Bonnie Blue’s Bang Bus: Business or Pleasure?
Image credit: The Conversation
Whilst I spent the two weeks leading up to uni working, catching up with friends and panicking about my final year, 26-year-old Bonnie Blue was on a nationwide university sex road trip. Bonnie Blue initially rose to fame on adult content subscription service, OnlyFans. She then gained mainstream exposure on social media earlier this year when she allegedly had sex with over 1000 men in one day. Once again, she has gone viral, this time for touring university cities, Leeds included, across the country in her Bang Bus. The Bang Bus turns out to be a minivan; the exterior is covered with her name and QR codes to her website, whilst the dashboard has been carefully decorated with condoms. She spent the two week trip attending club nights, handing out t-shirts and claims to have slept with around 70 ‘barely legal’ freshers.
When I took on this article, I hadn’t fully decided my take on the situation. I certainly didn’t think of it as a positive one, but also, I’m not one to jump on the woman shaming train without being properly informed. The logical decision was to do my research – no, not that kind of research – and make a pros and cons list. I soon found that despite there being counterarguments to the cons, there weren’t exactly any pros. Despite this outcome, I certainly do not condone the disgusting comments, body shaming, and physical attacks she has received.
With very few exceptions, university students are legally adults and can have sex with any other adults. Students have willingly volunteered to have sex with Bonnie and be associated with her brand. So, what’s the issue? Well, I fear these points are just examples of Bonnie meeting the bare legal minimum of consensual sex. Are we really going to congratulate and encourage her for not breaking the law?
There is so much more to being an adult than age. Living 200 miles away from home was a scary move for me, but I was so excited to be in a big city and to meet new people. I spent my freshers’ week going clubbing, getting to know my flatmates and exploring Leeds. I felt so grown up. But we joke about freshers being babies for a reason; they are fresh out of the womb that is home into the new reality of adulthood. What do I have for dinner? What do I do when Circuit Laundry traps my washing? What are silverfish and why is there one on my chair? I miss home.
You suddenly have this independence that you’re not quite sure how to deal with. It’s this state of uncertain freedom that makes freshers extremely impressionable and vulnerable. Suddenly having to be independent can cause a lot of pressure: pressure from family, pressure from friends and pressure from yourself. On a night out, there might be pressure to drink, pressure to follow the lead of others and pressure to do things that in hindsight, you didn’t really want to do. That’s where Bonnie Blue comes in, using her fame to lure you in, advertised as a rare opportunity to experiment and offer you a mind-blowing experience. It’s obviously a convincing offer for some.
Men who haven’t had sex yet may feel even more pressure as the concept of virginity is so stigmatised. People get competitive and judgemental about whether they are having sex. Students should feel comfortable doing things at their own pace in the right place; however, unfortunately, when presented with an easy opportunity, it might be tempting for some just for the sake of losing the stigma.
Bonnie Blue promotes her content and experiences as educational because they are safe, consensual and with an experienced sex worker. I understand that school sex education is lacking, but I really don’t think Bonnie Blue’s ‘barely legal’ campaign is the answer. The fact that she is deliberately preying on vulnerable men straight out of school is disturbing. Freshers are only a few months away from being immature 17-year-olds doing their A-levels and relying on their parents. These men have only just graduated boyhood.
The only thing Bonnie Blue is teaching is an extremely unrealistic, artificial, damaging expectation of what sex should be like. She is enforcing harmful stereotypes of what a woman should look like, what they should be able to do and how they are expected to act. Whilst her OnlyFans and 1000 men stunt might also be seen as harmful – that’s a whole other conversation – they do not deliberately target a vulnerable demographic, and she is not as conveniently available. It is her intentionally making herself physically available to exploit and influence 18-year-olds across the country that I believe is extremely problematic. Bonnie Blue does not care about your sex education or your emotional wellbeing. There is no aftercare; she is already thinking about her next fresher – her next business opportunity. To her, you are content and another statistic to tally up.
It’s bad enough that she is exploiting freshers for financial gain, but it’s even worse that she is aware of how morally risky she is being. She has built her latest campaign from the phrase ‘barely legal’, poking fun at the fact that she’s sleeping with almost children all under the guise of it being educational. Bonnie Blue knows how controversial she is; she’s not clueless. In fact, her Bang Bus tour shows that she is a clever businesswoman. The Bang Bus is her latest strategy to increase engagement and create these controversial conversations. She’s gained a lot of love, but a whole lot of hate too. Creating discourse about her, positive or not, gains her major exposure. However, in trying so hard to parade her business up and down the country, she has completely disregarded the emotional impact she leaves behind.
Bonnie Blue has put business over pleasure, and she has no shame.
Words by Amelia Whatley