Millie Bobby Brown has joined the throngs of female celebrities who have been placed in an uncomfortable position.
The actress, who celebrated her 18th birthday recently alongside her boyfriend, Jake Bongiovi, may have enjoyed ringing in the milestone marker.
But the event has also brought up a long-standing issue among Hollywood’s young women.
Online predators are often known for creating creepy count-down sites to mark the day when a young female celeb reaches the legal age for sexual encounters to occur without being considered statutory rape.
According to Cosmopolitan, a Reddit user posted a snapshot of a count-down that had been posted by someone on the site to mark the time before Millie reached age 18.
The user exposed the thread that had been created by the predator, writing “The subreddit has been created for weeks and is waiting to ‘open’ on her 18th birthday. It already has thousands of subscribers.”
Actresses Natalie Portman said she experienced ‘sexual terrorism’ at a young age
Although Reddit reportedly took down the post after it was flagged by viewers, the topic of female sexualization came to the surface once again in regards to the young women who are in the media spotlight.
Actress Natalie Portman spoke about her experience as a young 13-year-old star in Hollywood to a throng of thousands of people at the 2018 Women’s March, telling the crowd that she experienced “sexual terrorism” at a young age.
Natalie recalled her time after filming Leon: The Professional when she was 12 years old, saying that “A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday, euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with” and that her first fan letter was from a man who fantasized about raping her.
Olympian Chloe Kim and stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were also victims of count-downs
Gold medalist Chloe Kim, who stole viewers’ hearts with her relatable comments and smashing snowboarding skills, was also recently a victim of a count-down.
According to The Washington Post, the sport’s star was thrown into the mix of young female celebrities who fall prey to unsavory remarks regarding their age after radio host Patrick Connor called her “fine as hell” and that the “countdown was on” for her 18th birthday.
Patrick was immediately fired from his job after his comments were met with disgust, and he later apologized on Twitter.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen also fell under some heavy sexual predatory eyes before they turned 18, with seven websites having been created prior to the twins’ entering into adulthood to tick down the minutes until their birthday.
With access to social media and the web now made even easier with the use of modern-day smartphones and fast internet connections, creepy count-downs will undoubtedly continue in the future and remain popular among many online users.