Gold Coast city leaders respond to OnlyFans creator Kay Manuel, Schoolies 2024
A Gold Coast MP has slammed an OnlyFans Schoolies stunt as a ‘terrible indictment on liberalisation’. FULL STORY
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Queensland’s new Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek is labelling escorts scandalising Schoolies celebrations by promoting X-rated film sessions as an “example of deleterious effect of social media”.
Mr Langbroek, the Member for Surfers Paradise, called for emphasis in schools and by families on educating children about what was appropriate behaviour and in interactions.
His call comes after sex worker Kay Manuel erected a giant billboard of herself in central Surfers Paradise - where 20,000 Schoolies are expected from the weekend - and revealed she’ll host “meet and greets” at a nightclub in a bid for graduate participants for OnlyFans content she will monetise.
Ms Manuel, 22, has argued she’s not taking advantage of impressionable teens, saying she only works with consenting teens aged 18 or above with government ID.
“Take it up with the government. This is all legal,” she said to critics.
Mr Langbroek said it was a complicated matter but a large problem was social media and its impact on developing minds.
“The psychological effects on young developing minds, especially young males who may think this is quite harmless, is an example of the deleterious effect of social media and the effects on our society overall,” he said.
It comes as social media usage is hotly debated across the country, following the Courier Mail-led News Corp ‘Let them be kids’ campaign. It has result in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowing to legislate for a ban on social media for children under 16, backed by every Australian state.
Social media has been used as the central platform by adult film creators to promote invites to school-leavers to join them in filming explicit content at no profit to the graduates, but to the financial benefit of the OnlyFans creators.
Mr Langbroek said society needed to look at what and how schools and families do in terms of educating children on appropriate behaviour and appropriate interactions.
“It's a terrible indictment on the liberalisation of saying you can just do whatever you want without thinking about the consequences on people’s mental state,” he said.
Some members of the public are now calling for the legal age to film graphic content to be raised to 21.
One Gold Coast Bulletin reader suggested: “Pass a quick law making it illegal to record or stream or disseminate footage or images of sexual acts with or including a person under the age of 21. Problem solved.”
Other readers suggested people can do what they please in private, however the public “don’t need to have it thrown in our faces” while other uses suggest social media and the older generations have failed the youth of today.