Duke University Freshman Porn Star Scandal

Overview

Duke University Freshman Porn Star Scandal refers to the controversy and debate surrounding the public outing of Duke University freshman Miriam Weeks (a.k.a. Lauren A) as adult film actress Belle Knox by a fellow classmate in January 2014.

Background

According to Weeks, her involvement in adult films was first recognized by fellow freshman Duke University student Thomas Bagley on January 10th, 2014. Upon bing confronted with the discovery, Weeks asked Bagley to keep the matter private. That evening, Bagley allegedly told several people about Weeks’ profession at a fraternity rush event. According to the Duke Chronicle,^[4] a thread titled “Freshman Pornstar” about Weeks was subsequently posted to the anonymous college student communication board CollegiateACB (shown below).^[9] The thread has since been removed.

Notable Developments

Collegefession’s Tweet

On February 7th, 2014, the anonymous secret-sharing community Collegefession tweeted an anonymous tip from a male student at Duke University claiming to have discovered an adult film actress in his freshman class. In the first month, the tweet gained over 1,400 favorites and 220 retweets.

On February 7th, 2014, the Twitter feed Collegefession published an anonymous message from a male student claiming to have discovered an adult film actress in his freshman class. In the first month, the tweet gained over 1,400 favorites and 220 retweets.

"I found out a girl in our freshman class is a pornstar. I've now made it my goal to fuck her before I graduate." – Duke University

— Collegefession™ (@collegefession) February 8, 2014

The Duke Chronicle Interview

On February 14th, the Duke Chronicle^[4] published an interview with Weeks, in which she gave an account of how she became involved in the adult film industry and was subsequently outed. The article also included a statement from Bagley, who was quoted as saying that he regretted his decision to out her. On February 18th, the women’s interest blog Jezebel^[12] published an article about the scandal and subsequent harassments that Weeks has been subject to. On the same day, The Daily Caller^[5] reported that Bagley claims that Weeks had divulged the information to him willingly and that he had never recognized her in adult films, as has been reported.

XoJane Article

On February 21st, XoJane^[1] published an article written by Weeks, in which she called her experience in the adult film industry “empowering,” discussed the harassment she had received following the outing and argued that a patriarchal society is fearful of women’s sexuality. The following day, the article was submitted to the /r/sex^[7] and /r/TrueReddit^[2] subreddits, where it garnered upwards of 2,900 and 1,300 up votes in the first five days respectively. Also on February 22nd, CollegiateACB^[10] member terry.arnold submitted a thread containing links to several of Weeks’ adult videos. The following day, a article titled “Miriam Weeks” was submitted to the Internet culture wiki Encyclopedia Dramatica.^[8]

Search Interest

External References