Mick Hartley

Caitlin Moran makes some excellent points about the Bonnie Blue saga. What, men kept asking her, do you make of this awful woman? Why did she do it?

But what about the men?

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.”

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.

Yep – the more you think about it, the weirder it gets. The vibe isn't dissimilar to those grim men raping the unconscious wife in France last year – except this time the woman's in charge. Or at least making the money.

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.