Sexpose.com Names Stoya, Shibari, Weinstein Persons of the Year 2015

CYBERSPACE—The Sexposé—a website that covers models, cam girls and adult performers—announced three people who had a significant impact on the adult industry in 2015 as their Persons of the Year: Stoya, Kelly Shibari and Michael Weinstein. “Similar to Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, it is not so much of an honor as it is about acknowledging how much they have managed to shape the adult industry in the past year,” the website reads. “However, we will keep with a pattern (usually) of naming two people that have had a positive impact on the adult industry and one person that has had a negative impact.” Stoya was chosen after she went public on Twitter with allegations of abuse agains her ex-boyfriend James Deen. “To be clear, we are not naming Stoya one of our Persons of the Year out of sympathy,” the site stated. “That would be shortchanging the impact that she has made on the industry with her revelation. With her tweet, Stoya revealed a human side to this industry, one that is often concealed by many performers because of fear of backlash, both public and private. As Chelsea Summers told The Guardian, it shouldn’t take a rape accusation to prove that sex workers can be raped.” Kelly Shibari is one of the few BBW performers who has received mainstream attention: In 2014 she was the first BBW model to appear in Penthouse Forum, and in the January 2016 issue of Penthouse, she is the first plus-size model ever featured. “Moreover, she is proving to be a symbol that porn is ever so slowly moving away from living and dying by the stereotypical hardbody,” The Sexposé wrote. “Physical diversity is now becoming a thing in porn, and Shibari’s appearance in Penthouse and her continued work as an ambassador for plus-size entertainers will only continue this positive change.” Michael Weinstein of AIDS Healthcare Foundation made the list for the negative attention he has brought to the industry through his efforts to legally mandate condom use in porn shoots. “Weinstein, in our opinion, is further intensifying the stigma that has dogged this industry enough through this latest political push,” his entry reads. “His actions are not constructive, and it is putting an incredible blemish on an organization that should be doing anything and everything to improve the lives of those affected by HIV and AIDS.” To read the full post, visit TheSexpose.com.