Page 45 - AVN August 2018

thousands of followers has a much better view of the
wide breath of humanity than someone who sees the
same few hundred people every day.”
Lydia Love, who is a business major, has similarly
benefited from the real-world experiences she
has gained outside of the university bubble. “I
definitely think that it gives me a unique perspective
on materials I study. I notice myself already
understanding marketing strategies or business
tactics I learn about,” Love said.
In addition to her porn career informing her
studies, Love also told AVN, “I’m constantly thinking
about how I can utilize what I learned in my career.”
Meaning that whenever she learns something new
in class, she has the ability and opportunity to
immediately apply this knowledge to a real-world
business; giving her access to a learning experience
few students will ever have.
“It is my first semester studying business and my
courses have already helped me understand tactics
to increase my sales and build a loyal fan base,”
Love explained. “I think that the more I learn about
marketing, business and finance, the more successful
I will be in my career.”
School of Hard Knox
Individuals who decide to balance going to college
and sex work all have their own reasons and goals.
And they all have to wrestle with the legacy of Belle
Knox’s outing and do their best to learn from it.
Ela Darling had already completed her master’s
degree when Belle Knox was outed, but she was
still outraged by the situation. “I thought that the
way people treated Belle Knox was repugnant and
the reactions from her classmates were incredibly
disheartening,” Darling told AVN. “I reached out
to Belle when I found out about her experience and
offered my support.”
“I think that is one of the most vulnerable aspects
of the adult performer experience, when your career
is made public discussion amongst your peers, friends
and family,” Darling said, “and I think the way it went
for Belle is the worst nightmare for most performers.”
Alison Rey didn’t learn of Belle Knox until she
entered the industry, but she immediately understood
the pain Knox endured. “I don’t think it was right. I
think it was a definite violation of her privacy,” Rey
said. “It shows that her peers had no respect for her
as a human being, but rather, they saw her as an
object to fetishize and sensationalize.”
“People generally don’t think of performing as a
legitimate job or a legitimate source of income,” Rey
further shared with AVN. “Once you’ve had sex on
camera, you more or less become the characters you
“A LOT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE ONLY AWARE OF
THE WORLD AROUND THEM AS IT IS DEFINED BY THEIR
UNIVERSITY BUBBLE. … THEY AREN’T EXPOSED TO THE
WIDE VARIETY OF PEOPLE THAT I HAVE BEEN EXPOSED
TO BECAUSE OF PERFORMING.”
Ela Darling reached out to Belle Knox when the now-retired performer was “outed” while studying at Duke University.
portray to the people around you who don’t know you very well. You’re no longer a human being with rights,
but something to talk about for the entertainment of others. It wasn’t fair that she was outed; I think it was a
terrible thing for people to do to her.”
When asked about Knox, Love remembered being confused as to how people reacted to her profession. “I
remember hearing about this story when I was in high school and I was very confused as to why people cared
so much about what she chose to do with her body,” Love said. “Interviews she did on major news networks
shed light on the fact that people in the adult industry have lives and goals outside of the industry. It was very
upsetting that many people saw her as undeserving of respect because of her job.”
Rey describes herself as always being a cautious person, but she was still frightened by Knox’s story and how
the public treated her. “Her story certainly scared me, after I realized the same thing could happen to me at my
school, but it didn’t really stop me from making friends at all,” Rey said. “It made me wary of telling people
what I did for a living.”
Love is similarly guarded as to how she interacts with other college students. “It has made me much more
cautious when it comes to what I say to people at school,” Love said when discussing what she learned from
Knox’s outing. “I’ve gone to a few different schools since starting college and I’ve never talked about what
school I go to. I was always scared of people recognizing me when I went to school in Los Angeles. I now
choose to do online classes because of witnessing what Belle and others have gone through.”
Even as an online student, Love takes steps to
protect her identity as best as possible. “When we
share details about our lives in my online classes I
don’t put a profile picture in the forum or talk about
my work. I am not ashamed of my job, but I don’t
want anyone treating me differently or talking about
me online outside of class.”
The Anti-Bullying Pulpit
In spite of what happened to Belle Knox, there
is no way to accurately predict how every college
community would react to a student being outed as
a porn star. “I don’t think you would see the same
response from a college in Los Angeles as you would
see at a small-town campus in middle America,”
(Continued on page 50)
—ALISON REY
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