see any of it, or have questions about her, that’s not her fault. She posts her content to adult-only websites, and the majority of the time, the only reason your kids will know about her, is through the press. So why can’t we use this as a teaching experience instead of bashing a woman’s way of making money?
Bonnie has found a niche, she has used sexual entrepreneurship as a way of forming a brand, and frankly, there’s no surprise that young people look at what she’s done as an “easy way to make money”, but that shouldn’t fall on her. She shouldn’t have to tone herself or her work down because you’re concerned your child will turn to sex work at a later age.
It’s not Bonnie herself that’s influencing young people, it’s the perceived ease of becoming rich
The Independent recently spoke to year nine and 10 students (13 to 15 year olds) about how much money it would take for them to become an OnlyFans creator when they reached adulthood.
The focus was solely on money, not whether they felt inspired by Bonnie or influenced directly by her. And, unsurprisingly, the monetary figures were high.
The lowest figure given by a female student to join the site upon reaching 18 was £2 million, with one student saying money like this could mean they’re “set for life”.
This viewpoint is also mirrored when young people talk about TikTok or Instagram content creation as they’re drawn in by the money, not by what they have to do to earn it.
This was shown by a survey which found 57 per cent of Gen Zers wanted to be a social media content creator. And why do they want the job? Because it seems like it’s easy money, when that often isn’t the case.
If there’s no demand for her or her content, she’ll soon disappear
Right, you might not agree with anything I’ve had to say, and fair enough, that’s up to you. But surely you can appreciate that if you don’t want to continue reading or seeing content surrounding Bonnie Blue then stopping consuming it will make it die out.
It’s pure supply and demand, if people stopped reading about her, commenting on posts, and talking about her constantly, her relevance would cease.
So, if you’re concerned about the influence she may or may not have on your children, or the ideals she’s putting out into the world, then stop reading, stop commenting, and stop sharing Bonnie Blue news.
We’re living in an ever-changing world, and OnlyFans is just part of that
Before I leave you, we can’t ignore the plain and simple fact that we’re all part of an ever-changing and ever-growing digital world. OnlyFans is fairly recent phenomenon, as are the women who have gained fame from it, such as Bonnie Blue. Therefore, it’s important we educate young people about topics such as selling sexual content online, and the implications of that.
At the end of the day, Bonnie is just part of this new form of sex work, and she’s never once asked to be a role model to your children, she’s just navigating her life and earning a living. So, instead of bashing her, why don’t we use her fame to educate and support young women?
If you believe she should be censored, that’s your prerogative, but shaming sex work and creators like her isn’t going to make the world easier for women. Let’s instead make sure our children are protected from seeing sexual content but if they do approach you with questions about it, that we treat them with love and support.
Because it’s really up to you to parent your own kids and help them decide what they want to be influenced by, not a young woman who’s just trying to make a living.
