‘This is gross’

A Chatham-Kent Councillor says he was referring to the pornography industry overall, when replying to a tweet about Playboy featuring a transgender woman on its cover for the first time in the magazine’s history.

Tweet and ‘gross’ reply

The Twitter account All American Girl tweeted a link on Saturday afternoon, October 21, to a twitchy.com article entitled: ‘The right side of history’: Playboy congratulates itself for featuring transgender Playmate.

The article discussed how Playboy thought that their magazine was “standing on the right side of history” by featuring a transgender woman in its pages.

However, the article pointed out several tweets, which did not agree with Playboy’s sentiment:

Chatham Coun. Michael Bondy replied to the All American Girl tweet on Saturday, October 21 saying, “This is gross”.

The Sydenham Current caught up with Bondy on Sunday, October 22 for a telephone interview to discuss the tweet.

Bondy’s explanation

Chatham Coun. Michael Bondy (Municipality of Chatham-Kent)

“Frankly, I think that all pornography is gross,” Bondy said.

“To start with exchanging genders in pornography, I just think it’s morally… it’s not an anti-LGB, to me I think society is slipping in the wrong direction when we’re exploiting not only women, now we’re exploiting transgender people. So, to me the whole thing is morally, not the kind of thing that I endorse. Gross is probably not a great word for it, but I do, I think all pornography is effectively gross.”

Bondy added: “I’m the father of five children and I certainly know that those kids have the ability to see everything that I see on Twitter, it’s not like you have to be 18 to be on Twitter. That’s about the extent of it to be honest. It’s an exploitation of people that are likely marginalized in society. There is a lot more attention given to different sexual orientations nowadays, but to include them in an industry which is already marginalizing and exploiting women, I just think it is not a good thing.”

Bondy said he thinks there is “maybe too much attention put to it.

“I don’t disagree with it, it’s not my thing. I don’t think anybody should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. I’m a heterosexual married guy with five kids, so the transgender thing is not for me… but, everybody has a right to their choices and that’s okay with me. I don’t have to agree with it, but I certainly don’t think anybody should be bigoted for it. It’s their choice and everybody has the freedom to choose in this wonderful free country of ours.”

Bondy said he was not referring to the Playboy model referenced in the All American Girl girl tweet specifically, when he replied to the tweet saying ‘This is gross.’

“I didn’t call anybody gross, I said ‘This is gross.’ This being pornography, the exploitation of women, the exploitation of transgender people,” Bondy told the Sydenham Current.

“To me, that is gross and I stand by that. I think pornography in any form, and obviously Playboy is pornography, then do I think pornography is gross, yes. I wasn’t signalling out the person, I don’t even know what the person’s name was, I don’t think it was in the tweet. I just think the whole idea of exploiting anybody for pornographic reasons is wrong and then to go down this path, I think you’re exploiting people that probably already are being bigoted against.”

Bondy said he believes having a transgender person on the cover of their magazine is a media play by Playboy.

“I think they like the attention of doing this,” he said.

“Obviously, (the Sydenham Current is) calling me, so it is getting some attention. The whole practice and the industry is gross. And pornography is a choice, it’s a wonderful, free country, but I don’t like pornography, I think pornography is an absolute degradation of people, primarily women obviously, and as the father of four girls and one boy, I don’t like the accessibility that people have to pornography now through their telephones. So is the pornography industry gross, yes. I stand by that any day. But we live in a free country and if it’s legal, it’s legal. I also don’t agree with people drinking a 26er of vodka, but it’s legal, but I don’t have to agree with it.”

Bondy added: “It was a four word tweet, it was just kind of a knee-jerk reaction to it. I think we’re seeing in the media people being exploited sexually, of course it’s the Harvey Weinstein thing which is on every single front cover, and look how sad and pathetic that was. For Playboy to say we’re going to celebrate this marginalized community by exploiting them through pornography, I don’t think it’s really advancing the transgender community by taking naked pictures of them and selling them in magazines. It hurts everybody. One more time, pornography to me is gross and if people don’t agree with me on that, then that’s alright. Again, it’s a free country.”

After speaking with the Sydenham Current, and while this article was still being written, Bondy took to Twitter on Sunday to clarify his previous tweet:

‘I will always fight for LGBTQ rights and women’s rights’

Ines Rau is the model at the centre of this story.

Rau was born in Paris and was assigned male at birth.

Rau, who is now in her mid-20’s, transitioned and underwent sex reassignment surgery at the age of 16, but did not share her transgender identity until she was 24.

“I lived a long time without saying I was transgender,” Rau said in a Playboy article.

“I dated a lot and almost forgot. I was scared of never finding a boyfriend and being seen as weird. Then I was like, you know, you should just be who you are. It’s a salvation to speak the truth about yourself, whether it’s your gender, sexuality, whatever. The people who reject you aren’t worth it. It’s not about being loved by others; it’s about loving yourself.”

Rau said she recently signed a book deal and shot a film, and has multiple causes she supports.

“I will always fight for LGBTQ rights and women’s rights,” she told Playboy.

“But above everything else, my cause is the environment. Nothing touches me more than fighting against global warming. I was made to fight for the planet—the forest, the animals, the air. If I get famous, that’s my first battle.”

Read the full article, here.


– Feature photo background credit: Playboy, Twitter

– Featured photo inset credit: Michael Bondy, Twitter

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