My brother. Five researchers from various news programmes. One news anchor. Two mates. The man who came and mended my fence.
They all asked the same question: as a woman, and a feminist, what do you make of Bonnie Blue? The 26-year-old porn star attempting to break records by having sex with 1,057 men? Did you see the Channel 4 documentary about her? Why do you think she does it? Is she emotionally damaged? Why does Bonnie Blue want to be filmed having quick, rough, often painful sex with 1,057 men? What does feminism — what do women — think of Bonnie Blue?
And, at first, I thought this was a question for women, about women. After all, it’s a woman doing it. So it must be a woman thing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised: asking women about Bonnie Blue is the wrong question, to the wrong people. The telescope is the wrong way round.
The real question is: what do men think about the 1,057 men having sex with Bonnie Blue? What about the men?
Because Bonnie Blue isn’t “a women’s issue”. Not really. Statistically, Blue is the smallest demographic involved in this event. One person doing something is just… one person doing something. Besides, we are being disingenuous when we ask, “Why is Bonnie Blue having sex with 1,057 men?” YO! WE KNOW WHY. She’s a porn star. It’s literally her job.
“I get to travel to amazing places. My bank account is full,” she told Channel 4. Why does she do something so extreme? “There are two million people on OnlyFans. I needed a USP.”
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That’s why Bonnie’s there. This is a porn-obsessed attention economy — so the person who makes the most attention-grabbing porn will fill their bank account. With this knowledge, really, we have all the data we need about Bonnie Blue.
The data we don’t have is: why are 1,057 men queuing down the street to have sex with Bonnie Blue? They weren’t at work. No one was paying them. This is not a question that can be answered with “Men like to have sex!” — the average encounter with Blue was 40 seconds. To be brisk, many men will not have ejaculated in that time. They were in a queue. Other men wanted their turn.
From 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story, her controversial documentary
ROB PARFITT/CHANNEL 4
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Did they want some kind of fame? To have taken part in the world’s most googled gangbang? Some did, obviously — Blue was filmed taking selfies with some. But far more have their faces blurred out. Or are wearing the Blue-issued balaclavas — western men inventing, in some insane inversion of gender and cultural norms, the Male Porn Burqa, to protect their modesty. They don’t want us to look at them, as they are being filmed, having sex with a woman during a world-famous gangbang. I do not know what specific sexuality, or kink, that is. The Timid Exhibitionist? The Private Kinky Extrovert? It’s amazing that female sexuality is thought of as complex. None of us are doing anything this freaky.
Let’s keep thinking about just how freaky — or not — women’s sexuality is. Imagine, for a minute, if we flip the gender again. Imagine if a 26-year-old male porn star invited 1,057 women to have sex with him. To join a queue for a 40-second shag. And if that queue looked the same as Bonnie Blue’s queue but female: women from 16 to 67; some obese; some virgins; some married. Grannies and teenage girls and wives. A mother-and-daughter team — both excited by their day out. They’re about to go into a room and be watched by dozens of other women as they have brief, non-orgasmic sex with a man whom they are allowed to choke, slap, urinate on. To do things they know will hurt him.
We know what the documentary about that event would focus on: the women. “Why are you here?” we would ask, in the same, pained voice people ask Bonnie Blue why she does what she does. We would ask all the questions Blue is asked: “Were you abused as a child? Do you think doing this will give you PTSD? What does it say about women that you are here? What does feminism think about it?”
It seems counterintuitive to say this, when we all know we live in a male-dominated society, but I am continuingly astonished by how little we seem to notice men. To see what they’re doing. To ask questions about it. No — let me correct that. I am continuingly astonished by how little men notice what other men are doing, and ask questions about it.
Men! A total of 1,057 of your team just took part in the world’s most famous gangbang — and you’re asking women what we think of the one woman in the room? Bonnie Blue isn’t a question for feminism. She’s a question for men.