Can The Internet Help When Your Favorite Sex Worker Is Being Abused?
We can apply this question to a friend, a family member, or ourselves. TW: emotional abuse, domestic abuse.
We all lead double lives thanks to social media. Heck, a few of us find huge success through our online alter egos like Twitch streamer & OnlyFans star Amouranth.
But when is online success a thick veil for dangerous home life? Sadly, Amouranth’s private life is suddenly the focus of intense online discussion surrounding evidence of extreme emotional abuse.
When Amouranth was in the middle of a public stream this weekend, she unmuted herself during a tearful call where her husband (a newly confirmed character that many speculated to have existed without much proof) admitted to threatening to kill her dogs if she didn’t complete the 24-hour long stream (what????).
Okay– an OnlyFans star hiding a relationship (much like a pop idol) is pretty commonplace. Fine– even understandable– but suddenly we have a screaming man on speakerphone on a channel that usually showcases a cute girl in multiple outfits doing squats and chilling in a hot tub.
It’s worse than it sounds. Not only is the husband a shadowy figure in her private life, but it’s come to light that he has been essentially “pimping” her out through the internet and pushed her to do hot tub streams in the first place. In his words, "I built this empire off your body.” Eew. He even pushed her to turn her sleep into content by streaming THAT too.
Compound all that with financial abuse (he’s got a chokehold on her money & social passwords) and you have a nightmare situation that is insurmountably difficult to escape from. If Amouranth has been quietly suffering behind closed doors while attending huge conventions like Twitchcon, how many warning bells need to go off in our minds when a friend says something off about their relationship?
Well, the internet reacted and while some (read: male) fans reacted with disgust that Amouranth would lie about being single to her fans- we’re going to ignore them for this article:
The best thing to come out of this situation was that Amouranth had the guts to come back on camera and unmute her abuser in front of her massive fanbase. Her way out is truly through the internet’s help (at least the initial escape).
I just wish more women had that outlet. 10/20 UPDATE: Amouranth is now confirmed to be in a safe location (with her dogs!) and has regained access to her social and financial accounts. We wish her the very best as she seeks emotional and legal counsel against her abusive husband.