Belle Knox

Miriam Weeks (born is an American former pornographic film actress. She began performing in pornography in 2013 to help pay for tuition In late 2013, Weeks' career became publicly known on campus, and she faced extensive in-person and online harassment. She believes her experiences are indicative of the rising costs of higher education in the United States.

Career Knox decided to enter the pornography industry because she enjoyed sex and pornography, and the job offered much better compensation and working hours. In previous work as a waitress, Knox had a boss who treated her poorly and a schedule that interfered with her studies, and was paid less than $400 a month (after taxes). She reasoned that pornography would allow her to control her schedule, and she could make about $1,300 per scene. Knox had previously tried to apply for government student loans but was told that she was ineligible, and believed private student loans would "strap her family with debt".

Knox was involved in the organization Students for Liberty, an organization that bills itself as "the largest libertarian student organization in the world", and was the campus coordinator for Students for Liberty at Duke. and gave speeches at other colleges besides her alma mater. While her work in porn helped fuel her political beliefs, Weeks said that she began developing her ideology earlier in life. In 2015, she said, "I grew up Catholic, so I grew up in a very, very, conservative background and that, I think, really was kind of the impetus for why I wanted to become a libertarian. I was always being told to cover up my body and I was always being told to wait until marriage to have sex, that my body would go down if I didn't wait till marriage to have sex", before adding, "That really made me become a libertarian and become a feminist." After returning to campus from winter vacation in early 2014, Knox discovered that her personal Facebook account had received more than 230 friend requests. Fellow students started following her porn persona's Twitter account, at which point she realized that her porn career had been discovered. Shortly thereafter, posts began to emerge on the anonymous college discussion board Collegiate ACB under the thread title "Freshman Pornstar". Knox began to receive threats of violence and death in person and via social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Some posters wanted Duke to expel Knox, while others endorsed raping and beating her. Knox took a college-sanctioned break from Duke in early 2014.

Knox felt that the public response exhibited a double standard that sex workers face from those who seek their services. In February 2014, Knox gave an interview to the campus newspaper The Chronicle, in which she used the pseudonym "Lauren A.", and referred to her stage name as "Aurora" to avoid identifying herself. She expressed frustration over her treatment stating, "I feel like girls at Duke have to hide their sexuality. We're caught in this virgin-whore dichotomy." According to critic and former sex worker Eric Barry, "It's impossible to separate those trying to violate sex workers' right to privacy, from those who believe sex workers somehow deserve to be devalued." Stoker also found Knox's political agenda uncompelling because it emphasized personal freedom over quality of life. The sex industry does not have a trade union, and marketing towards male sexual desire incentivizes unsafe practices in the industry. Eliana Dockterman, writing for Time, expressed doubts that Knox could truly find her pornography career empowering. According to Dockterman, Knox "doesn't know how to process her newfound fame" and her decision "will likely haunt [her] for the rest of her college and professional career".

A representative for Duke University issued a statement saying that while they would not comment on specific cases, the college's community standard did not have any restrictions concerning off-campus employment. Of Knox's allegations that campus police did not take the threats against her seriously enough, the representative remarked, "We are committed to protecting the privacy, safety and security of our students. Whenever we identify a student in need of support, we reach out to them and offer the many resources that we have available on campus to assist them."

Media appearances and dramatizations In May 2014, Knox announced that she would be hosting an online show called The Sex Factor along with four other porn performers, where they would oversee 16 contestants that would compete for the right to participate in a sex scene with Knox. A fictionalized version of Knox's story was featured in the 2014 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode Pornstar's Requiem, with Hannah Marks playing a character loosely based on her. Knox was also the focus of the five-part documentary series Becoming Belle Knox, which was produced and released by Stateless Media and Conde Nast Entertainment. A TV docudrama based on her life titled From Straight A's to XXX premiered on the Lifetime network in February 2017, in which she was portrayed by Haley Pullos.

Personal life Knox's parents are Canadian and Punjabi Indian. As of 2014, Knox was pursuing a major in women's studies and sociology. She later became a women's rights activist. She told Rolling Stone in 2014 that she had been sexually assaulted in high school. She is bisexual.

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