Actress August Ames driven to suicide

[darr3239]

Nothing wrong with being sensitive and compassionate. Every time it happens to anyone it is terrible. What ever we think drove them to it, they had issues long before.

[SteyrAUG]

Still she was a pretty girl, and young. And now she is dead. Like so many other people.

I just hate this time of year

For perspective, as much as I admire the work of some, somewhere is a guy who worked hard all his life for "typical wages" to take care of his shit and responsibilities and he just found out that he's gonna get shorted 20-30 years due to some kind of cancer and it won't be a pretty ride with his z grade health insurance. He wishes the worst thing in his life was trash talking internet idiots. Nobody will even know his name.

Ames had a better shot and couldn't hack it despite any sympathy we may extend to her. This is the problem with adopting the values of those around you rather than arriving at them independently. The moment you think for yourself you are now an outcast. I wish she had been stronger, but I also wish some hard working joe never got cancer and died hard.

Life can be a real bitch, safety bubbles are imaginary.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

My wife has that necklace. End similarities.

To me, the Kardashians totally blurred the lines that Ron Jeremy and Traci Lords started pushing. Not saying it is normal, but the pornification of America is well under way. A shame a young woman lost her life.

[SkiDevil]

I saw her movies and thought that she was a Beautiful young lady. She was from Canada like many other adult film acresses. I read a screen capture of the tweets and the controversy was her concern of working with a "cross-over" actor whom filmed both straight and gay work because of the potential for a higher incidence of contracting STDs such as HIV/ AIDs. Apparently she was suffering from depression which may have contributed to her ultimately taking her own life. Its a shame that such a young person would choose to end their life. But depression and suicide seem to be subjects relunctantly discussed by many in our society.

On social media, I agree with others and don't see the appeal but many choose to participate. The acceptance of others or rejection can place some in a bad position. All we can do is reach out to those we know or care about if the warning signs surface. Many people reach-out to someone before taking their own life. Becoming familiar with some of the warning signs is prudent and may permit you to help someone.

[TAZ]

I’m not sure I’d compare this to cancer, but I get the point.

IMO her bullying may have just been the last straw among many. However, it was and is a preventable straw, which is what the discussion should focus on.

How many other people, some actual children have done bad things to themselves as a result of bullying? Cyber is worse cause it emboldens the losers due to anonymity. Even if you had the wherewithal you can’t punch them in the face.

Forget that she was a porn star. Forget that a million other folks died today from whatever cause and focus on what you have in front of you. She is one of many who are driven to doing bad stuff by assholes on the internet. Something that is far more preventable than cancer.

[TomMcC]

I don't get it, she had the right and power (by today's standards) to take her own life, she was empowered to stay or go on her own terms. She could have just turned off social media if she wanted to if it bothered her that much, she was empowered to do that also. The so-called hypocrites were just exercising their right to criticize one of their own. Why all the hand wringing, everyone did what they wanted to do, she got fed up with living and picked her time and they voiced their displeasure with her......everyone did what was right in their own eyes...a total win.

[skywalkrNCSU]

I don't get it, she had the right and power (by today's standards) to take her own life, she was empowered to stay or go on her own terms. She could have just turned off social media if she wanted to if it bothered her that much, she was empowered to do that also. The so-called hypocrites were just exercising their right to criticize one of their own. Why all the hand wringing, everyone did what they wanted to do, she got fed up with living and picked her time and they voiced their displeasure with her......everyone did what was right in their own eyes...a total win.

That’s a very twisted way of looking at someone’s suicide under a veil of righteousness

[glocktogo]

I'm not ashamed to admit I've seen her work and hated to hear this happened to her. Were I in her shoes, I wouldn't want to work with a "crossover" actor for health reasons either. There have been several outbreaks in that industry and IIRC, almost all of them occurred with crossover male actors. The fact that she obviously fell into the LGBT spectrum, yet was bullied and harassed anyway just proves that no group is exempt from hypocrisy. I also find the stigmatization of adult film actors to be ludicrous. The overwhelming majority of adults view adult content, so why would they look down on the performers? I just don't get it.

Oh, and I flat don't trust people who publicly claim they never view the material and publicly trash the people who do the work. It's been my experience that most of them are the worst hypocrites of all. One of our prominent state Republicans, who was a bible thumping Baptist "family values" firebrand, just pled guilty after getting caught with an underage "rent boy", child porn and drugs in a seedy motel room. Yeah, the hypocrites doth protest too much, methinks.

Anyway, RIP to Mrs. Ames. I think it's a tragedy no matter how you cut it.

[SomeOtherGuy]

IMO her bullying may have just been the last straw among many. However, it was and is a preventable straw, which is what the discussion should focus on.
How many other people, some actual children have done bad things to themselves as a result of bullying? Cyber is worse cause it emboldens the losers due to anonymity. Even if you had the wherewithal you can’t punch them in the face.
***She is one of many who are driven to doing bad stuff by assholes on the internet. Something that is far more preventable than cancer.

Social media has either created a problem or greatly increased an underlying problem. I don't know which one. It seems like every month or two I read of a pre-adolescent killing themselves over online bullying. That was literally unimaginable to me 20 years ago. Yes, teenage suicide was a problem 20+ years ago - but pre-adolescent suicide? Unheard of.

Be clear: the following is not criticism, it's analysis. The people who kill themselves over this stuff are putting vastly too much emotional effort into their online or social media world. Presumably some of them have a thin and stilted social setting in real life, or for the younger generation, maybe there's no real boundary between online and IRL. Whatever the case, this is a social problem, and since it seems to cut across many dividing lines (location, wealth or social class, family status, race, etc.) I'm going to call it a societal problem.

My kids don't yet know what social media is, and I'm inclined to keep it that way a long time. I know it's common for kids to have their own phones and such by the "tween" years, but I don't think it's healthy or wise.

As for Ames, whatever the beauty or glamor of some people in her occupation, it's an industry that generally takes naive and/or vulnerable people and uses them. I've read that most female porn stars become drug users over time, for a variety of reasons. We can blame the people who bullied her, and they deserve it, but I wouldn't neglect to blame the sleazy commercial porn industry as well. (Aside: a year ago I would have said "Look how sleazy Hollywood is, I'm sure the porn film industry is worse! Well, today, that might be backwards....)

[QuickStrike]

You make good points which is why I don't do Social Media.

But...in her case I can see where it was a necessary evil. She had to have some means to sell herself as an actress and interact with her fans. This was used against her as the holier than thou bunch attacked her.

This has some parallels, morally, to the people who were brow-beaten into making a cake for the wedding they objected to.

Plus she was trying to warn as in the first tweet she made that caught her flak was saying "To the next girl. Be warmed. They are unsafe" (paraphrasing).

A lot of businesses et al use social media to market.

Adult film is like any other film in that it is easy to get typecast as well as overlooked. Females especially know that they have a window in which they are seen as viable for better roles.

Without getting blue, there are women a few months younger than me being trotted out as MILFs and mentally, to me, a MILF is still like Stifler's Mom from that movie.

I mean, I guess what gets me is she was trying to be well intentioned and it went sideways on her and Social Media works both ways. There are a,lot of people broadcasting ideas I dont agree with but I wouldn't harass them.

We forget there are people out there. And she was losing work for speaking out.

I think this case is a bit more than a girl getting overrun by emotions but people trying to crucify someone in an already tricky business.

I agree as a whole Social Media is BS and honestly off buttons exist for a reason but for her job she kinda did need a public image.

I'm not trying to white knight as I never really watched her movies but I hate when people get messed on for trying to do the right thing.

I can only assume she was the main breadwinner and if she couldn't get work and was "unemployable" because she was in adult film that despair and panic could set in.

I wish, we wouldn't stigmatize people for adult film. Most people watch it yet still look down on people for doing it.

Or maybe I'm just getting too sensitive as I get older.



Still she was a pretty girl, and young. And now she is dead. Like so many other people.

I just hate this time of year

I see where you are coming from. Shit happens a lot.

I just googled “teen suicide bullying” to find this super adorable teen who did it. Saw it in some magazine last year. Got all kinds of hits, on the image results, I counldn’t stand to scroll down very far because they were all so young and now are dead due to bad decisions. I abandoned that real quick.

One doesn’t have to be a porn actress to suffer from it, or be mentally ****ed up before the fact.

I am glad my livelyhood doesn’t depend on social media, maybe it will in the future who knows.

I dunno about stigmatizing porn people. They are still living, feeling human beings, but I also know/read many young actresses do it to fund their substance abuse lifestyles, etc..

I still wouldn’t date/marry one man.

Being gloomy won’t bring any of them back. Just reminds me that bullies are pathetic and I have to consciously watch what I say sometimes, because I regret some of it even many years later.