This week, Stephen Bear posted a pornographic video on Twitter to advertise his adult entertainment account with AVN Stars – a subscription-based service similar to OnlyFans, which he was banned from after being accused of filming and posting explicit content of Georgia Harrison without her consent. After Georgia reported him to the police, he was charged with voyeurism, disclosing private, sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress and harassment without violence.
Bear has plead not guilty to the charges, with the trial set for February next year at Chelmsford Crown Court. But despite being accused of revenge porn, AVN Stars have allowed him to create an account to post explicit content – with his Twitter video advertising it (showing him receiving oral sex from his 22-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Smith) now receiving over 2.1million views.
On her twitter account, Jessica has condoned the video – which originally caused distress to some viewers when Bear appeared to force her head down – and in another tweet, appears to joke about his revenge porn case. ‘Can’t believe he filmed this without me knowing ….. cheeky,’ she wrote as the caption of one video.
Knowing how much emotional distress Georgia has shown online since reporting Bear to the police, the entire situation is extremely harrowing. Not just for her, but for any alleged victim of sexual and image-based abuse watching the amount of attention Bear continues to receive -despite being accused of such a horrific crime. While he has not been found guilty of the charges – something we won’t know for at least six months – even seeing him continue to post explicit content despite being an accused sex offender is haunting.
It’s sites like AVN Stars and Twitter that should have policies on alleged sex offenders posting explicit content, but for men like Stephen Bear in general, it’s also our job to act with our attention. By that, we mean not give him any.
Bear has proven throughout his career in reality TV that he will do anything for attention. He is the villain of every show he appears on, consistently getting pleasure from others distress. That’s proven successful for him, only ever receiving more TV deals, brand ambassadorships and even winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2016. Now, with brands and broadcasters seemingly reluctant to work with him because of his alleged criminal activity, he has turned to social media and pornography for the attention he so clearly craves.
What’s concerning about that is, it’s where he thrives. Since posting that porn advertisement, ‘Stephen bear Jessica Smith video’, ‘Stephen Bear explicit video’ and ‘Stephen Bear Jessica Lily Smith Twitter’ have all become breakout search terms on Google. People are actively seeking out the video because of how much it’s been discussed, in the same way that ‘Stephen Bear Georgia Harrison video’ was a major search term when he was first accused of posting her without consent.
At the time, Georgia begged her followers to stop fuelling the searches by sharing the video, saying on Instagram: ‘To anyone sending around the creepy video Bear filmed without my consent and sold online think about your sisters, mothers, daughters, girlfriends and take a second thought before you press send cause you’re as bad as he is… I’ve already had to get it removed from websites, have some respect and stop sending it around WhatsApp groups. Bear you are truly evil.’
She hasn’t been able to talk about the case to the press since Bear was charged, and won’t be able to for legal reasons until the trial is concluded. But from the amount of attention Bear is currently getting for posting explicit content, it’s clear this would be distressing for her. With 2.3million views on his latest video, if that translates to just 1% of subscriptions for his AVN account, he would be able to bank almost £250,000 at the current subscription price of $14.99 (£10).
This attention doesn’t just fuel his ego, but his bank account too.
This attention, then, doesn’t just fuel his ego, but his bank account too. In turn, it validates his behaviour, because he learns that the more controversial he is – profiting off explicit content as he prepares for a revenge porn case is surely as controversial as you can get - the more he will be rewarded in fame, followers and money.
The irony is not lost on us that in talking about this, we too are giving him attention. But when it comes to millions of people already viewing his content, searching his name and discussing it with friends – it warrants someone saying, STOP DOING IT.
No one wants to have to write about this man, but the more the public fall for his foul attempts at gaining ‘clout’, the longer we have to remind people that all this does is benefit him. We should know by now that if you don’t want someone to succeed on social media, you should not engage with it – that doesn’t just mean not ‘liking’ something, it means not sharing it, not clicking on it, not even hovering over the video (yes, that too is counted towards someone’s engagement). Instead, all you can do to send the message that something isn’t acceptable to you, is block and scroll.
For Georgia’s sake, for women’s sake, for humanities sake even: block, block, block.
Read More:
No One Should Be Searching For The Leaked Video of Georgia Harrison
Georgia Harrison Says She's 'Full Of Pain' Following Stephen Bear's Revenge Porn Arrest