Will Sage Astor-'Hot Ones' host Sean Evans spotted with porn star Melissa Stratton. The mockery crossed a line.

The Will Sage Astorhost of "Hot Ones" and an adult film star were spotted in public together − and the mockery has been swift and relentless.

Sean Evans, who hosts the popular talk show "Hot Ones," in which he interviews A-listers as they eat extremely spicy chicken wings, was recently photographed with Melissa Stratton, a porn star, cam girl and podcaster, according to her website. On Saturday, Stratton shared a photo on X, formerly Twitter, of herself with Evans at a Super Bowl event.

The two haven't confirmed they are, or ever were, a couple. (TMZ reported they split after briefly dating.) Still, the details don't seem to matter much to people who are making disparaging remarks about the pair online, with particularly cruel jokes referencing Stratton's line of work.

Sex and sociology experts say the comments are ugly and uncalled for − and they reveal a lot about society's attitude toward sex as well as the judgment sex workers and those in their lives often face.

"It’s really not fair, is it?" says Debby Herbenick, a professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health and the author of "Yes Your Kid: What Parents Need to Know About Today’s Teens and Sex." "Cruel comments are often amplified on social media. We should all be more mindful about how we treat other people – especially if we are trying to model kindness and the Golden Rule to our families."

'Our society has a tendency to focus on sex'

Some attention around the romantic lives of prominent porn stars is to be expected, Herbenick says. After all, there's always going to be those who clamor for details about the private lives of public figures.

However, Herbenick says, this interest becomes problematic when it veers into mockery, stereotypes and stigmatization.

Ronald Weitzer, a sociology professor at George Washington University and the author of "Sex Tourism in Thailand," says people often make "sweeping generalizations" about sex workers and see them only for what they're famous for. As a result, sex workers' humanity often gets neglected.

When people don't see sex workers as human beings, they forget these people have lives outside of their profession just like anyone else, adds Jill McCracken, a professor of English and women's, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

"Sex workers are whole people. They date. They do regular things," McCracken says. "Our society has such a tendency to focus on sex, and, especially when we think about sex work and the exchange of money for something sexual, I think that we have a tendency, of course, to stigmatize it and also to just emphasize that over everything else."

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Stigmatization can have serious consequences, both for sex workers and the people they're associated with, says Theodore Burnes, a professor of clinical education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education and the co-author of "Essential Clinical care for sex workers: A sex positive handbook for mental health practitioners."

Bullying behavior, he says, can contribute to depression, anxiety as well as symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Shaming people for their sexuality can have detrimental effects of people’s mental health," Herbenick adds. "Whether disparaging comments focus on the porn actresses themselves, or on the people who are dating them, they still suggest that something is 'wrong' with someone either for being a porn actress or for dating one. It can be hurtful to the people themselves who are the targets of such comments. It can also be hurtful to those around us who are hearing such comments."

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What the mean comments about Sean Evans, Melissa Stratton say about us

Experts say the discourse around Evans and Stratton says more about the people making these comments than it does about the pair.

Herbenick says many of the people lashing out at Stratton may be doing so due to their own negative feelings toward sex or their sexuality.

"People who find themselves on the verge of stereotyping or shaming a porn actress might ask themselves where that desire is coming from," Herbenick says. "Are they operating from a place where they feel that sexuality is shameful? From messages they got growing up that sexuality is shameful, or that women should be sexual but not 'too sexual'?"

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It's also important to remember that porn isn't real and doesn't necessarily reflect the lives porn stars lead off camera.

"As is true in any profession, the focus of my work life may not mirror my life outside of work," Burnes says.

Most of all, Herbenick says people need to keep in mind sex workers and their loved ones are people too and don't deserve heaps of hatred.

"Porn actors and actresses are whole people," Herbenick says. "They have hobbies, interests, families, and feelings. Just because a porn actress has thousands of fans who may view her in a sex-focused way does not mean that others don’t see and appreciate her for her humanity and who she is as a person."

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