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The Hollow Spectacle of “The 100 Men” Documentary
The illusion of consent and empowerment in modern media
(Content warning: Mentions of sexual exploitation, trauma, and abuse.)
When a documentary promises to offer a raw glimpse into human nature — our vulnerabilities, our choices, our darkest corners — we hope to come away with a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Or so I hope. Instead, The 100 Men (as I call it), featuring Lily Philips, feels more like a hollow spectacle than a meaningful exposé. It claims to show us something new yet offers little more than the audience’s voyeuristic consumption of suffering, neatly packaged as entertainment. Worse still, it forgoes genuine insight for exploitative titillation, leaving questions about choice, agency, participation, and trauma glaringly unanswered.
Exploitation Dressed as Entertainment
From the outset, The 100 Men is framed as a daring concept: Lily Philips, presumably of her own volition, engages with a hundred different men. At the same time, the cameras roll for her Onlyfans account. The documentary’s narrative hints at taboo, excitement, and boundary-pushing — an edgy “social experiment,” perhaps. But what truly lies beneath the surface is far from enlightening.
