The people defending the Lily Phillips grotesquerie are notably reluctant to discuss the mob factor. Sex work advocates are uncomfortable with how a queue of men lining up for drive-thru sex with a broken woman edges towards the reality of prostitution, and away from the sassy Only Fans models they pretend are the reality of prostitution. The men commentating, in particular, don’t want to talk about the mob aspect – for the aforementioned reasons (as consumers of porn/prostitution themselves), and/or because they love watching a woman hit herself in the face. They hate that women have autonomy, so when one uses it to hurt herself, they find a spiteful delight in it. When these men dismiss the mob as having only given Lily what she asked for, what they mean is “she got what she deserved”. They don’t talk about the men further, because all they really have to say about them is “good work”. As for the mob itself, some of the men might have just been there for a quick orgasm, but I don't believe this was the main appeal for most (if not all) these men. The truth is the men who show up for these stunts don't want to (just) have sex with a woman. These men want a chance to take their masks off. For 5 minutes, they get what they wish they had all the time: women offering sexual gratification on demand, free of pesky conditions like sentience or emotion. Women existing for a man's use, unconditional of his motivation – whether it be desire or rage or hatred – or whether this is the hundredth time today he's used her, or the hundredth man. These men didn't show up to have sex with a prostitute, they showed up for the fantasy of women as inexhaustible, uncomplaining sex objects. The mob itself was key to the stunt's appeal. Yes, the woman invited men to do this to her, but she didn't make the men turn up. She didn't make them the kind of men who *would* turn up. Consent is just a legal box tick in prostitution. It doesn't neutralize degeneracy or misogyny, it doesn't create the drive to violate a woman, it doesn't secure a woman's attraction to you or her enthusiasm, it just gives you the opportunity to violate her without legal consequence. Consent doesn't make turning up ethical, otherwise these men wouldn't hide their identities. Sex work is not "just another job", and that is proven true with every man who denies showing up for Lily Phillips. In a nutshell, people don’t want to talk about the mobs who show up to hurt women for two reasons: they want to pretend women aren’t getting hurt, or they really freaking love women getting hurt.
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