B etween his popular YouTube channel and his appearances around campus, UNC student Dylan Moore, known as “Nicky Show Time,” has garnered a lot of attention from both students and media in the last several weeks . Much of this attention has been in the form of positive feedback. And that’s just the image the student is hoping to achieve. The quick ascent of this stripper’s popularity is a testament to the student’s ability to market his image via his sexual appeal and hyper aggressive personality.
Another student in the Triangle area has drawn a lot of attention for similar reasons, yet with a drastically different response. Belle Knox , as many UNC students know, is the pseudonym of a porn actress that is also a student attending Duke University. While there are those that find what she is doing empowering and show support, misogynistic and degrading comments still echo throughout campus and social media — here and across the nation.
The double standard displayed between the two students is shameful.
Moore has been welcomed with open arms by media coverage and UNC students. One news article covering the student included the quote “if you suck he’ll tell you to suck and what to suck .” In a month that is supposed to be dedicated to “sexual assault awareness ,” such an over the top promotion of misogynistic culture is disappointing to the countless UNC students devoted to ending sexual violence.
Meanwhile, few students would report a generally positive reception of the female student within the UNC community or elsewhere. It is impossible to bring her name up, either online or on the quad, without a comment that both objectifies and degrades her.
It’s hard to deny the difference between the way these two students have been treated, and it’s worth discussing the difference in the ways Moore and Knox have achieved their fame — or notoriety.
Granted, the nature of Knox’s rise to fame is different than Moore’s. Though they operate in the same spheres, there is a difference between stripping and performing in porn videos — a difference that some may use to completely separate the two cases.
However, citing this distinction between the ways the students expose their bodies is a flimsy-at-best excuse for the double standard exercised by the community. Little respect has been given to Knox, while “Nicky Show Time” has become an overnight icon at UNC.
Whether they attend UNC or not, no student deserves to be disgraced or shunned because of what they do in order to afford their education. Just as Moore is free to post his YouTube videos and develop his image and reputation, Knox is free to do what she wants with her body.
