Another day, another Duke University sex scandal in headlines. On Feb. 14, the Duke Chronicle ran a story about “Lauren” – her true name and stage name have not been made available – a freshman at Duke who stars in pornographic films to pay for her tuition. Naturally, she has received unwanted notoriety since the news broke, which is as disappointing as it is expected. The reason this story has gained such a large following has everything to do with stigmas. Duke is a highly competitive academic institution known for producing top-tier intellectuals, athletes and all-around humans. Porn is perceived as an industry left for desperate “sluts” or girls with “daddy issues.” These two worlds aren’t supposed to mix. How can it be that a woman with a brain good enough for Duke could be in an industry for people without high school diplomas?
It’s not simply curious people attempting to answer that question; rather, most of the attention comes from bullies: people with the intent to harm. In a tell-all for xoJane, Lauren stated how she has been called a “slut who needs to learn the consequences of her actions” and “a huge fucking whore,” which she brushes off. But the one comment she cites as the most disrespectful is someone having the audacity to say that she is simply “a little girl who does not understand her actions.”
Lauren adamantly emphasizes the fact that she is in control of her life; she fully understands her situation and her experience as a sex worker has been nothing but positive, even empowering. She recognizes the fact that abuse does occur in the industry and something needs to be done. That something, though, is not outing performers or slut shaming.
Porn is a multi-billion-dollar industry. I don’t have hard numbers, but I think I am safe in saying that the 18-to-23-year-old male demographic contributes to a significant chunk to that figure. Demeaning the performers one watches is hypocritical to say the least. We propagate the industry with female standards that largely do not exist among the general population, and when something such as Lauren’s case arises, she is shunned for partaking in something considered to be lowly and primal.
Lauren tackles this exact issue rather eloquently, saying, “The virgin-whore dichotomy is an insidious standard that we have unfairly placed upon women … If a woman does not have sex after a date, she will be labeled as a prude. If she does have sex, she will be referred to later as a ho or a slut.” Spot on, if you ask me.
Anti-pornography feminists have made their voices heard on the issue as well. Lauren acknowledges their right to an opinion but asks each of them to “consider how you marginalize a group of women by condemning their actions.” By criticizing her for working in porn, something she has chosen entirely under her own power, is to say there is a particular picture of feminism and Lauren is impairing that image.
Sex in our society is mind-numbingly taboo. Everyone does it, and yet it can never be discussed. To confer or partake in it openly is reserved for a lesser class of human. At the most basic level, Lauren is supplementing the rising college tuition costs – a conversation for another day – by doing something she enjoys and feels empowered doing. While you or I have not chosen to pay off our debt as a sex worker, Lauren has and it is entirely OK. So leave her alone.