On Saturday evening, adult actress Stoya published two tweets alleging that she was raped by her former boyfriend and frequent costar James Deen.
Stoya and Deen occupy a rare space in the public conscious; despite working in the still-marginalized adult industry, both figures have made names for themselves in mainstream culture via their work as advocates for sex workers’ rights, and writers for culture blogs such as The New York Times, Refinery29, Vice, Jezebel, The Verge, and the Frisky. Unlike their industry predecessors, the two became household names by using their modest fame and social media savvy (rather than infamy) to position themselves as the thinking (wo)man’s porn stars and this was a key element to both of their brands. And so was feminism.
Fairly early on in their careers, Stoya and James Deen became darlings of the new feminist guard. Smart, socially-conscious young women admired the way the two of them made no bones about their careers in the adult industry and vocally challenged patriarchal policing of female sexuality. (As someone with little interest in the world of adult entertainment, I first became acquainted with Stoya when Jezebel published an impassioned essay she wrote on the subject of street harassment.) Stoya used her columns to discuss art, the economics of sex work, condoms, heteronormativity, and to bitchslap the New York Times‘ Nicholas Kristof. Her success and outspokenness was a direct challenge to every story we had been told about sex work being the last refuge for damaged women and brainless blow-up dolls.
For his part, Deen would frequently take to his Twitter account to rail against misogyny and prudishness–often two sides of the same coin–in between his X-rated enthusing over a costar’s, um, butt. He spoke frequently to journalists on issues ranging from HIV testing as a matter of public health, to the cultural implications of his largely female following, to his favorite recipes. The image he presented was simple: Here was a guy who looked like your college boyfriend, who was smart, funny, loved women and advocated for their rights…oh, and happened to fuck on camera for a living. Combined, James Deen and Stoya were the perfect pro-sex feminist couple.
Or so it seemed. When Stoya’s allegations were made public, the response was swift and vocal on Twitter and in the media. Some adult entertainers and members of the literati publicly voiced their support of Stoya, but the response from the public was a mixed bag. For many onlookers, the disclosure functioned as the perfect excuse to condemn sex work and express their belief in the inevitability of a member of the kink community’s assault. Within hours of the tweets being posted, Men’s Rights Advocates were already deeming the allegations a hoax and in other corners of the internet, some women were shrugging and sighing, “Ah, well…all men are rapists.” Here were all of the counterarguments to third wave feminism’s pro-sex agenda opportunistically using a woman’s sexual assault to perpetuate their own causes.
As the story gained more traction online, whispers of other victims began rippling through the blogosphere. An editor of the Frisky, which published James Deen’s sex column, mentioned in a post that the moment the news broke about Stoya’s allegations, women she knew began reaching out to her claiming to know of other victims. Sure enough, a day and a half later, two more victims came forward (both adult film actresses) and Deen issued a denial. Tori Lux, one of the women who claims to have been assaulted by Deen back in 2011, wrote in an essay for the Daily Beast that she did not formally press charges because of the stigma attached to her line of work. In almost every rape case, the victim ends up on trial as a defense strategy and in the case of sex workers in particular, it is exceedingly common among the public and police to regard sex workers as “unvictimizable” due to the high-risk sexual nature of their profession. (Incidentally, the same stigma exists among practitioners of BDSM.) Without the good faith that they will be taken seriously by authorities, many sex workers keep their assaults private, thereby perpetuating the dangerous cycle of sex worker victimization and assailants continuing to attack with impunity.
These issues–the lack of support for sex workers’ rights, consent between partners, acceptance of diverse expressions of sexuality, and the policing of female sexual expression–are all key elements of today’s feminist movement, a movement Deen purported to support.
It’s hard to shake off the feeling that the feminist community had the wool pulled over its eyes by Deen and his PR machine. Were we so eager to have a prominent male advocate and sex icon in our fold that we missed some glaring problems along the way? Did our desperation leave us vulnerable to falling for the first attempt at playing to our vanity? These questions are almost impossible to answer right now and in many respects, they are beside the point when the immediate concern should be support and justice for the victims. It is inexcusable that a member of the feminist community says she was assaulted and instead of receiving unanimous support, she has been further victimized by doubtful, slut-shaming members of her own community. Further, it’s disheartening that a woman’s sexual practices, be they documented for public consumption or private, would impact how we regard her suitability as a victim of sexual assault. All women (and men) can be rape victims and all women (and men) who come forward about their experiences should be treated with respect and encouragement from the public and from authorities. If the allegations are true, it took an incredible amount of bravery on Stoya’s part to make her story public and it’s our responsibility as human beings to take her claims seriously.
