On Saturday, adult film star Stoya claimed that she was raped by James Deen, her ex-boyfriend. In two brutally direct posts to Twitter, she wrote that she could no longer "see people idolizing the guy," and that the famed porn actor "held me down and f*cked me while I said no, stop, used my safe word." Shortly after she went public with this claim, fellow adult actress and director Joanna Angel responded: "You have my support Stoya. I'm here for you."
What followed Stoya's accusation was an outpouring of feminist solidarity tempered with the (unfortunately) expected flurry of rape apologists demanding evidence and suggesting that, as a sex worker, she was asking for it. In the wake of this news, editor-in-chief of The Frisky, Amelia McDonell-Parry, announced that her site will no longer be publishing Deen's sex advice column. Because despite his professionalism, humor, and supposed belief in consent, "The court of public opinion is not a court of law, and I don’t need Stoya or any woman to 'prove' that she has been raped for me to believe her."
On Sunday, Deen denied that he raped Stoya, calling the claims "egregious."
Then on Monday, two more adult actresses, Tori Lux and Ashley Fires, have come out with their own stories of sexual abuse they claim to have suffered at his hand. Twitter users continue to voice solidarity using the hashtag #standwithstoya.
Stoya tweeted lasted week that she’d be mostly offline until December 17. But with #standwithstoya trending worldwide, there's no doubt that her voice is being heard.
Images: Twitter
