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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sportfan5000 (talk | contribs) at 13:25, 16 March 2014 (Reverted good faith edits by Ncjon: This is essentially outing her, by providing details of her life prior to college that can be used to identify someone, please gain consensus first. (TW)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Belle Knox is the stage name of an American pornographic actress and Duke University student. She is known for being outed by a fellow student for performing in online pornography, and the ensuing events, including threats of violence against her, and her confronting the situation directly, and in the media.

Career

Knox chose the name "Belle" from Belle from Beauty and the Beast and the character of Belle from Secret Diary of a Call Girl and the name "Knox" from Amanda Knox, the former roommate, and a chief suspect in the murder of Meredith Kercher cases. She decided to enter into the online pornography industry because she enjoyed sex and pornography, and compared it to her previous work as a waitress for a boss who treated her poorly, with a schedule that interfered with her studies, and she earned less than $400 a month after taxes. Doing the porn work allowed her to control the scheduling, and she could make about $1200 per scene. Knox had tried to apply for government loans but was told that she was ineligible, and did not want to apply for regular student loans as she did not want to "strap her family with debt." She began working in online pornography in November 2013, flying out to Los Angeles while on school breaks to perform in the films.

Knox is fairly new to the industry and, as yet, does not have a profile on the Internet Adult Film Database or Internet Movie Database. She has appeared in scenes for studios such as PornPros and X-Art.com. Knox is represented by John Steven of Matrix Models.

Outing and harassment

Knox faced harassment for her work after a male Duke student, Thomas Bagley, recognized her from her online videos and outed her to his fraternity brothers of Phi Delta Theta during a rush event. Bagley stated it was Knox who revealed her work to him while they were walking to class, upon which point she asked him to keep it private, which he agreed to do. That night, however, the news had spread through much of the fraternity system on campus. Knox, who had been away on Christmas break, arrived back on campus and discovered that her real life account had received more than 230 Facebook friend requests. She did not initially think anything of the requests until a fellow student started following her Knox persona's Twitter account, at which point she realized that her online career had been discovered. Shortly thereafter posts began to emerge on the anonymous college discussion board CollegiateACB under the thread title “Freshman Pornstar.” Knox received threats of violence and death as well as harassing messages via social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, with some individuals endorsing people raping, and beating her. Other posters also stated that they would like Duke University to expel Knox. Knox's identity, contact information, and location, were posted as well.

Knox gave an interview to The Chronicle, in which she used the pseudonym "Lauren A." in place of her real name and referred to her performing name as "Aurora" to avoid identifying herself. During the interview Knox expressed frustration over her treatment stating, "I feel like girls at Duke have to hide their sexuality. We’re caught in this virgin-whore dichotomy." She posted similar sentiments in blog posts on XoJane. Knox reported that she received an additional increase in harassment after posting her initial blog post through XoJane, which prompted her to write a second post where she revealed her pornography stage name. She detailed some of the threats and messages she had received and commented that when reporting them to the police, expressed that she believed that the police had not taken them seriously enough.

Response

The Poynter Institute newspaper commented on the reception for Knox's story, stating that it " a lesson in crowd behavior," and noted, "While her critics were loud and destructive, advocating that people call her dad to let him know his daughter is a porn star, no one suggested a phone campaign to inform the mother of the frat boy who outed her that her son is watching porn." A journalist for TIME magazine expressed skepticism over Knox's comments stating that she viewed her pornography career as empowering. The journalist continued that while shaming her was wrong, Knox "doesn’t know how to process her newfound fame," and that her decision, "will likely haunt for the rest of her college and professional career." The Week also criticized Knox's statements, noting the sex industry did not have a trade union, and male sexual desire would ultimately dictate, and oppress, what women would do on camera.

The male student who outed Knox, was offered $10,000 to perform in an X-rated film by Mike Kulich, who had also previously offered Amanda Knox money to appear in a pornography film. Kulich told the Huffington Post, "There's a saying in porn: 'People j*** off with the left hand and point their finger with the right. I want people to know that porn stars have families and they're just trying to make a living. If you're enjoying their work, why ruin their lives?"

A representative for Duke University has issued a statement saying that while they would not comment on specific cases, the college's community standard did not have any restrictions concerning off-campus employment. Of Knox's allegations that campus police did not take the threats against her seriously enough, the representative remarked, "We are committed to protecting the privacy, safety and security of our students. Whenever we identify a student in need of support, we reach out to them and offer the many resources that we have available on campus to assist them." Knox has been asked to speak in Duke classes about being a sex worker.

Media appearances

In March 2014, Knox appeared on Piers Morgan Live on CNN to discuss her choice to enter the adult industry. Knox also gave an interview to Playboy magazine regarding her experiences.

Personal life

Knox is pursuing a major in women’s studies and sociology and has expressed interest in becoming a women’s rights, and civil rights lawyer. Knox is a College Republican and considers herself a sex-positive feminist and libertarian. She is also bisexual.

She started doing pornography in 2013 to help pay for her $60,000 per year tuition costs, and publicly defended her decision to do the work, and to defend her choices about discussing the situation, and how it has impact her life. She believes her experiences are a testament to the rising costs of higher education in the United States.

References

1. "Duke porn star reveals face and film name on Playboy, xojane websites". News Observer. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
2. ^ Heck, Laura (March 5, 2014). "Duke student reveals porn identity, responds to backlash". KTVU. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
3. ^ Kingkade, Tyler (March 4, 2014). "Duke Porn Star Reveals Her Identity". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
4. ^ Morgan, Piers. "How I selected my porn name". CNN. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
5. ^ Dillon, Nancy. "Duke porn star Belle Knox says she wants to help sex workers after bankrolling law degree with sex". NYDN. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
6. Rajghatta, Chidanand. "US girl stars in porn flicks to meet college fees". Times of India. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
7. ^ Stone, Zak (March 4, 2014). "Meet Belle Knox, the Duke Porn Star (As You Might Have Heard)". Playboy. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
8. Warren, Peter. "Blue Devil Unmasked: Meet 'Duke Porn Star' Belle Knox". Adult Video News. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
9. ^ Goldstein, Sasha. "Porn big offers frat boy who outed Duke porn star 10G to appear in his own flick". NYDN. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
10. ^ Fernelius, Katie. "Portrait of a porn star". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
11. ^ Moye, David (March 7, 2014). "X-Rated Offer For Duke Student Who Outed Porn Star Classmate Belle Knox". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
12. ^ Knox, Belle. "I'M THE DUKE UNIVERSITY FRESHMAN PORN STAR AND FOR THE FIRST TIME I'M TELLING THE STORY IN MY WORDS". XOJane. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
13. ^ Knox, Belle (March 4, 2014). "I'm Finally Revealing My Name and Face As the Duke Porn Star". XoJane. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
14. Duin, Steve. "Belle Knox, the Duke 'porn star,' puts a face on her story". Oregon Live. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
15. McBride, Kelly. "Outed Duke student presents lesson in crowd behavior". Poynter Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
16. ^ Dockterman, Eliana. "The Duke Porn Star Isn't as Empowered as She Claims". TIME. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
17. Stoker, Elizabeth. "Sorry Belle Knox, porn still oppresses women". The Week. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
18. ^ Willingham, AJ. "Duke reacts to student's 'outing' as porn star". HLN. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
19. Herbert, Geoff. "Duke University student reveals she's a porn star, stirs drama in college newspaper". Post-Standard. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
20. Staff. "Duke student: My porn career is 'freeing'". CNN.com. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
21. Stone, Zak. "Meet Belle Knox, the Duke Porn Star (As You Might Have Heard)". Playboy.com. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
22. Li, David. "Duke porn star has 9 videos under her belt". New York Post. Retrieved March 8, 2014.

External links

• Belle Knox on Twitter
• Belle Knox on Tumblr

• Duke University people
• Living people
• American female pornographic film actors
• American libertarians
• American feminists
• Bisexual women