From 251 to 1000: The Wild Sexual Battles of Annabel Chong and Lily Phillips.

I remember Annabel Chong's name as an urban legend. The woman who was in bed with 200 men in 24 hours. In reality, it was less time. In reality, there were more men. Annabel's sexual feat, in 1995, became known through the tape that scandalously announced the largest collective sex session in history: 251 men against Annabel Chong. I correct that: Annabel Chong against 251 poor men. Many of us heard the rumor and didn't see the tape. The tape became immensely popular at the time. Annabel did not receive the $10,000 she had been promised as payment. The men who had relations with her were not even all checked for sexually transmitted diseases.

Annabel Chong died sometime after a documentary about her sexual feat was released. Annabel Chong's character died. Grace Quek, who embodied Chong, decided to change the red lights for the blue light of computers. It is said that she once had a strange sexual game involving computers and from there got hooked on machines, and left adult cinema. Curiously, the opposite happened to many adults. Quek did not expect to change the world with her bold act. She only hoped to reframe the memory of a gang rape she had suffered in her adolescence in the UK. Now she was the one taking control and "devouring" the 251 men. She was no longer a victim, now she was a powerful and challenging woman.

Diving into Chong's story is like reading a novel by legendary Chuck Palahniuk, my favorite writer, who was inspired by Chong's feat to write the bold and controversial novel "Snuff" in 2008, where an actress named Cassie Wright attempts to break Chong's record by having relations with 600 men. The novel captures the intensity and chaos of such an endeavor, resonating with Chong's real life. Wright, her staff, and some of the men she would have relations with narrate the story from their perspective.

Many times I have said, real life is hallucinating and easily surpasses fantasy or fiction. And while Palahniuk imagined a much bolder character than Chong, Palahniuk's mind, unlike many, could not imagine the feats to be performed by Lily Phillips. Phillips, a popular OnlyFans model, decided to try to break Chong's record, and the imaginary record of Wright. Phillips announced having had relations with 100 men in her first attempt. While tears came from her eyes, Phillips overwhelmingly shared the emotional intensity of such a bold feat. Phillips confessed to being overwhelmed by the emotional weight of the enormous pressure and commitment to please 100 men; for Phillips, it was not just about delivering her body, but about distributing something pleasurable to 200 men, and that, when questioned, she pointed out, was not an easy task.

Phillips pointed out seeking at all costs not to be just a sexual machine. She wanted to gift that sense of well-being to her multiple companions. Phillips described the hard struggle she had against dissociation to not lose her humanity in the process. But Phillips's will does not stop there. She already has a near-future date to surpass the previous one. Phillips hopes to go to bed this time with 300 men. It is clear that Phillips's feat will not inspire a graphic novel like Frank Miller's, or a movie like Zack Snyder's, however, perhaps Chuck Palahniuk, Bret Easton Ellis, or Guillermo Fadanelli could be inspired to write a bold novel about Phillips, who dreams of one day being able to carry out her desired sexual feat with 1000 men. Not even Palahniuk's crazy imagination could conceive such a number.

At the time, Annabel Chong carried out the unthinkable. She did it for a reason, although it is clear that Chong's example did not transform society, nor did it erase the stigma of rape for many women. What Phillips does would seem like an aberration. An obstinate search to achieve what no one has carried out. But at what cost? Her physical health? Her emotional health? Is Phillips really the one who has made the decision to subject her body and mind to such an extreme action? Or is Phillips simply a victim of a new system of exploitation, in which, as the Korean philosopher Byung Chul Han points out, we are no longer exploited by someone else, now we exploit ourselves until we collapse.