Australian content creator and author Dr Esmé Louise James has come out swinging against Cosmopolitan US, claiming that the publication completely ripped off her content in an article without giving her credit.
Along with being a content creator, Esmé is a published sex historian who uses her expertise to create engaging content about sex throughout the ages. With more than 565,000 followers on Instagram and 2.4 million followers on TikTok, Esmé has established a loyal following. However, she has recently begun posting long-form videos on YouTube to a marginally smaller audience of 109,000 subscribers.
On Friday, Esmé released a 26-minute video essay to YouTube entitled Help, I’m In Love With A Fictional Character!. That same day, a few hours later, Cosmopolitan US published an article with the headline, “Does Crushing on Your Favorite SmutTok Hero Make You Fictosexual?”
And while it might have been a huge coincidence, Esmé thinks it’s more likely the magazine ripped off her essay without giving her credit.
“It was really bizarre,” Esmé tells PEDESTRIAN.TV.
Esmé says she clocked on to the article when she was tracking down a literature source on the topic for a YouTube commenter.
“I saw the date and I thought, ‘Oh, someone must have covered my video. That’s lovely.’ And I went into the article scanning for where they’ve mentioned me and quickly realised, oh, they haven’t.”
Upon watching Esmé’s video and reading Cosmo‘s article, there’s no question that the subject matter is similar.
Both pieces of content unpack the concept of fictosexuality, when people develop an attraction to fictional characters. With the rise of the booktok and series like A Court Of Thorns And Roses (ACOTAR) and Fourth Wing inspiring a lot of lust for fictional characters all over the world, you might think that this could be a big ‘ol coincidence.
However, upon unpacking both pieces of content and the time frame in which it was published, the Venn Diagram becomes uncomfortably circular.
“I was reading their article, and I read their quips about Mr Darcy, then I read their discussion of ACOTAR, and then I read their discussion of what asexuality means. I think my heart just absolutely sank in my chest,” Esmé explained.
Hoping that it was just a wild coincidence, Esmé reached out to the journalist who wrote the article and the editors at Cosmopolitan in the hopes of being credited in the article.
“I wanted to acknowledge that the coincidence is a bit too big to believe, as much as I would love to believe it was a coincidence. And, if that is the case, going forward, I would be more than happy to talk to the journalists about these kinds of topics,” Esmé says.
After more than three days of radio silence, Esmé decided to confront the issue head-on and call out the publication in a video across her socials.
You can check it out below.
As stated by Esmé, there’s an easy way forward for journalists who feel inspired by creator content — simply give credit where credit is due.
In a time where traditional media is wrestling with the emergence of creators and trying to maintain relevance and trust, using platforms to elevate educated voices has never been more important, regardless of where they emerge from.
“Collaboration between new and legacy media is really the way forward,” Esmé explains.
“I think it’s times like this that just kind of ruin that trust between old media and content creators, which is so upsetting, because this could have been a fantastic opportunity for an international collaboration that was just completely missed.”
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Cosmopolitan for comment.
