Two OnlyFans stars, Bonnie Blue and Leilani May, have found themselves in hot water after inviting male “schoolies” to help them make explicit content. The erotic content creators directed their recruitment call at 18-year-old school leavers coming to Surfers Paradise, Australia, where they are currently based.
British expat Bonnie defended that the school leavers approached them first. She told the daily newspaper Gold Coast Bulletin: “We started getting messages, ‘I’ll be here for Schoolies, let’s film content,’ and we laughed—we only filmed with established creators and then thought ‘Why not?’”
For context, Schoolies Week is a celebratory time for recent high school graduates in Australia. Surfers Paradise in Queensland’s Gold Coast is a popular place to go to because of its vibrant nightlife and beaches, according to LADBible.
Nevertheless, the two content creators, who are 24 and 25 respectively, started to receive a lot of negative backlash quickly after their ads were posted. Both have taken to their social media platforms since to parody and mock the comments and media responses they’ve been receiving:
In their interview with Gold Coast Bulletin, both insisted that they didn’t target anyone under the age of 18 and prioritised safety and consent in their approach. “These people are 18—they’re consenting adults,” May stated. Bonnie Blue added: “We check ID, we have a process—they are consenting and they are signing consent forms.”
“As for any ‘barely legal’ comments—there’s no in-between with the law when it comes to legal age, it’s black and white. The fact [that] people are trying to pretend there’s a grey area and go ‘what if’—squish your what if because that’s not the case,” Blue continued.
The criticism that ensued over the past few days came from concerned audience members as well as fellow content creators on the platform. Many of them pointed out that if the roles were reversed and men were recruiting young women for pornography videos, the outrage would be notably bigger.
“Women can be predators. Women are full human beings capable of harm. People need to understand this,” one TikTok user commented. “This is completely unacceptable and predatory,” another user stated. “So predatory,” someone else agreed, echoing most of the other comments under videos related to the controversy.
Matt Lloyd, the chief executive of Schoolies.com, a website that offers booking and accommodation packages for the event week also issued a warning in response to the controversy: “Our advice to all Schoolies is, you deserve to celebrate with your friends, but don’t make a decision that could have negative implications on your family, your reputation and your future prospects.”
When sex workers usually decide to engage in explicit acts with a partner, they choose someone who is just as experienced as them or who also has a platform that is similar to theirs, according to LADBible. This ensures equal power dynamics and means the scene partner is experienced and knows their boundaries, as well as the implications of performing intimate acts online.
However, the same can’t be guaranteed if young Schoolies are asked to participate in adult content on camera. They are on the brink of adulthood and their primary objective is likely to have a wild week. They are potentially not fully comprehending the complicated dynamics and social stigma that is attached to sex work and how it could impact them later on in their lives.