Hello friends! Usually, you’d be reading a column here where Stoya answers your questions. But as you may have heard, she’s going through a rough patch right now. Not only is she out of the country shooting a movie, she’s just done something very brave: she confronted a man she says raped her.
Ask Stoya: Stoya is on hiatus
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is a reporter who writes about tech, money, and human behavior. She joined The Verge in 2014 as science editor. Previously, she was a reporter at Bloomberg.
That thing where you log in to the internet for a second and see people idolizing the guy who raped you as a feminist. That thing sucks.
— Stoya (@stoya) November 28, 2015 James Deen held me down and fucked me while I said no, stop, used my safeword. I just can't nod and smile when people bring him up anymore.
— Stoya (@stoya) November 28, 2015 Deen has denied any wrongdoing.
After she tweeted her experience, a lot of other women had stories to tell about James Deen, too. There at least eight others who say they’ve had been assaulted: Nicki Blue, Ashley Fires, Lily LaBeau, Tori Lux, Kora Peters, Amber Rayne, and a woman who identifies herself as T.M. Joanna Angel said he’d repeatedly assaulted her while they were in a relationship. If you want to learn more about what’s going on, here’s the only interview Stoya’s given on the subject so far.
We stand with Stoya, obviously, and we support her. Her schedule — she’s on a film shoot in Serbia — would have been bonkers this month anyway, but this added another level of stress. While we love having Stoya write for us, it’s way more important that she take care of herself. So she’s taking a break for December, and will be back when she feels ready. Until then, we send our love, respect, and admiration.
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