The Duke freshman outed as a porn star last month after confiding in one of her classmates revealed her stage name, Bell Knox, on Tuesday to Playboy Magazine and Xo Jane, the Huffington Post reported. For much of the same reasons she's given the public more information -- to prove she's not ashamed of her profession in the face of, at times, brutal criticism -- she's decided to keep her birth name private (she's reported several threats to the police). Her statement:
My birth name is one name. IT IS MINE. It is the name I am enrolled in at Duke. It is what my family and friends call me. My porn name is another name. It is the name I use when I perform. These are two different worlds in which I inhabit. I can't stop you from calling me any name you want to -- including "slut," "whore" or "bitch" -- but I can decide what name I use.
Today, I'm going to officially reveal what my porn name is -- outside of the dregs of the Internet trying to bully me into using my birth name for porn, on message boards where comments like "Her nose is bigger than her tits" or "She deserves to be raped" are the common parlance -- and that is my choice to make.
The Internet does not dictate my life. My sexuality is not some sort of blackmail to be used against me, granting you ownership over my life or my story. It is my life. It is my story.
So I'm refusing to let the bullies win. Instead, in revealing my performer name, I'm also going to let you know exactly the level of hate that exists in America regarding women who refuse to be quiet about their sexuality.
Since Knox's (previously, she'd been referring to herself as "Lauren" or "Aurora" as a pseudonym to her pornographic pseudonym) story broke, it's been covered at all angles by a variety of sources. Some have called her plight the result of rising tuition costs (which, according to Knox, is accurate; her primary reason for doing porn is to pay for Duke). Others have questioned her naivety in assuming the details of her life wouldn't one day spread like a viral video.
Fellow porn star/college student Rachel Swimmer/Tasha Reign wrote an open letter to her in the Huffington Post chiding Duke for the way its student body has received the news. At UCLA, where Swimmer attends, she's regarded in a much more positive light. Of course, Los Angeles is also where most porn films are shot. Still, Swimmer shares other examples outside of college that resemble Knox's, examples in which she's castigated by several different family members.
