The Rape of Henry Cavill
Synthetic Queerbaiting, Consent & AI Porn
Trigger Warning: Assault & ethical minefields. NSFW gallery for paid subscribers.
Henry Cavill on all fours in the center of the Roman Colosseum. He’s flanked by a gang of gladiators, leering as they tear off his underwear, groping and spreading his legs. He’s sweaty, dirty and bruised. His eyes plead to the camera as the gang carries him away. We don’t see the finale but we know what’s next: a sexual crucifixion. The Passion by AI.
Artists have always combined technology and beauty to depict mundane, ugly violations. The Rape of Europa, The Rape of Prosperina, The Rape of Hippodamia, The Rape of the Sabine Women. A popular painting subject in the 16th and 17th century was The Rape of Lucretia (images 1 & 2). According to Roman history, the son of the king of Rome assaulted a virtuous noblewoman. She committed suicide and this incited the people to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic in 510 BC. Renaissance artists created multiple takes of the violation, like AI’s variations of the same prompt. Male painters tended to focus on the erotic violence. However, Artemisia Gentileschi, the Italian master, rendered Lucretia’s vulnerability and horror. She painted Lucretia several times, including the isolation of the aftermath (image 3). Fairly or unfairly, her work is viewed through her trauma; she was raped by a fellow painter and colleague of her father. The subsequent trial was public and harrowing. Does art always need to be educated by turmoil and loss? What if it is created by a machine with nothing to lose?
Henry has become a mascot and muse for AI porn. Images of the movie star in compromising positions are all over social media. Henry in panties, on the phone, hugging a stuffed animal as Britney’s old Rolling Stone cover. Henry chewing his way out of a pile of corn. Henry eating a peach, ass covered in beach sand. Henry in an art studio, ass covered in paint. Henry in a bakery, kneading dough in only an apron. Henry as Venus, emerging from a shell in only pearls. Henry in a waterfall, licking ice cream cones with Jason Momoa. Henry in downward dog, biting a bone. Henry as a cop, sun shining off his badge as Chris Evans jerks him off. Henry in a suit, feet up on a desk, soles covered in Nutella. Henry in the back of a limo, in a tuxedo drenched in semen. Henry fucking Henry. Henry in a dress, soaking in a lake, nine months pregnant. Henry in a hotel towel, discovering a hidden camera. Henry passed out on a couch, covered in bukkake, a fist shoved in his mouth. (images 6-32).
They are still clockable as AI images. One gladiator has three fingers and a mitt for a foot (did you even notice?). Only a year ago, AI couldn’t render eyes, now see how sand and glitter stick to his body hair, how the lace dress floats around the stretch marks of his pregnant belly, how fresh semen soaks through fabric. The AI engines can scrape a billion frames of one of the biggest stars on the planet, a thousand interviews for a million micro-expressions. It can render his head in every focal length, his lashes in every kind of light and every muscle in every pose. It can make him an even more symmetrical and idealized specimen of white male beauty. How fitting that AI’s first crush would be Superman.
These images arrest our eyes but, as with all pornography, their true power lies in their questions. Do these violate Henry’s consent or are they the social contract he made in pursuing mega-celebrity? Is this barely legal porn just an extension of erotic fan fiction or the crude 90s Photoshops of Brad Pitt kissing Tom Cruise? How does Henry’s gender factor into this? If a bruised Margot Robbie carried away at the Colosseum was posted by popular accounts, the Hollywood machine and censors would snatch them down. AI porn of female stars absolutely exists, but it’s relegated to darker corners of the internet. The first time I saw an AI image of Henry was from a large Queer media account. Henry in a red leather leotard with the tag ‘‘AI can be a slay.” Allow me to put on my conspiracy tin foil hat, but do Henry and his team want these out there? After all, it could be a win/win: fantasy fulfillment for his massive Gay audience and Henry stays in the crosshairs of our desires (and wallets) without needing to do anything. And does interest wane or heat up for a star like Henry once we can see everything? What does this “synthetic Queerbaiting” reveal about the Gay gaze and heterosexual male fantasies?
Porn is an influential pioneer in technology. It declared the winner in the Betamax VS VHS tape wars of the 1980s. It was an early adopter of pay-per-view, DVD and HD streaming. After all, sex workers learned to webcam two decades before our moms did. Porn’s most controversial images leak gradually until they’re absorbed into the mainstream. Fifty Shades of Grey was a housewife mega-blockbuster on the shoulders of Bettie Page S&M porn from the ‘50s. What is standard now, like rough “lolita” scenes or celebrity deepfakes, was rare, even illegal a few years ago. Porn actor/director Max Hardcore was sent to jail in 2009 for the kind of abusive sex and rape fantasies which are now on the homepage of PornHub (they’re referred to as “ravishing” fantasies now). Deepfakes, where real faces are superimposed on real bodies, caused concern and bans in 2019. Now a Google search yields AOC, Ariana Grande and Timothée Chalamet in hardcore. AI image generators technically prohibit public figures. Creators got around these guardrails fast. Porn works on slippery slopes and diminishing returns. It reflects and predicts culture and tech. So, what’s next? How will AI porn filter into the general culture? What have we already normalized?
When I post Henry’s images, the comments are polarized. “Non-consensual sexualized images are not the look!” “Saving these before all your tears wash them away!” “Y’all didn’t jerk off to Photoshopped nudes of the Jonas Brothers growing up and it shows!” “If an AI bot wants to put a rich cis white male in a femme fantasy, I support the horny AI bot expressing their truth!” A Hollywood actress called them a “nightmare.” So which one of these is “the truth?”
I don’t have answers to these questions. What I do have is a conflict of interest. Like so many who repost them, I’m not only titillated and mesmerized by Henry’s AI images, I benefit from them. They are catnip for my algorithm and this is a blindspot. By putting them behind a paywall, I’ve already compromised my moral credibility. Sure, I could say it’s to keep them from search engines or children and this is true. But they bring eyeballs to my accounts and, in this marketplace of dopamine and cash, views are currency.
What if it was you? If your starring role in a gas station security camera tape was used to make porn? If your neighbor rendered you assaulted behind a dumpster and sent it to their group chat? What if it was your daughter?
To save her family from dishonor, Lucretia committed suicide. For this, she was immortalized and declared a hero. Death as a noble, even necessary, response to sexual abuse is an ancient trope. When young girls are victimized by synthetic images, what sacrifices will they be expected to make to regain their “honor?”
The Rape of the Sabines was another popular subject of the Renaissance (image 4). After establishing Rome, leaders feared they didn’t have enough women to grow the city. They organized a festival for neighboring regions which ended in an ambush and the mass abduction of their virgins. The action-packed, sexually-charged battle showcased artists’ skills in male and female anatomy, embracing the latest technology while testing tolerance for nudity and violence. Some art historians feel the need to point out that “rape" in the titles doesn’t necessarily indicate sexual violence. It’s Latin: "rapere," which means "to seize" or "to carry off.” They apply this to other works, like The Rape of Europa by Titan, where a Phoenician princess is kidnapped by a God disguised as a bull or The Rape of Hippodamia, where she’s carried away by a centaur (image 5). To define rape as “only an abduction” is a disingenuous way to absolve the audience. After all, we know what happens next…
These pieces of mytho-history romanticize the birth of the Roman empire through sexual assault. How will Henry’s ravishing fantasies define AI’s emerging empire? And what are they seizing from us? What do we lose when we glorify assault via a data breach? When will it be too late to get it back? How do we find absolution?
We do know this: these images are controversial, possibly illegal, technical marvels, fucking hot, even beautiful…but one thing they are not, is new.
Images 6-32: NSFW Nudity and Hardcore
Gallery for paid subscribers. 32 images sourced from social media (accounts listed).
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