With unemployment at a 20 year high and businesses closing due to the pandemic, we’re all just out here tryna’ make a buck in 2020. However, when frontline worker and paramedic Lauren Kwei turned to subscription site OnlyFans for a much-needed income boost, she was virally slut-shamed thanks to an article by the New York Post that revealed her identity.
There are so many things to unravel in why such an act is so wrong in this day and age. While we strongly believe that no human being should ever be sexually shamed, let’s start off with the blatant fact that Kwei is a hero of sorts as she has been bravely helping battle the COVID-19 pandemic in one of the hardest-hit cities in the world, New York.
To bring you up to speed, aside from her job as a paramedic, the 23-year-old also worked as a hostess at a Korean Restaurant in order to get by, before joining OnlyFans, a subscription-only platform that’s content does tend to err towards the racier side.
Upon discovering that a paramedic was *shock horror* cashing in by sharing some lingerie and topless selfies, the New York Post contacted her for an interview. The journalist allegedly promised to give her full anonymity in the article because, you know, she’s got two other jobs plus her own safety to think of.
Fast forward to the article’s publication and *whoops* her full name and other intimate details were revealed, leaving both her safety and jobs in jeopardy, just like she feared.
In response to the exposure, Kwei has spoken out on her personal Facebook page in a lengthy post that you can read below. Obviously one of the most noteworthy parts was when Kwei claimed, “Let me be very clear: I did not want the NY Post to run this article, much less use my name.”
“I know my actions have consequences and I know some of you think I was naive. I truly believe whoever “tipped” the post does not know me personally because anyone who knows me knows the kind of person I am,” the post also stated.
Over the past 3 days, my life and the intimate details of it have been made public for millions of strangers to read and…
Posted by Lauren Caitlyn Kwei on Monday, 14 December 2020
Kwei’s friend also started a GoFundMe page for her, which addresses the situation in more detail.
The article itself (which we won’t link to out of respect to Kwei) was titled “NYC medic helped ‘make ends meet’ with racy OnlyFans side gig,” and includes accusations such as the following.
“Kwei was not secretive about her online exploits. She made her last name known in her Instagram timeline, and her Twitter handle, @FoxxyLlama, said “NYC paramedic” along with a solicitation for “Only Fans.””
Thankfully, Kwei has spun the potentially career-ruining coverage into a positive one, by using the spotlight to ask for greater support of medical workers during this trying time. She’s also raised a healthy USD 65K on her GoFundMe – likely a hell of a lot more than her OnlyFans was pulling in.
The hashtag #LaurenKwei is also getting a tonne of hits from supporters of the New York-based paramedic and her career choices.
? Folks would literally take a dedicated medical professional off the streets in the middle of a pandemic BEFORE they would allow themselves to be sex worker positive and not engage in misogyny.
Make it make sense!#LaurenKwei pic.twitter.com/O4Qwhfxu6x
— Sleigh my name, sleigh my name-Not Anna. ANAYELSI (@brwneyedamzn) December 14, 2020
Sex work is work.
The federal gov has done almost nothing to help people in months. We must pass stimulus checks, UI, small biz relief, hospital funding, etc.
Keep the focus of shame there, not on marginalizing people surviving a pandemic without help. https://t.co/eYib7310Rs
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 16, 2020
