Experts have issued a stark warning for Lily Phillips following a huge outcry for more stringer safeguarding on adult platforms.
The 23-year-old adult star shocked the world after sleeping with 101 in one day, all to create content for OnlyFans.
Alarm quickly grew for Lily’s welfare after a Youtube documentary showed the star becoming emotional as she reflected on the toll of such an extreme event, reports the Mirror.
In tears, Lily says in the documentary: “It’s not for the weak girls, if I’m honest – it was hard. I don’t know if I’d recommend it.”
Despite her candid revelation, she has insisted that her mental and physical wellbeing is “really good” after the ‘challenge’.
But it’s left fellow adult content creators worried about an industry where more is expected of stars, as they face mounting pressure to compromise on their boundaries.
The Derbyshire-born model began making x-rated content as a student at Sheffield University.
It began as a way of earning drinks money and quickly escalated into a lucrative career, with Lily now sitting on a £2million fortune.
As her career continues to rocket, the star is planning to take on a more extreme challenge, aiming to sleep with 1,000 men in one day in January, in an attempt to break the world record.
After Lily hit headlines, many are pondering where this rapidly expanding appetite for extreme adult content is coming from, what are the potential consequences for the models involved, and those consuming the content.
Experts have warned that the current online landscape favours viral content, which gives creators a reason to go to great lengths to succeed in reaching mass audiences.
As these extreme OnlyFans ‘challenges’ continue to go viral, there are increasing fears that impressionable young adults will obtain a warped idea of what sex and relationships involve.
Lily recently raised this issue in a documentary, remarking that some subscribers may be expecting certain things from women that don’t necessarily reflect real life.
Health psychologist Jo Rodriguez, from Straightforward Psychology, told The Mirror that younger “brains are not adaptive enough to recognise actually that’s not the real world”.
She warned: “It’s a version of reality that is given to you in the context of the situation. These young people, they see this, they expect this to be what relationships are like. How women are or what men are like, and then believe that they need to fit these roles. […] It can create all sorts of problems for both men and women, because it is not an accurate reflection of reality..”
As detailed in the recent film, one of the applicants hoping to partake in the 100-men event was an 18-year-old looking to lose his virginity, showing his ID on camera to prove he was of age.
Another young adult who remained anonymous in the film expressed some regret about his involvement, sharing his fears of his father ever finding out.
But what impact partaking in a stunt like this have on a younger individual, who may be acting on impulse rather than reason, and for someone who doesn’t have professional experience within the adult entertainment industry?
Jo explained: “They get taken along on the dopamine of it. It gives you an extreme high, and sometimes that affects our judgement and our decision-making. When we’re experiencing intense highs, we don’t see situations as we would if we’re calm and not having those dopamine hits.
“So it makes us much more impulsive. Then when we’re acting on impulse, our inhibitions are much lower, and we do things that, with hindsight, we’re like, ‘Why on Earth did I do that?’ Then you have also deal with sort of the shame of the situation and the consequences of it.”
The greatest concern has been expressed towards Lily, who was seen becoming tearful at the end of the documentary as she revealed the experience had been much more “intense” than she’d expected.
For Jo, Lily’s young age is of concern given that a person’s pre-frontal cortex – the rational part of the human brain – doesn’t develop until around the mid to late twenties.
Given that the adult star is just 23, Jo expects Lily to look at the experience differently in a few years’ time, and that the consequences could be “really big”.
She explained: “At the age of 23, your brain isn’t fully developed yet, so your emotional sensor is developed, but your prefrontal cortex isn’t, which is the part of your brain responsible for decision-making and rational thinking.
Jo warned: “So it’s something that she could definitely regret later in life and could have repercussions for her later life that she isn’t aware of right now.
“And I think you can understand why she’s doing it and the reasons behind it. But I think the consequences for her could potentially be quite big.”
In response to the widespread fear about her welfare, Lily recently told the Daily Star: “I mean obviously I was quite emotional [in the documentary] and just very, very overwhelmed. But, yes, my mental wellbeing is really good and physical health is really good.
“The thing is, I’m not a victim, so I don’t deserve this sympathy. I would much rather people put their efforts into someone who’s an actual victim. And so it just makes me feel a little bit sad because I feel like I’m taking a lot of energy away from someone who actually needs help.”
Previously, Lily described her extreme stunts as her “fantasy”, yet this hasn’t prevented some from worrying about the emotional toll they may eventually take.
Speaking with the Mirror, transformation coach Jessica Cunningham, who runs Belief Coding after enduring her own personal traumas, shed some light on what could motivate a person to pursue such extreme content making endeavours.
Jessica said: “From a behavioural psychology standpoint, such actions often originate from underlying feelings of unworthiness, a need for external validation, and a deep desire for love and acceptance.
“In my experience working with individuals in similar circumstances, such as those in the adult entertainment industry, there is often a perception that their choices are driven by empowerment and confidence. However, upon deeper exploration, it frequently becomes apparent that these actions are rooted in a lack of understanding or appreciation of their own self-worth.”
She added: “Regarding Lily’s case, while I cannot speak definitively about her motives, it is possible that her decision to pursue such a goal stems from similar underlying factors.
“Without judgment, I would suggest that if she were to engage in self-reflection and inner work, she might uncover feelings of inadequacy and a longing for genuine love and connection. What may appear outwardly as confidence and empowerment could, in fact, be a mask for deeper emotional vulnerabilities.”
The Mirror also spoke with cyberstalking expert specialist Demelza Luna Reaver, of The Cyber Helpline, who warned that adult content creators could be put at particular risk of stalking behaviours from subscribers.
She explained: “In terms of the trends developing, there are always concerns that these can become quite dangerous.. And when I say dangerous, I mean in terms of security and safety.
“More personal information is being shared. I know that in the documentary there was a conversation around personal commissioning for videos. One-to-one videos, and so on.
“And it’s ensuring that, if this is participated in, what level of detail is being shared? Is there still a safety barrier between the creator and the person who is purchasing that video or any type of content for that person? Or are they sharing personal details with a person online that they’ve never met, and it could put them at risk in the future?”
A number of those who watched the controversial documentary, which followed Lily as embarked on her 100-men challenge, were concerned to see that male participants didn’t undergo criminal record checks.
However, Lily clarified that all men involved had to wear protection and undergo instant HIV tests, viewers were left worried about Lily’s lack of understanding of STIs, with the model expressing confusion about how exactly HIV is spread from person to person. She has since said that she was “naive” to not vet participants for past sexual offences.
This comes as OnlyFans faces serious scrutiny for facilitating extreme content, with industry professionals sounding the alarm on the intensifying pressures now placed on creators to make content with shock value.
Online critics are now even calling for the platform to be banned as more stars push boundaries to attract and maintain subscribers, with seemingly very little in the way of safeguarding.
OnlyFans has been contacted for comment, yet no response has been received.
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