This article references sexual violence.
Everything I know about 'Bonnie Blue', I have learned against my will. For the last year, I've somewhat heroically ignored everything written about the adult performer known for her extreme stunts, rage-bait content, and ability to turn up on my social media feed no matter how many times I click ‘Not interested’.
Then last week, along with the rest of the journalists in this country, I received an email from Channel 4, inviting me to an exclusive screening of 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story, a documentary that “follows Bonnie and her team behind the scenes for six months, beginning with her infamous 1057-gangbang.” It will ask whether Blue is a “dangerous predator” or simply an “empowered, sex-positive businesswoman having the last laugh.”
Channel 4, it seems, has already made up its mind. In the email cover letter to the invite, journalists are invited to “Join us as we roll out the blue carpet and keep cool with the aircon on”, with the strange caveat that “(we’re not using only fans at C4).” Haha, I thought. It's funny because Blue was allegedly kicked off OnlyFans, wasn't she? Something about a “petting zoo” and being “Tied up, gagged, bent over, begging […] in a box and ready to be used.” Oh, how droll. The event, according to Blue, was ultimately cancelled at the request of OnlyFans (via US Weekly).
While Channel 4 clearly think they've hit the jackpot, I think they've missed the real story. It's not about Bonnie Blue; it's about bad sex – and why we're all still putting up with it.
“It should ring alarm bells that so many men are willing to chase gratification at the expense of treating a woman like a human being.”
If you've ever watched free online porn, you'll know that much of it employs the language and aesthetics of sexual violence. A cursory glance at one of the most popular mainstream porn sites offers the following for your titillation: “Stepdaughter and Stepdad Explore Their Sexuality Together”, “My Pussy Was Soaking Wet But He Only Wanted To Fuck My Ass Hard”, and “Watch Blonde Get Her Tight Ass Bubble Butt Drilled.”
Indeed, a 2021 analysis of the language used by mainstream porn sites determined that one in eight titles advertised to first-time users in the UK described sexually violent or non-consensual activity, including sexual activity between family members, physical aggression, image-based abuse, exploitation and coercion.
Blue's content uses much of the same language as mainstream porn. Her Instagram and TikTok accounts are mostly likeable run-of-the-mill influencer content – except when we're invited to spend the day with Blue while she gets “railed” (TikTok). She gives beauty tips for what to do when “your face is so dried from cum” (TikTok), and promoting an OnlyFans post, she directs a group of men wearing blue balaclavas to take Julia Filipo, a 22-year-old adult performer with pigtails, to be “stretched”, which is then advertised with the caption, “Turning a barely legal girl into a woman” (Instagram).
TikTok's community guidelines state that it does “Not allow sexual activity or services”, and that “Content is restricted (18 years and older) and ineligible for the [For You Feed] if it shows intimate kissing, sexualised framing, or sexualised behaviour by adults.” According to Meta's Community Standards Enforcement Report, the “display of adult nudity and sexual activity” is restricted on Instagram. A separate policy outlines that any content that “depicts, threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault or sexual exploitation” will be removed. While Blue's social media content is clearly sexualised, it's unclear whether it breaks any of the platform's guidelines and, if it does, how fast platforms can act to remove it. When Glamour contacted TikTok about these and other posts, it removed a number of them. Meta, who own Instagram, has not responded.
Mainstream porn is often about breaking the girl – and ‘girl’ really is the operative word. The aforementioned analysis also found that words like ‘teen’, ‘schoolgirl’ and ‘girl’ were more common in titles describing sexual violence.
If it sounds extreme, that's because it is. That's the whole miserable point. In 2023, a report by the Children's Commissioner on young people and pornography noted concern that free ‘tube’ porn sites “actively promote deviant content”, adding that, “Violent themes which would, 20 years ago, have existed on the ‘margins’ – for example, simulated depictions of incest, aggression, exploitation and coercion – are now front and centre of mainstream adult sites.”
And as journalist Sophie Gilbert, author of Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, pointed out to me earlier this year, “The more mainstream porn becomes, the more everyone involved has to up the ante to keep making money.”
Looking to get off to something that empowers, pays fairly and is respectful? We've got you.
Whatever you think of porn (and to be clear, I'm not against it), you can probably agree that it's officially left the margins.
OnlyFans, which has seen over 4 million creators join the platform since its launch in 2016, has transformed the average person's proximity to adult content. While some have praised it as a safe, empowering space that puts “X-rated entertainment in the hands of its entertainers” (per the New York Times), it's also opened a more accessible pathway into sex work than traditional porn filmed in a studio. In 2021, the English Collective of Prostitutes warned that the cost-of-living crisis had led to a rise in young people posting sexual content for money on sites like OnlyFans – alongside their day jobs. You don't need to follow a porn star to be served sexual content online; you only need to know someone who knows someone on OnlyFans.
In the seemingly lawless land of Big Tech, pornographic content bleeds into our lives whether we're actively searching for it or not. Think about the thong-adorned butts in your DMs or the random wanking video you see above a thoughtful tweet about the Emmy nominations on X. As Ofcom (the UK's independent regulator for the communications industry) continues the drawn-out process of enforcing The Online Safety Act (landmark legislation meant to regulate illegal and potentially harmful content), tech bros are busy ditching existing safeguards, such as moderators, and adding AI-powered features, such as X's Grok, arguably without sufficient safety testing.
Social media clearly plays a vital role in the adult entertainment industry. When porn infiltrates our feeds, it ultimately drives clicks, views, and subscriptions. But there's something else: a magic ingredient that, if secured, can lead to Lamborghinis, Louboutins, and Louis Vuitton luggage sets. The most powerful, profit-driver of all? Outrage. And that's why women like you and me are a vital part of the business plan.
Labour has announced plans to ban choking in porn, but this is only the first step to addressing misogyny in porn.
I was scrolling on TikTok when I first saw the promo clip for Bonnie Blue's ‘petting zoo’, a short clip posted by another creator, of six men aggressively pinning Blue down. I felt triggered. Not because I'm a typical woke, leftie social justice warrior (although to be fair, I probably am), but because I've had sex like this. I have been held down by my throat by someone who watches porn like this. I have floated above my body, waiting for it to be over. And now it's on my TikTok ‘for you’ page.
The clip makes me feel sad and angry. I think about other men – maybe men I'm going to date in the future – watching it and thinking they have the green light to initiate violent sex without prior discussion. Or worse, the boys who stumble across the clip on their socials and think it's normal, that if Bonnie likes it, so will all the other girls. I want to stomp my feet, I want to rant, I want to yell. Instead, I continue scrolling. Why? Because my outrage doesn't belong to me anymore, it belongs to her.
It works like this: 1) Bonnie Blue does an extreme sex stunt. 2) Women like me voice how it makes us feel. 3) Porn-addled men who can't climax over standard-issue gangbangs anymore want to see what's making the feminists mad. 4) Blue's pockets get deeper.
The substance of Blue's content is almost irrelevant; it is our shock, our pain that is the ultimate fetish. As Blue said herself in a previous clip, “Thank you to the haters, because you really are making me rich.”
It's perhaps no surprise that Channel 4 wants a slice of the action – and, judging by their comms so far, is navigating the issue with all the sensitivity of a winking emoji. And woe betide anyone who's not in on the joke! If you don't laugh along, you're invariably accused of jealousy or, worse, not being ‘sex positive’ enough.
Models have far less control over our image than people think – it's time someone stood up for us.
This is the part where I reassure you that, believe it or not, I consider myself to be sex positive. I believe that sex workers have the right to work in a safe, legal environment. I think that ethical pornography can be transformative and life-affirming. I even own more than one sex toy! But I also believe that the pervading cultural understanding of pornography is resulting in some of the worst sex we've ever had.
Last week, someone replied to a photo of Cate Blanchett on X with, “Amazing. Can't even imagine her giving a [blow job], she's so beautiful.” I wonder if OP has a partner and, if so, does he not think she's beautiful when giving head? Over on TikTok, the misogynistic slur du jour is ‘fridge’ used to describe the body shape of women that men don't personally think they want to fuck. They'll stick to wanking over the ‘HORNEY MILFS NEAR YOU’, thank you very much. Even Margot Robbie has been declared ‘mid’ by the very men who would definitely be able to hold her gaze – should she ever have the misfortune to meet them.
But it's not just stupid men spouting shit on the internet. It's women reporting injuries, pain, and bleeding as a result of unsafe anal sex. It's women being strangled without consent during sex. It's men feeling numb or crying after wanking. It's young people assuming that girls enjoy physical aggression during sex, and that girls expect sex to involve airway restriction or slapping. It's women being killed and blamed for their own murder via the ‘rough sex defence’.
Our access to pornography, powered by the infernal ragebait machines of Bonnie Blue, is preparing us for a world where sex is endurable at best, and life-threatening at worst. What the fuck is so ‘sex positive' about any of that?
Channel 4 claims its latest documentary will determine if Bonnie Blue is a dangerous predator or a savvy, empowered businesswoman. But they are asking the wrong question. I want to know how we arrived at a place where women are locked out of their sexual desire, and what would happen if we reclaimed it? I'm sure Bonnie Blue would be a fascinating interviewee, but the story is far too intriguing to stop there.
When approached by Glamour, a spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “Tia Billinger, via her stage name Bonnie Blue, has gained worldwide attention and millions of pounds in the last year. 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story is an observational documentary in which director Victoria Silver follows Tia over the course of six months.
“The film questions Tia’s methods and the divisive style of her social media and hears from colleagues and collaborators in order understand her polarising business model. Part of Channel 4’s remit is to reflect modern Britain and stimulate debate amongst viewers, and a film such as this, exploring changing attitudes to sex, success, porn, and feminism in an ever-evolving online world is an important addition to those conversations.”
“Channel 4 has a track record of programmes that examine the porn industry from a variety of perspectives. In the last two years, we have broadcast programmes such as Sex Actually with Alice Levine that looked at a range of sexual experiences, while OnlyFans Got Me Fired: Untold and Confessions of a Cam Girl showed the personal cost of porn for content creators.”
Glamour has approached Bonnie Blue, Meta, X, and OnlyFans for comment.
For more information about reporting and recovering from rape and sexual abuse, you can contact Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222.
If you have been sexually assaulted, you can find your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre here. You can also find support at your local GP, voluntary organisations such as Rape Crisis, Women's Aid, and Victim Support, and you can report it to the police (if you choose) here.
For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.
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