UK Royal Navy investigates sailor alleged to be on OnlyFans

• The Royal Navy is conducting an investigation into an officer operating an OnlyFans account.
• The story prompted other tabloids to report on the incident, much of which focused on speculation.
• One tabloid published lurid images and called her a “humpin’ sailor.”
• Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

The British Royal Navy is conducting an investigation after an officer was discovered to have created adult content on OnlyFans, a popular pay-per-view adult subscription site.

Details of the 29-year-old Navy officer, who goes by “Cally” on OnlyFans, were first revealed on Sunday by The Sun. The British tabloid included intimate pictures and what was purportedly the actress’s full name and rank. Insider is refraining from reporting her identity over concerns that these details could lead to harassment and stalking.

The story prompted additional tabloids to report on the incident, much of which focused on speculation about whether Cally had somehow compromised national security; and whether some of the OnlyFans content were filmed at Her Majesty’s Naval Base, Clyde, the hub of England’s submarines.

Videos and images featured in Cally’s OnlyFans account and reviewed by Insider do not suggest they were filmed aboard a submarine. Neither Cally’s content nor biography makes outward references to the Royal Navy or Ministry of Defense, such as the appearance of a military uniform.

In a message to Insider, Cally said she had “no comment to make at this time” and directed questions to the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy confirmed in a statement that it was Cally who was featured in The Sun’s reporting, and that “it would be inappropriate to comment further” during its investigation.

“Where personnel fail to act in accordance with our values and standards, we will not hesitate to take appropriate action,” a Royal Navy spokesperson said.

In a message to paid subscribers on Wednesday, Cally thanked them for “all the positivity and support” and said no new content will be posted on her public account in the near future. She left open the possibility of creating custom content for some of her subscribers.

It is not immediately clear whether Cally violated the Royal Navy’s regulations by creating adult content. According to the UK’s Armed Forces Code of Social Conduct, an alleged infraction “will be judged on an individual basis.”

Examples of a violation include “displays of affection which might cause offense to others” and “behavior which damages or puts at risk the marriage, civil partnership or personal relationships of Service personnel or civilian colleagues within the wider defense community.”

But despite these examples, the Ministry of Defense leaves some room open for interpretation.

“It is not practicable to list every type of conduct that may constitute social ‘misbehavior,'” the guidance says. “The seriousness with which misconduct will be regarded will depend on the individual circumstances and the potential for adversely affecting operational effectiveness and team cohesion.”

Similarly, the Armed Forces Act, the UK’s leading guidance for general military law, also makes no explicit mention of providing adult content services. However, it does mention offenses labeled “disgraceful conduct of a cruel or indecent kind.”

Tobias Ellwood, the former under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Defense, clarified that the terms should be taken by “their normal dictionary meaning” in a letter written about LGBTI service members in 2018.

“An act of sexual nature that occurs in private with the consent of persons present and where such persons are old enough to give consent will not generally be regarded as cruel or indecent,” Ellwood wrote.

While the Royal Navy conducts its investigation, sex workers have already taken notice of the characterization of the profession and the news coverage of Cally. The tabloids, which included Cally’s real name, described her as “kinky Cally” and “humpin’ sailor.”

Cally does not include her real name on her OnlyFans account.

Joe Munroe, an OnlyFans sex worker and Twitch streamer based in Northern Ireland, took note of the discrepancy and explained why anonymity was important for many of her colleagues.

“You can’t ‘out’ someone with their real name because that’s just leaving them open to doxxing,” Munroe said to Insider. “The people who get obsessed with sex workers, online sex workers in particular, these are people that can go through all of your photos to try and see in the background where you live.”

In December 2020, the New York Post revealed the identity of a New York-based paramedic who provided adult content on OnlyFans. The story received fierce backlash from critics and the paramedic, who alleged that The Post interviewed her under undisclosed pretenses. The case attracted attention from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who said in a tweet that “sex work is work” that should not be marginalized.

Munroe added that some OnlyFans subscribers who are dissatisfied with a sex worker’s performance or their lifestyle “can get really fixated” with expressing their hostility.

“If one of them knows my real name, they can tell my family; they can tell my friends; they can tell my employer if I was employed,” she said.