They say that you should never meet your heroes, but failed to clarify that it was for their own protection. At a recent event, OnlyFans star Girthmasterr was groped by a fan without his consent. This is just the latest in a string of issues in which people prove they don’t understand what “consent” looks like in practice. Even when the person in question is an internet personality— especially when the content they create is of the explicit variety— boundaries matter. Girthmasterr agrees with our assessment and took to TikTok in a now-viral video in which he firmly, but calmly, addressed that particular fan’s inappropriate behavior. Not only that, he chose to take advantage of the moment and educate his sizable audience about consent.
So here’s what happened. Girthmasterr was in attendance at a fan event when someone forgot their manners. They groped him, and they did so without asking first. The model’s reaction video was to the point. He explained that he felt violated, spoke about the importance of respecting personal boundaries, and then— in no uncertain terms— delivered a very clear message about consent being a non-negotiable thing, no matter what one does for a living.
Well, Girthmasterr’s response video must have struck a chord with people, because a conversation has been started. All across social media— especially on TikTok— people are discussing not only the video, but the importance of consent, and how the stars we all love online are treated in real world encounters. The video was about a specific incident, but that specific incident is part of a larger pattern of people not respecting boundaries in their parasocial relationships. Just because you enjoy someone’s online persona, doesn’t give you access to any part of that person without their consent. Even if you’ve seen their junk online.
In case you’re new to the internet, consent is the permission to do something, especially given by someone in authority. When your body is the thing in question, you are the authority that can grant consent to it. Everything from hugs, to sharing stories about another person, to sexual encounters requires consent. That doesn’t change whether the relationship is online or IRL, personal or professional, familiar or parasocial.
Public figures— especially public figures who are in the adult entertainment industry— get objectified by the general public. You don’t have to ask a water bottle if it’s ok for you to pick it up. You don’t have to check in with your scissors before using them to cut snowflakes. You do have to ask people— yes, sex workers are people— if you can touch them before you do so. Nope, it doesn’t matter that you might have seen explicit images of the person in question. The explicit image that you paid to access on OnlyFans? The model chose to put that image where you could access it, which means that they gave their consent for you to see them online. That doesn’t mean you get to touch them if you ever meet them in person.
More and more, celebrities are finding that their fans feel entitled to physical interaction, especially for those in the adult entertainment industry. Girthmasterr pointed out in his video that adult content creators are often wrongly perceived as being “always available” due to the work that they do, but that persona that they present online doesn’t take away their right to maintain personal boundaries.
While celebrities have always borne the burden of fan interactions, creepy behavior has grown into an even bigger bear in the past twenty years as fan culture shifted from tabloid mags to social media. Parasocial relationships cause fans to feel like they have a real relationship with the influencers that they follow online. That false perception of a real relationship leads some people to entitled attitudes. OnlyFans content creators have an especially hard time enforcing boundaries with fans, due to the intimate nature of the material that they produce. The platform itself gives full creative and production power to the models, but the terms of service can’t protect creators from their fans out in the wild.
So what can we learn from Girthmasterr’s viral moment? His calm but rational approach was not only incredibly gracious given the circumstances, but it allowed him to create an educational opportunity instead of unleashing his anger at having been violated. While people are absolutely entitled to their anger in the wake of having a serious boundary violation, his balanced response helped the message come across to his audience in such a profound way that it sparked a dialogue about the importance of consent. More and more influencers are speaking out now about the issue of consent— or lack thereof— during encounters with fans, and are encouraging their fans to respect their space both in real life and online as well.
Consent is a fundamental right for every person. If you are a person, you are entitled to the word “no,” and you are allowed to strictly enforce your boundaries. Seeing someone’s body parts online doesn’t entitle you to touching them up close. When interacting with your favorite stars in person, remember that they’re a person with a right to their own body. Just… don’t touch people without their permission, ok?
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