The New York Post isn’t exactly known for its well-intentioned, level-headed journalism, but last week the publication took things too far—and now they’re facing backlash. On December 12, the Post published an article titled, “NYC medic helped ‘make ends meet’ with racy OnlyFans side gig.” The story detailed the legal name, borough of residence, places of employment, height, and weight of NYC paramedic Lauren Caitlyn Kwei, who moonlights as an OnlyFans account holder to earn extra money.
The Post’s reporters, Dean Balsamini and Susan Edelman, wrote that “Kwei was not secretive about her online exploits” after hours, and that “She made her last name known in her Instagram timeline, and her Twitter handle, @FoxxyLlama, said ‘NYC paramedic’ along with a solicitation for ‘Only Fans.’” The implication seemed to be that, by being so open about her side gig, Kwei was setting herself up to be investigated and reported on by the Post. As if an underpaid front-line health care worker—who puts her life on the line every day during a worldwide pandemic, and during which time the federal government has done next to nothing to help working Americans—paying her bills creatively is something she should be ashamed of. And more than that, that it’s something readers of the Post should find scandalous.
Kwei defended her decision to the Post. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t affect how I treat people,” she told the reporters, who wrote in the article that she’d spoken with them after they called the ambulance service she works for. “What I do in my free time is my business. It has no effect on how I care for my patients. I know when I’m working, I’m a paramedic. I think I’m pretty good at my job.”
Now, the internet, from sex workers to reporters to at least one member of the US House of Representatives, is crying foul on the Post’s doxing and shaming tactics.
Rolling Stone’s EJ Dickson wrote on December 14, “Instead of applauding her for her entrepreneurial spirit…or clucking over what a dismal reflection of the capitalistic economy it is that a health-care worker needs to hold three jobs during a pandemic, New York Post reporters Susan Edelman and Dean Balsamini decided to dox Kwei, possibly putting her job as a health care worker at risk and sparking massive uproar on social media.” (Kwei’s employer, SeniorCareEMS, told the Daily Beast that they have no intention of firing her at this time.)
And, on December 15, US Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “Leave her alone. The actual scandalous headline here is ‘Medics in the United States need two jobs to survive.’”
Leave her alone. The actual scandalous headline here is “Medics in the United States need two jobs to survive”
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 14, 2020
It’s worth noting that, since the pandemic hit the United States earlier this year, OnlyFans has seen a 75 percent increase in sign-ups, meaning that millions of people are not only paying models on the app, but also using the app to cover their bills during the pandemic. Kwei is far from the only person to leverage the collective thirst of a quarantined population make ends meet.
Which begs the question, why pick on a paramedic, who risks her life during every shift to save other people’s lives? “The implication seems clear,” wrote The Cut’s Madeleine Aggeler, “that the woman’s choice to engage in a second job in the sex industry should somehow imperil her first job—but it is not made clear, at any point, why the Post felt this story was worth reporting.”
Whatever their reasoning, the joke, so far, seems to be on the Post‘s reporters for their mishandling of the situation, and their misreading of their readers’ sentiments. Although Kwei has deleted some of her OnlyFans content and removed references to it from her other social media accounts—she told the Post, “I know SeniorCare would deem this ‘inappropriate’ so I took it down in the hopes that I won’t lose my job in the middle of a pandemic and three weeks before Christrmas [sic]”—the internet has firmly sided with her.
Other sex workers came to her defense on social media, reporters spread the news of her story, and so far, a GoFundMe that’s been set up for Kwei has collected over $100K. On the page, Kwei wrote, “I did not want the NY Post to run this article, much less use my name. When Dean Balsamini first ‘interviewed’ me, he did not tell me what this was about until after I disclosed most of my background. He did not include in his article that I started crying on the phone when he finally did tell me what he was inquiring about.”
But, now that she’s been provided with a platform—against her will—Kwei has proven what a good person she is by using it to speak up for other paramedics: “EMS are the lowest paid first responders in NYC which leads to 50+ hour weeks and sometimes three jobs,” she wrote. (Kwei, herself, works as a paramedic and a hostess at a New York Korean restaurant along with her OnlyFans work.) “My brothers and sisters DESERVE CHANGE! Visit emspac.org for a Mission Statement and to see how you can help. How’s that for a story, NY Post?!”
It’s always disappointing to see how sex workers get tossed under the bus when vultures like the Post reporters catch the scent of desperation. But it’s truly a breath of fresh air to see thousands of people coming together to stand behind a sex worker. We can all agree that 2020 has been a trash fire, but if 2021 were to arrive along with more stories of politicians and civilians alike standing up for people like Lauren Kwei, that would be a step in a very positive direction.
Hands photo by Dio Hasbi Saniskoro from Pexels
