The head of Evangelical Alliance Ireland has described a report on the exposure of young girls to sexualized content online as “concerning” and expressed support for government action to strengthen social media age restrictions.
Nick Park made his comments in response to a recent opinion piece in The Journal, an Irish digital newspaper, which argued that the porn industry is normalizing the sex trade for the next generation of teenage girls.
The article, written by teacher and researcher Eoghan Cleary, examined a recent L’Oreal advertising campaign featuring Ari Kystya, an OnlyFans creator, and explained how girls are being targeted by the adult content industry at younger ages. Cleary is a secondary school teacher in Co. Wicklow, an educational expert with the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute, and a director on the board of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
During a class, a 13-year-old student confided that pornographic video-sharing and social media platforms were targeting girls similarly to boys, citing a trend called the “bop house girls.” Cleary, unfamiliar with the term, researched it following the student’s suggestion.
“Ask a teen or tween on social media who the ‘bop house girls’ are, and many would be able to tell you,” Cleary wrote. “They are a group of young women living together in a porn production mansion in Florida, creating two types of material: ‘get ready with me’ videos, dance trend reels, and makeup tutorials on TikTok for their teen followers, and sexually explicit content for paying subscribers on OnlyFans.”
Cleary also highlighted L’Oreal-owned Urban Decay’s “Battle the Bland” campaign, which hired 24-year-old Kystya as a brand ambassador. With 4.9 million followers, including many young women, Kystya’s TikTok content reaches teenagers beyond her OnlyFans audience.
“Let’s be really clear, this is not about being anti-sex,” Cleary wrote. “This is not about shaming Ari Kystya or anyone else for how they choose to make money. It is about L’Oreal partnering with a creator associated with adult content in a way that may contribute to the normalization and glamourization of that content for young audiences.”
Cleary said Kystya is not a bop house girl herself but noted that the teen-focused social media environment encourages engagement with such content. “Our teen girls’ feeds are flooded with creators who promote sexually explicit content, encourage underage girls to join when they turn 18, and openly discuss their OnlyFans earnings. These interactions help glamorize an expanding aspect of the sex trade,” he wrote.
He also cited data suggesting the trend is working. In a recent UK poll, 66% of female students said they would consider joining OnlyFans if short on cash. In Ireland, 86% of boys aged 16 to 18 reported using pornography, 65% at least once a week, Cleary wrote.
Park told Christian Daily International that exposure of Irish youth to pornography, especially targeting girls, is “concerning.”
“Evangelical Alliance Ireland believes that the predatory behavior described in recent reports, and the failure of social media companies to police their platforms effectively, poses a real threat to children and adolescents,” Park said.
He cited a report showing that between 2019 and 2023, the rate of sexual offences reported in Ireland was 43% higher than the EU average. Park expressed support for government measures introducing age verification or restrictions for social media access.
Christians in Ireland, he added, have raised concerns about how sex education is taught in schools and emphasized the importance of parents and churches collaborating with schools on issues of consent and online safety.
“As Christians, now more than ever, we need to clearly articulate a biblical view of sexual morality and teach children consistently,” Park said. “It is not enough to focus on individual morality issues; we must stress biblical holiness and purity in all aspects of life.”
A spokesperson for OnlyFans told The Journal that the platform has robust age verification processes to ensure all creators are over 18. L’Oreal did not respond to requests for comment.
