今日吃瓜

OnlyFans’ model Kay Manuel was last week outed by The Daily Mail Australia, with the organisation publishing her deadname and multiple photos of her as a teenager before she transitioned.

One photo depicts a teenaged Manuel in lingerie, which she says was taken when she was a minor.

The 22-year-old was facing scrutiny after claiming she had slept with 250 school leavers during Schoolies and had plans to beat that record this year, installing a billboard of herself on the Gold Coast to promote her platform.

Although Manuel initially denied being transgender when she was initially asked, she said later on KIIS听FM’s that she panicked.

“I was basically outed to the whole world. It wasn’t a fun time when I was asked that question, it was like, what do I say? And I didn’t know what to say because it’s a hard topic to talk about.”

Senior Daily Mail writer Lucy Manly has written multiple article about Manuel in the last week, her most recent titled “Kay Manuel is on the warpath after I unravelled her web of deception. Here’s why she should be thanking me.”

Manly claims that she’s not concerned with whether or not Manuel is transgender, she just cares about whether she’s disclosing that to the men she sleeps with. She goes on to draw comparisons between Manuel and 2000’s British reality show There’s Something About Miriam, in which men competed for the attention of model Miriam Rivera, who didn’t tell participants she was trans until the final episode. The men were so horrified they were attracted to a trans woman, that they went on to sue the production company for the psychological and emotional damage caused.

“Imagine the ramifications you could have faced,” wrote Manly. “Imagine a dozen or more shattered teenage boys with rich parents banding together for a class action lawsuit, with plenty of cash in their coffers to drag you to court alleging pain, suffering and embarrassment.”

Kay Manuel Speaks Out

Manuel was invited onto the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday morning to discuss the ramifications of the story and how she’s been coping.

“Yeah, it’s been disgusting to be honest. As soon as I was asked that question by the Daily Mail I just knew my life was about to start unravelling… I never thought it would happen in such a public way.”

“They’ve literally started knocking on my family’s door.”

Unfortunately, on the Kyle and Jackie O Show,听Manuel faced some pretty appalling behaviour there too.

“So you’ve had the penis removed, is that right?” Sandilands asked bluntly only minutes into the interview. “What happened there? What do they do? What have you got going on?”

“It’s a bit of a hard topic to talk about, it’s very personal,” responded Manuel.

The pair went on to interrogate Manuel about the specifics of her gender confirmation surgery, asking whether or not “it” (referring to her genitals) was turned inside out, as well as what sex felt like now.

“I’m No Celebrity”

Speaking to the Star Observer, Manuel said that she was appalled by the way The Daily Mail treated her.

“It was honestly, in my opinion, unlawful what they did,” she said. “There were so many pictures of me from my past they could have chosen. The fact that they posted a picture of me completely topless… they had to blur the bottom out, and the top.”

She also alleges that a journalist from the Daily Mail flew from Sydney to her home town, and knocked on the doors of her mother and grandmother looking for more information.

“This is not a court case, I’ve not done anything legally wrong… I’m no fucking celebrity. There was no law being broken. It was just a controversial topic people wanted to know about.”

“I knew one day it would come out, I just didn’t think it would be as public as it was.”

Australian media is not shy in its blatant whorephobia and transphobia. It’s horrible that Manuel has had to face such discrimination every time she turned to a media outlet trying to explain her side of the story, and deeply problematic that the any outlet pressures or makes a LGBTQIA+ person feel like they are obligated to share deeply personal details about their gender identity or sexual orientation.

We stand in solidarity with Kay Manuel, and that of any LGBTQIA+ person who has been outed or publicly shamed for their gender or sexuality.