COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. — Conservative activists in Indiana are campaigning to remove an elected official after a right-wing news blog outed her as an OnlyFans model and published several screen captures from her members-only premium content account.
The moralistic witch hunt against Etna Troy Township Trustee Elaine Western originated with reporting by local news site Real News Michiana, which first outed her as a sex worker in April and is now amplifying attempts to remove her from her elected position.
The drive to taint Western’s professional activities by stigmatizing her sex work has resulted in “a petition to have her censured, investigated and removed from her post,” Real News Michiana posted this week, noting that the petition has received enough signatures to be sent to the Whitley County Republican Party GOP for consideration.
“It’s unclear if there are truly any legal remedies to have her removed short of a resignation,” the site acknowledged.
In April, Western told the site, “I haven’t tried to keep it a secret. I’m not doing anything illegal. I have no comment.”
Western’s attorney addressed the activists, stating, “Your letter intends to intimidate Mrs. Western into resigning from office to avoid a public media circus. Therefore, I believe your letter and any continuing effort along this line could constitute a criminal offense of intimidation.”
Nationwide Stigmatization Campaigns Target Sex Workers in Non-SW Jobs
Republican and conservative activists and operators, abetted by right-leaning news outlets and journalists, have waged stigmatizing smear campaigns targeting the livelihoods of individuals in diverse walks of life over their unrelated sex work. The efforts have sometimes included the nonconsensual dissemination of material that was otherwise only available on paywalled, members-only sites.
As XBIZ reported, during the 2023 election cycle, the Virginia Republican Party sent a mass mailing to voters containing explicit screen captures from a Chaturbate cam show featuring Democratic candidate Susanna Gibson, two weeks before a highly contested election for the 57th District House seat.
The GOP-mailed envelopes salaciously warned, “Do not open if you are under the age of 18” and “Warning: Explicit material enclosed.” Gibson was originally outed as a Chaturbate cam performer by a Washington Post reporter in a salacious exposé that political observers believed to be a smear operation set up by Gibson’s Republican opponents.
More recently, a campaign by conservative academic authorities egged on by Rupert Murdoch-owned publications resulted in disciplinary action and an attempt to revoke the tenure of veteran University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor of communications Joe Gow, who created adult content for his OnlyFans, with his wife and occasionally with noted performers.