Cami Strella was inspired by watching Adolescence to do something to combat incel culture, but is her idea helpful or harmful?

If you watched Netflix’s Adolescence and felt like you needed to do something, you aren’t alone. Cami Strella, an OnlyFans model who also watched the show, has used her neuroscience background to come up with a controversial plan to help socially isolated virgin men in order to combat incel culture.

Cami Strella’s a former neuroscience student who found that being a creator on OnlyFans was a more lucrative avenue for her. She’s been very outspoken in support of sex work, mental health awareness, and healthy masculinity. With her background, she’s in a unique position to blend science, sex work, and the activism that she feels compelled to participate in. After watching Adolescence, she felt the need to do something to combat the rising problem of incel culture, and she’s calling her proposed mission a “public service.” Strella says her plan will help the public at large, but naysayers say the idea will likely cause more harm than good.

Before detailing Strella’s idea, let’s take a moment to discuss Adolescence. The Netflix crime drama focuses on the dangers of incel radicalization and depicts how loneliness and social media echo chambers work together to breed violence in young men. Strella has stated that watching the show caused her to reflect on how prevalent the problem is, and how real change is needed to combat the issue.

Her controversial plot to combat incel culture? Sex. She wants to offer safe, validating first-time sexual experiences to incels, framing her idea as preventative care. She feels that offering her services to incels will give them a human connection before they turn in a toxic direction, seeing herself as a bridge between clinical science and human needs. Strella says that when done safely and ethically, sex work can be therapeutic. She’s based part of her idea on neuroscience concepts rooted in touch, bonding, and the sense of reward the brain typically feels during sex.

Strella’s critics have other feelings on the matter, with feminists arguing that her approach reinforces a dangerous idea at the heart of incel culture— that women owe men sex. Critics say her approach treats women’s bodies as a sort of “cure” for male loneliness, perpetuating attitudes that deny women full autonomy. Other critics are also concerned for Strella’s physical safety, as incel forums often promote open hatred of sex workers and push the idea that violence against them is justified. Many feel Strella’s approach lacks nuance and has the potential to grossly backfire socially or politically, and the online backlash she’s received has included not only ridicule, but threats against her.

Despite the flaws in Strella’s idea, she’s forced attention onto the root issues of incel culture. Isolation, mental health, and digital radicalization from a young age are still largely unaddressed. After all, young men aren’t just missing sex; they’re missing community and a sense of purpose. Because Strella stirred the controversy pot, the debate now includes voices who can help arrive at productive solutions. Sex workers, neuroscientists, feminists, and tech critics are all paying closer attention now that they’re focused on Strella’s plan. She may not have come up with an effective answer to the issue, but she’s making sure people are asking the right questions— even if that wasn’t her intention.

Whether she’s a hero or just using controversy to line her pockets, Cami Strella’s idea has touched a nerve. While the rest of the world may have been mocking how lonely men become dangerous, she’s trying to push back against the problem.