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Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses

7-23-2020

Working From Home: Analyzing the Autonomy of

App-Based Adult Content Creators
Jenna DePasquale
Portland State University

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 Working from Home:

Analyzing the Autonomy of App-Based Adult Content Creators

by

Jenna DePasquale

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Master of Science
in
Sociology

Thesis Committee:
Aaron Roussell, Chair
Maura Kelly
Tina Burdsall

Portland State University

2020
 i
Abstract

Accessibility to social media applications (“apps”) has paved the way for a new

addition under the umbrella of sex work: adult content creation. By selling self-produced

photos and videos through mainstream social media apps, creators experience a specific

set of conditions unlike the forms of sex work that have proceeded it. Through 13 semi-

structured interviews, the following question is investigated: What aspects of app-based

sex work heighten or threaten workers’ senses of autonomy? Autonomy is defined as

being able to exert control over one’s work and the ability to work without external

interruption. It is found that while the demand of being one’s own boss can be taxing,

working outside of patriarchal organizations allows creators to thrive on their own time

and on their own terms. The emotional labor tied to the demand for the experience of a

non-commodified sexual relationship is mitigated by creators’ ability to set protective

barriers. Similarly, sexual harassment from customers can be effectively dealt with

through account privacy settings. While adult content creators demonstrate resilience that

helps them overcome these barriers, autonomy is significantly impeded upon by the rules

and restrictions of apps imposed in the wake of FOSTA-SESTA—a federal legislative

package that holds online platforms accountable if human trafficking is found. In the

absence of the bureaucratic structures that are present in the formal economy, policing

efforts that trickle down from the Federal Government become the organization that

enforces gendered inequality and disrupts worker autonomy in informal economic

settings.
 ii
Table of Contents

Abstract.…………………………………………………………………………………....i

Chapter 1
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1

Chapter 2
Background.……………………………………………………………………………….5

Chapter 3
Literature…………………………………………………………………………………10

Chapter 4
Methods…………………………………………………………………………………..22

Chapter 5
Results……………………………………………………………………………………26

Chapter 6
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….46

References………………………………………………………………………………..51
 1

Chapter 1

Introduction

“Girls are profiting off of horny men without leaving their room…if u got

anything bad to say about these women clearly you are jealous,” tweets one of Twitter’s

millions of users. Her perspective on the rise of adult content creation—the selling of

one’s self-produced adult photos and videos on social media apps—is just one of many

circulating the internet. Countless perspectives seek to make sense of the monetization of

social media presences, particularly as it pertains to sex work, and reasonably so; the

story of online sex work, as well as sex work more broadly, is made up of several moving

parts that are oriented in theories of gender, work, and policing. Whether sex workers can

work consensually without coercion also remains an ongoing debate, which has

implications for regulations.

Activist Carol Leigh originated the term “sex work” in the 1970s (Dewey 2012).

Sex work, particularly its conception as an umbrella term ranging from full-service

prostitution to webcamming, has become common nomenclature across user-generated

platforms as adult content creation has become more popular. Adult content creators

embrace the label as it serves as a term around which solidarity can be organized. Despite

operating under a collective identity, the experiences of female and non-binary app-based

adult content creators have largely remained absent among scholarship. The online sphere

of sex work has been defined by webcamming, which requires the use of non-mainstream

websites and pay-outs to the host. These factors do not apply to adult content creation,

which leverages mainstream social media apps.

 2

Because sex work is often associated with deviance, there is not a robust

understanding of the autonomy of sex workers as simply that—workers. Autonomy is

herein defined as the ability to exert control over one’s work without interruptions from

internal or external impediments that affect the ability to thrive in a stable environment.

Being able to control factors such as when and how many hours you work are influential

in perceived work-life balance, which has implications for workers’ health and well-

being (Guest 2002). Women bear much of this burden, as feminized work is associated

with lower levels of authority, and ultimately, autonomy (Jaffee 1989). Contextualizing

adult content creation within other technological shifts that challenge or reinforce

perceptions of autonomy poses an additional challenge. The umbrella of sex work has

historically never provided the kinds of stabilizing worker protections that are being

violated by the rise of independent contracting, as is the case on other apps, such as the

rideshare service Uber, which conflicts with unionized taxicab drivers. Utilizing an

entrepreneurial perspective on social media in order to subsist outside of the formal

economy is a way for those who are disenfranchised to earn a comfortable wage; yet, this

approach places a barrier to healthcare and social safety nets, and can make one feel as if

they are always working (Gença and Öksüzb 2015).

Further complicating understandings of sex work is that it is a feminized labor—

work associated with essentialist interpretations of gender—that subsequently demands

the mastering of emotion work, unlike other manifestations of the informal economy that

focus on the supply and demand of goods and services. Adult content creation

specifically exists on hyper-mainstream platforms, which also opens up the possibility for

demanding and harassing immediate feedback from which traditional pornographic actors
 3

have been immune. Yet, accessibility can also be an asset, as more women, gender

minorities, and other groups who face discrimination in the formal economy are able to

earn incomes on their own terms and challenge historic barriers to their autonomy—an

achievement that is denigrated by those who have historically counted on the exploitation

of their labor. When it comes to understanding the experiences of adult content creators,

the task becomes weighing these conditional pros and cons.

In order to address this gap, the following overarching question is proposed: What

aspects of app-based adult content creation heighten or threaten workers’ senses of

autonomy? This question was investigated through in-depth semi-structured interviews

with 13 adult content creators from 2019-2020. It was found that adult content creators

do encounter various barriers, such as: managing all aspects of their businesses, providing

the experience of a non-commodified relationship, and encountering sexual harassment.

However, creators demonstrate resilience in these regards, adapting to these challenges

through learned measures. The most significant impediment to autonomy of adult content

creators is policing measures stemming from 2018’s Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act

and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act package (FOSTA-

SESTA). Because online platforms can now be held legally responsible if any human

trafficking is found within their boundaries, they are deplatforming creators who post

anything pertaining to nudity or sexuality, which directly interferes with creators’

abilities to do their jobs and ultimately achieve financial stability. It is found that policing

reinforces gender inequalities in the informal economy in the same fashion that

bureaucratic structures reinforce gender inequalities in the formal economy, and by the
 4

same means—undercutting worker autonomy. It will be proposed that the acceptance of

all sex work as legitimate work will ensure workers’ rights while working to mitigate

human trafficking.
 5

Chapter 2

Background

Social Media

The social media applications Twitter and Instagram are made up of profiles

belonging to businesses, public figures, and civilians. These apps can be accessed on

desktop or laptop versions but are commonly utilized through smart phones. Apps feature

a clean and accessible design. Apps typically notify users when one user interacts with

another’s content unless this setting is changed. Users share, or “post,” videos, photos,

links, and written messages, as well as personal information about themselves, which

typically occurs in a biography section. Users keep up with what others are posting by

“following” them through the click of a button on their profile. Once a user is followed,

what they share will show up on the website’s homepage, or “timeline,” which is

cultivated based on an algorithm. An algorithm is used to show the user content they will

find most relevant based on the posts with which they engage. Since Twitter and

Instagram are free to use, sponsored advertisements are intermittently included among

private users’ posts in the news feed. The user can click “like” on a post to indicate to the

poster that they enjoy or appreciate the content. Posts also have comment sections where

users can communicate their feelings about the content being presented. Overall,

scrolling through a timeline is similar to reading through a newspaper, except all of the

stories are made up of content provided by the friends, family, celebrities, and businesses

who the user chooses to follow. Likes and comments add an extra layer of interaction.
 6

Twitter is specifically composed of “tweets” made by its users, which can include

up to 230 characters as well as various photos and videos. Instagram has a greater

aesthetic focus; users can edit and post their photos directly through the app, which can

be accompanied by captions and hashtags. Hashtags are widely used throughout both

Twitter and Instagram. Clicking on a hashtag will take the user to posts from users across

the site who have used the same tag. For example, searching #sexwork on Instagram

immediately produces a photo of a woman in a bikini, a feminist zine cover, and a

Pikachu meme about sex work clients. For users, hashtags are an important tool for

finding more of what they want to see, as well as for attracting new followers to their

pages. On both Twitter and Instagram posts can be “liked,” commented on, or shared in a

variety of ways. There is also an ability to communicate privately user-to-user through

direct messages, or “DMs.”

The format of Snapchat differs (See Table 1). Snapchat’s main innovation was to

develop the concept of a “story,” or a photo or video that is accessible on followers’

homepages for 24 hours before it disappears. Users can also send photos, videos, and

written chats privately to one another. In other words, Snapchat effectively eliminates the

concept of a personal page; it is not meant to serve as an archive like other social media

websites like Facebook and Instagram. This more anonymous and ephemeral element of

Snapchat has facilitated its reputation as an app on which sexually explicit

communication can occur privately. For example, DMs on Twitter and Facebook cannot

be deleted, and their images are pulled by search engines. On Facebook, Twitter, and

Instagram, any content, including DMs, can be screenshot without the other person
 7

knowing, unlike Snapchat. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube have since

incorporated the story concept without eliminating their original concepts. This shift has

been linked to Snapchat’s declining stock. Nevertheless, Snapchat still survives within

the top tier of social media (Nuñez 2020).

Creating content on social media can be a source of pleasure or a means of doing

business. Content creation in the broadest sense is the process by which social media

users produce the images, videos, and words that they share. However, the term tends to

be more specifically associated with those who leverage social media to make money:

those who do this are referred to as “content creators.” Earning an income on social

media commonly comes from brand sponsorships in which creators are paid to promote

certain products in their posts. There is also a more do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to

monetizing social media. For example, a boutique can operate out of Instagram by

posting a picture of a garment and instructing viewers to direct message them about their

interest in the product. Logistics can be coordinated through DM, with money changing

hands through payment apps like Venmo and CashApp.

Adult content creation largely adopts this DIY approach; a user will post an

enticing photo with a caption advertising sexual content and their followers will DM

them to complete the purchase. Generally, the creator will request payment before

content is sent. On private accounts, coordinating monthly subscriptions is popular.

Followers are allowed access to a creator’s content for a monthly or one-time fee instead

of paying for a la carte content. Subscribers may contact the creator in order to request

additional custom content. Like other sex workers, adult content creators experience a
 8

culture of “regulars,” or repeat customers who follow their digital persona. Establishing

this trust can add an extra sense of security to transactions. Snapchat customers who

screenshot content have their access terminated by the creator. On Instagram and Twitter,

creators may watermark their images so that they are traceable back to a specific

customer in the event of a content leak. Selling adult content through social media is not

illegal, but all users are subject to the terms and conditions of apps.

FOSTA-SESTA

Sex work has historically been criminalized or highly regulated due to moral and

public health concerns. Neoliberal feminism has also produced anti-sex work sentiment

that conflates consensual exchanges with human trafficking, as evidenced in the Nordic

model, which aims to gradually eradicate the demand for full-service sex work (also

known as prostitution) by solely criminalizing those who purchase sexual labor (van der

Meulen 2012). The Nordic model is influential in modern approaches to sex work

policing, which, at least at the rhetorical level, underscore the importance of ending

human trafficking. Human trafficking “involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to

obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act” (U.S. Department of Homeland

Security). It is considered to be a form of global modern-day slavery. In response to this

issue, The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Allow States and Victims to Fight

Online Sex Trafficking Act package was signed into law on April 11, 2018. The FOSTA-

SESTA specifically aims to cut down on human trafficking online by amending the

Communications Act of 1934 in such a way that “interactive computer services” can be
 9

subject to state and federal law enforcement (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online

Sex Trafficking Act of 2017, Public Law 115-164, Statutes 1253-6).

Opponents of FOSTA-SESTA argue that it leaves companies legally responsible

if human trafficking solicitation is found on their websites regardless of their level of

awareness. This threat has led some websites to preemptively act. Craigslist, for instance,

shut down its “Personals” section in the wake of FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage, an

online classified ad service, was shut down entirely (Kennedy 2018). This legislation has

also been associated with the increasingly stringent terms and conditions on social media,

which has led to the deletion of posts associated with sexuality and the human body

(Ettachfini 2018). In one example, the blog hosting website, Tumblr, banned adult

content in December of 2018, despite niche, aesthetically pleasing porn being cited as a

notable draw to the site (Tiffany 2019). This fear of repression stemming from the

conflation of consensual and non-consensual sex work is not new; raids of red-light

districts—zones in which sex work services are clustered—can mean roundups and

arrests of consensual sex workers (Vitale 2017). When this policing principle is applied

within the vast context of the internet, however, it has the potential to affect more

individuals than ever before.

 10

Chapter 3

Literature

Entrepreneurship & General Labor Principles

Adult content creation can be oriented within the unregulated capitalist principles

of the informal economy. Weber (2012) refers to a rational aspiration to work dutifully

and industriously as the “spirit of capitalism,” which remains at the forefront of principles

in the United States. As a result, hyper-productivity is expected of the average American

worker as technology has facilitated the speed at which work can be performed, leading

to a deficit of leisure time, particularly when compared to European counterparts (Schor

1991). Weber (2012) explains that performing an excess of work in the context of a

bureaucratic structure can leave the individual trapped within the “iron cage.” Today,

bureaucratic structure contributes to the makeup of the formal economy. Rules and

hierarchies in established workplaces impede on workers’ abilities to control when,

where, and how their work is performed. One consequence of these impediments is the

inability to achieve work-life balance, which, in modern terms, is particularly obstructed

by “factors such as the advances in information technology and information load, the

need for speed of response, the importance attached to quality of customer service and its

implications for constant availability” (Guest 2002:257).

However, there may be a way out of the iron cage by effectively becoming “the

economic agent that was superior to bureaucracy in commanding knowledge, at least

regarding their own domain of activity...the capitalist entrepreneur” (Ebner 2005:263.) It

is through “entrepreneurial knowledge of private agents” that allows for “potential

 11

immunity from the ubiquitous drive for bureaucratic rule” (p. 263). This principle entails

exerting autonomy by working for oneself without having to adhere to established

protocol and administrative hierarchies. While creators are still selling their labor and do

not function as capitalists, running a business primarily through social media is an

accessible way to act as an entrepreneurial agent, particularly as startup costs remain

exceptionally low (Genç and Öksüzb 2015). In addition to requiring a low financial

investment, social media helps workers tap into larger creative streams. In terms of

satisfaction, being able to utilize one’s creativity at work is associated with a more

positive affect overall, prolonging workers’ ingenuity and longevity (Andersson and

Harnois 2020; Tavares 2016).

Adult content creators largely work outside the context of formal economic

structures, particularly as compared to other forms of legal sex work. While most legal

sex workers area able to practice control over their work through benefits like flexible

schedules, adult content creators are unique in that they are not bound to independent

contractor agreements, such as dancers or webcam models, who owe a portion of their

earnings to their platform hosts. Still, adult content creation is not immune to other

effects of political economy that may serve as external impediments to autonomy. Key

institutions of industrial relations include the state, the management, and the worker

(Edwards 2003). The role of the state in sex work more broadly has been of surveillance,

perhaps due to the absence of bureaucratic rule that enforces the domination of labor (van

der Muelen 2012). In the same fashion that dancers have their physical expression limited

by state and municipal laws, online sex workers have their expression limited by the
 12

trickle-down effect of FOSTA-SESTA on social media, which disrupts their flow of work

(Ettachfini 2018). Thus, the state’s role in labor has a pertinent effect on the

reinforcement of economic inequalities by obstructing worker autonomy. In the formal

economy, Acker (2006) refers to reinforcers of gender stratification as “inequality

regimes,” which are formally defined as “the interlocked practices and processes that

result in continuing inequalities in all work organizations” (p. 441).

Those who work in the informal economies tend to have few opportunities to

work autonomously in the formal economy, as they are “marginalized by ethnicity and

race, immigrant status, or geographic isolation,” as well as gender, and “who have no

economic alternative” (Miller 1987:30). The entrepreneurial elements of adult content

creation—building one’s own brand to attract a growing customer base—can be

interpreted as a way that female-identified individuals tap into financial autonomy in the

absence of a hospitable formal economy. One impediment to women’s success in the

workplace is inflexible scheduling. According to Acker (2006), being able to control

when one works is written into the design of many jobs. In her words, work is “organized

on the image of a white man who is totally dedicated to the work and who has no

responsibilities for children or family demands other than earning a living,” and is

supported by compliant lower-level employees, who are generally women (especially

women of color) (p. 448). Unequal treatment does not go without notice, especially by

those who are the most vulnerable in the labor market. Women with lower levels of

education, who are among the most vulnerable in the labor market, experience a decline

in health and workplace satisfaction when they encounter internal impediments to

 13

autonomy such as being discriminated against or harassed because of their gender

(Andersson and Harnois 2020). Still, women at all levels experience barriers; while some

have access to full-time upper-level positions within the formal economy, they are still

subject to sexual harassment and gendered earning gaps (McLaughlin 2012; US

Department of Labor). These barriers reflect a lack of autonomy as it pertains to working

conditions and financial outcomes.

While the informal economy may serve as an alternative to regimes of inequality,

it comes with limitations. For example, working outside of the formal economy has been

associated with a lack of benefits that would otherwise stabilize income, ultimately,

“keep[ing] women indoors without any social security rights” (Gença and Öksüzb

2015:295). In a study of webcam models, van Doorn and Velthius (2017) find that the

entrepreneurial language of the “hustle,” as it is described through vernacular of the

informal and underground economies, perpetuates meritocratic ideology while failing to

account for limitations such as the oversaturation of workers and embedded racial

inequalities (Jones 2015). Bernstein (2007) also describes those who have reaped the

benefits of technological shifts in sex work as “relatively privileged” people who “have

entered into commercial sexual encounters in response to new subjective and social

meanings that append to market-mediated sex,” or, simply, the lessening of stigma (p.

37). More broadly, anarchist feminists also argue that reproducing capitalist principles

through entrepreneurship is antithetical to women’s liberation, as private property

perpetuates inequality and dependence (Ferguson et al 2019).

Feminized Labor
 14

Sex work is a form of feminized labor because it has historically been

disproportionately performed by women, as well sexual minorities who are also subject

to inequality based on heteronormative patriarchal structures. Sexual harassment and

gendered microaggressions women may encounter in these institutions further alienates

women from the image of the ideal bureaucratic worker. Feminized labor also pertains to

how women are assigned to the most stringently bureaucratic institutions in the formal

economy, such as education, the government, and corporate entities. Guy and Newman

(2004) point to how the gendered division of labor accounts for the pay gap because the

performance of emotional labor—the hallmark of many traditionally female roles—is

devalued. Feminized labor thus makes up one half of an essentialist whole: Women have

a universal capacity to perform emotional labor, and men have a universal capacity to

perform physical labor. In addition to emotional elements of formal feminized labor,

there are practical constraints, such as “poor working conditions, low pay, narrow job

content, little opportunity for autonomy, few promotions prospects, stereotyped gender

attributes that serve to perpetuate their segregated nature,” and other barriers to autonomy

(Truss 1993:562). Secretaries, for example, are in a ghettoized labor pool in which

promotion is unlikely and work stressors are associated with declining mental health, and

paralegals must play an active role in reaffirming the predominantly male lawyers they

serve (Pierce 1999; Truss 1993). Jaffee (1989) underscores the devaluation of feminized

labor by noting how “women are segregated into occupations that minimize the

likelihood of exercising autonomy and supervisory authority,” and are unlikely to hold

decision-making authority even in traditionally female sectors (p. 387).

 15

The conceptualization of sex work as feminized labor developed as feminist

movements expanded throughout the 20th century. Dewey (2012) notes that “feminized

labor is often highly regulated despite the relative lack of benefits and income it provides

to its workers, and this regulation increases exponentially with the degree of stigma

attached to particular forms of feminized work” (p. 117). For instance, exotic dance is

subject to laws that are enforced through covert and overt police operations that are not

intended to ensure fair labor practices, but instead reinforce that the majority of dancers

remain independent contractors with few worker rights (Price-Glynn 2012). Essentially

working for oneself and merely renting time on stage also “enable[s] women to retain

partial control over their pay” unlike other workers in the club—bartenders, bouncers,

deejays—who are at least, in part, wage laborers (Price-Glynn 2012:146). Price-Glynn

(2012) goes on to note that this structure can pit dancers against one other, and this hustle

can become more intense when the market becomes increasingly saturated, as has been

the case in webcamming (van Doorn and Velthius 2017). Maher et al. (2012), however,

find that indoor full-service work is a way of earning a livable income on flexible hours,

which they link to “flexibility compared to broader gendered employment conditions”

and a lack of “comparable employment” (p. 654).

Emotional labor is an influential factor in sex workers’ sense of autonomy by

inserting an additional layer of labor that must be performed in addition to providing a

sexual service. While the degree may vary based on specific profession, sex workers are

to provide a sense of authentic intimacy known as the “girlfriend experience” through

deep acting, which involves aligning verbal and nonverbal language with the emotions
 16

the worker is expected to feel. This expectation is especially salient for sex workers like

escorts, who offer company instead of or in addition to sexual acts (Carbonero and

Garrido 2017). Elements of both surface and deep acting can be found when delivering

the physical service or performance itself. Frith (2014) notes that the authenticity of

female pleasure is tied to heteronormative rules. Commercial sex workers like

mainstream pornographic actors as well as women in noncommodified relationships may

engage in surface acting to order to “disguise what they really feel (by suppressing

disgust or boredom or by feigning desire and climax) in order to protect men from feeling

sexually inadequate or conversely to induce pleasure” (p. 393). Traditional pornographic

actors and other commodified workers engage in deep acting by attempting to derive

genuine pleasure as a barrier for repulsion or disinterest. Overall, Frith (2014) maintains

cultural anxieties surrounding female orgasms need to be studied more extensively in

order to understand the full extent of the gendered power dynamics in which they are

entrenched. In a study of webcam models, on the other hand, Jones (2016) asserts that

there is potential for the worker to experience “sexual and affectual pleasures” because

the “computer-mediated sexual exchange acts as a psychological barrier, and that the

computer in turn becomes the primary tool that performers use for emotional

management” (p. 227). While some sex workers may find emotional labor taxing and

time-consuming, others may find that these performances make their working conditions

more uniquely their own, particularly when taking advantage of the distance that a digital

platform may provide.

Harassment & Inequalities

 17

Workers lose control over their working conditions when they encounter hostile

environments, as fear and degradation affect the ability to be present both physically and

mentally. Non-commodified sexual relationships that are mediated through the internet,

especially popular apps, are not necessarily positive experiences. Sexting culture, or the

non-commodified exchange of adult content, is linked to sexual coercion and harassment

(Stanley 2018). Indirect cyber abuse, which humiliates the victim through public posts, is

more common among familiar victim-abuser relationships, while direct cyber abuse,

which is sent directly to the victim, is more common among strangers (Vakhitova et al

2018). When applying this finding to commodified relationships, sex workers are subject

to abuse whether they deploy the experience of a non-commodified girlfriend or if they

try to maintain a sense of distance. The dating app Tinder, which is intended to provide

its users with a non-commodified experience, has also been shown to maintain racist

sexual scripts that leave people of color more vulnerable to discriminatory practices and

racist language, perhaps under the guise of alleged sexual preferences (Christensen

2018). In other words, the internet can be a hostile place, particularly for those whose

identities are also met with hostility in other arenas of society, which negatively impacts

their visibility.

Jones (2015) shares similar findings in terms of commodified relationships, citing

how “racialized stereotypes affect ideas about bodily aesthetics; for example, “clients

might consume escort services based on stereotypes, such as black men having larger

penises, or different racial groups having different amounts of body hair” (p. 791). These

projected racial stereotypes become barriers to sex workers as they lose control over
 18

which corners of the industry in which they can work, as well as how their image that

they invest time in cultivating is perceived. In traditional pornography and webcamming

alike, agents and/or models check off certain boxes that describe the performer’s race and

body type, which places women of color in separate categories. Price-Glynn (2012) notes

a similarly segregated experience in the strip club. While tapping into fetishized images

may seemingly increase earning potential for workers of color, stereotypes reinforce

racial inequalities that thwart their entry into mainstream work. Thus, Jones (2015) goes

on to assert that “the racial disparity in wages found across labor markets” can also be

found in sex work. On one webcam site, a significant relationship was found between

whiteness and high cam scores, which measure earnings (Jones 2015:789).

More broadly, the client discretion that webcam models and internet-based full-

service sex workers enjoy can be undermined by instances of harassment, which have

become more egregious through technological advances (Sanders et al. 2016). While the

solution to cyberbullying can be as simple as terminating a Snapchat subscription or

blocking the associated username, trolls—internet users with the goal of making

inflammatory comments—sometimes make fake accounts to taunt their victims. Still,

some evidence suggests that there is room on the internet to challenge stigmatizing

narratives that hamper the empowerment of sex workers. Handyside and Ringrose (2017)

highlight the gendered language that guides the exchange of sexual content on Snapchat

in non-commodified heterosexual relationships; subsequently, sexual scrutiny is more

often pinned on the female participant by other app users. But, by using humor, women

are “able to take back some agency over the harsh sexual judgements they had been
 19

subject to,” by poking fun at the “simplistic sexualized readings boys had applied to their

selfies” (p. 354). Handyside and Ringrose (2017) also find that Snaps serve as a form of

“relationship currency,” suggesting that some adult content creators may be hijacking

control over their own sexualization in exchange for more literal currency. More

privileged sex workers are also able to voice their experiences and surrounding attitudes

through blogging, which has the potential to change attitudes towards the

commodification of sexuality, and ultimately, restore their sense of humanity (Bernstein

2007). It is unclear if this narrative shift may also come to enhance the autonomy of less

privileged sex workers, or if it will only offer a one-dimensional advantage.

Policy & Policing

While the umbrella of sex work runs the gamut in terms of legal status and how it

is policed, one consistency is that public policy affects how sex workers do their jobs. In

the United States, full-service prostitution remains illegal with the exception of eight

counties in Nevada, which require specific licensing for brothels to lawfully operate.

Full-service work persists nevertheless in known prostitution zones often called red-light

districts, which are subject to mass detainments and subsequent arrests (Vitale 2017). As

discussed, stripping in major U.S. cities, while legal, is subject to local laws that may

dictate everything from the permitted level of nudity to club zoning (Cook 2005;

Parthasarathy 2019). Dancers’ statuses as independently contracted workers who are

subject to police surveillance and few employment rights make it difficult to orient the

craft within either the informal or formal economies. Similar to webcamming, adult

content creation is not illegal, but it is subject to the terms and conditions of apps, which
 20

dictate what kind of content is and is not allowed to be shared on the platform. However,

these rules guide the vast array of content on platforms like Instagram and Twitter and

not just the more niche communities found on camming websites.

While sex work has historically been policed due to concerns regarding morality

and public health, a recent wave of neo-liberal feminism has deemed all forms of sex

work, especially full-service, inherently exploitative, thus calling for its eradication (van

der Muelen 2012; Women’s Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution). The key way

through which they plan to implement eradication is through the adoption of the Nordic

Model, which criminalizes only the purchasing of sexual services with the goal of

“preventing prostitutes from earning” and “pressuring them into abandoning the trade

[and] discourag[ing] trafficking in women” (Danna 2012:80). Linking full-service work

as a whole to human trafficking leaves little room for a model in which prostitution can

be carried out legally through the consent of its workers. FOSTA-SESTA does not solely

seek to prosecute those purchasing sexual labor. Its goal of cracking down on human

trafficking online targets clients, but also the online mediums that host advertisements

offering sexual services. Still, the legal package’s lack of consideration for sex workers

who are not being trafficked retains the abolitionist nature of the Nordic Model. Impeding

on all sex workers’ spaces not only perpetuates the idea that all sex work is coercive, but

it also limits opportunities to earn money outside of the patriarchal formal economy.

In sum, several questions emerge from current literature. A question arises when

it comes to the entrepreneurial qualities of adult content creation: is it a way to opt out of

patriarchal structures for those who have the option, or, a space for those who are
 21

disenfranchised from the aboveground economy entirely, but at what cost? Sex work also

has advantages and disadvantages over some kinds of feminized labor, yet it is unclear

where adult content creation falls on this spectrum. It is also ambiguous whether internet

accessibility’s facilitation of harassment and discrimination is counterbalanced by the

adult content creator’s ability to assert their own identity and perspective, ultimately

leading to financial success. Finally is the question of how the expansion of policing into

the online sphere of sex work has affected adult content creators.

These questions are bound together by the theme of autonomy as it has been

previously defined, and how it may or not be able to be utilized in the process of adult

content creation. Whether or not sex work is empowering is a long-contested topic, but

this research aims not to firmly confirm or deny empowerment, but rather, understand

how power is practiced and revoked. By contrasting adult content creation with other

kinds of sex work, this research challenges the notion that sex workers are a group with a

singular exploitative experience. Such an analysis will provide insights into how the

informal economy may challenge or reinforce the inequality regimes found in other kinds

of feminized labor across various economic levels.

 22

Chapter 4

Methods

This project utilized 13 in-depth qualitative interviews in order to address the

following overarching research question: What aspects of app-based sex work heighten

or threaten workers’ senses of autonomy? Participants had to be female-identified or non-

binary individuals over the age of 18 who sell their self-produced adult content through

social media apps. Cis men were not included at this stage in order to account for certain

gender privileges that may skew perceptions of autonomy. The sample was restricted to

the United States to account for the federal jurisdiction of FOSTA-SESTA. Participants

were drawn from Louisiana, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Oregon. All adult

content creation is legal in all 50 U.S. states. While internet access has flattened some

regional boundaries, location was considered when making comparisons to other kinds of

sex work (e.g., Stripping is subject to local laws that vary). Recruitment yielded a

convenience sample through purposive snowball methodology. I first tapped into an

exclusive network of adult entertainers based in New Orleans, Louisiana to which I

gained access through the assistance of an insider friend. In order to reach individuals,

flyers were also disseminated across social media, often with the help of previous

respondents in their respective online networks. These methods produced 13 interviews

with participants ranging from ages 22-39. Eleven participants were white with one

identifying ethnically as Romani, and two participants identified as mixed race. Twelve

participants identified as female and one, non-binary.

 23

Each semi-structured interview took roughly 40-90 minutes of each participant’s

time. The general interview frame addressed a wide range of topics in order to target as

many facets of app-based sex work as possible. Some of these topics included how they

engage with social media (e.g., What branding techniques do you use?), what goes into a

performance (e.g., How do you prepare for work?), the relationship with their buyers

(e.g., How do you engage with your customers?), and run-ins with harassers and social

media terms and conditions (e.g., Has your account ever been deleted or banned?).

Follow-up probes were implemented where appropriate.

Each interview was conducted through July 2019-March 2020 via phone, with the

exception of one in-person meeting at the participant’s request. Calls were either

conducted from my office or my apartment and participants spoke from the privacy of

their homes or vehicles. Interviews were audiotaped through the app Call Recording Now

and were protected by my phone’s passcode. The transcriptions are held in files

encrypted through VeraCrypt and Microsoft Word. All material was saved in accounts to

which only I have access. All legal names were removed and replaced with pseudonyms

with the exception of informed consent forms and one document that housed all contact

information. It was my goal to create an approachable environment in order to be a

medium for the voices of app-based sex workers. Because my demographics largely

match those of the participants, I remained hopeful that I could be a source in which they

could confide. However, being white and cis may have discouraged the attraction of a

more diverse sample.

 24

The analysis process involved three rounds of coding for related themes. Because

the research questions analyze both threats to and bolsters of autonomy, codes often read

dichotomously. For example, “burnout” and “resilience” were two subsidiary codes of

“emotional labor.” “Harassment” was also further divided by “cyberbullying” and “social

media jail” in order to account for various sources of tension to which creators could be

exposed. This coding method was able to highlight how harassment from app

administrators leads to more long-term detrimental effects on careers.

All but one participant engaged in other forms of sex work, and all participants

engaged in other forms of work more broadly. While exotic dancing was the most

common form of sex work being performed besides adult content creation, there were

also full-service workers, webcammers, and niche fetish workers. Other jobs mainly

consisted of service and sales duties as well as entry and mid-level office work. Some

were pursuing school currently or in the near future. Experience in non-adult modeling

and dancing was also frequently referenced. This artistic interest also manifested in

ventures such as photography, fashion design, painting, alternative culture, and general

aesthetic appreciation. Participants were financially independent, with two citing that

they had family to whom they could turn in case of an emergency. Committed

relationships in the form of marriages or cohabitation were common. One participant had

a child and many participants held close relationships with their pets. While specific

income levels were not discussed, there was a general sense that “getting by” was

possible in their current situations.

 25

While some engaged in sex work activism, others stated that they did not engage

as much as they would like. Adult content creators who use their platform to discuss sex

worker issues were likely attracted to the study, but they were not purposefully sought

out. Activists represent a more privileged kind of sex worker as they have the ability to

speak for a highly stigmatized group. The most fervent activists in the sample

acknowledged that they were enjoying these privileges, which they largely attributed to

being white. Homogeneity within the sample will be discussed when addressing the

limitations of the study.

 26

Chapter 5

Results

The Hustle

Themes of entrepreneurship emerged in how participants pieced together different

income streams—sex work-related or otherwise—in order to achieve financial security.

Adult content creation essentially filled in gaps in autonomy in other jobs. Either due to

crackdowns in other kinds of sex work or jobs in the formal economy failing to make

ends meet, online sex work was recognized by participants as a new chance to expand

their incomes. Subsequently, participants developed their own hustle, which is made up

of a web of gigs and cross-marketing techniques. Adult content creation is an ideal

supplement to other work or personal responsibilities due to its flexibility. The hustle

mentality can be overwhelming in the informal economy, as it comes with unpaid labor

and tax disadvantages, which are associated with lower levels of autonomy. This pressure

is more intense for participants who treat adult content creation more like a full-time job

or a traditional pornographic business. However, creators are highly adaptable,

discovering loopholes throughout the learning process that helped them most effectively

leverage their time and money.

Participants can pinpoint the instant when they learned about the principle of adult

content creation. While driving one day, Nikki, 27, heard a National Public Radio

broadcast about how traditional pornographic actors were shifting to the format of adult

content creation, as creating custom content has proved lucrative in spite of the

abundance of porn found online. “I know that there’s free porn all over the internet but it
 27

lacks that personal connection, and I found that that’s what a lot of guys in particular are

looking for...it’s that little personal attachment that’s coming from that intimacy you

don’t get from a free porn site,” elaborates Shauna, a 35-year-old woman who also works

a project manager. Recognizing this demand, participants entered the budding world of

content creation. More specifically, their motivations involved supplementing other

forms of income. While Shauna expresses that she has no shortage of clients at her

“vanilla job” (a term used to describe jobs outside of adult entertainment), content

creation allows her to save money for certain events, such as preparing to move homes.

For others, adult content creation has been a key supplement when it comes to leveraging

their time, particularly when autonomy in other forms of sex work is impeded on,

suggesting the devaluation of adult entertainment spearheaded by policing. Veronica, a

39-year-old dancer and freelance writer, sends her regular customers at the club to her

monetized app-based persona so that she is not communicating with them for free via text

message. Mandy, a 27-year-old psychic from New Orleans, expresses how since Bourbon

Street clubs were raided in January of 2018, there has been a “steady decline in

business.” As a result, she says that adult content creation serves as a necessary cushion,

stating “I’m honestly just trying to be a jack of all trades because I mainly kind of have to

be now.”

While some participants connected the need for income supplementation to sex

work-related crackdowns, others connected it to additional macro-level forces. Aaliyah, a

24-year-old woman who takes an active role in sex worker advocacy, says the following:
 28

[Adult content creation is] similar to camming, but there’s really

not a lot of money in camming... because everyone is a cam girl,
which is fine. Prior to the French Revolution, one in five women
was a sex worker, so I think it’s just a reflection of the state of the
economy. More people are turning to work like that and there’s not
much you can do about it.

Aaliyah connects the oversaturation of webcam models to a lack of more lucrative jobs

for women and the devaluation of feminized labor. Consequently, individuals are

exploring adult content creation while it still provides a chance for prosperity. She also

goes on to describe how adult content creation offers flexibility that most jobs in, say,

low-wage service and administrative roles do not. Because of her chronic pain syndrome

and digestive disease, she is disempowered by set schedules with no breaks. “It’s

something where if I need to go to the bathroom and I’m going to be in there for an hour,

nobody’s going to be knocking on the door accusing me of being on my phone the whole

time,” she says. Skyler, a 22-year-old non-binary student, echoes this sentiment in other

kinds of sex work, describing how mandated 14-hour shifts at the strip club were

unrealistic due to their chronic pain. Having the power to create small bouts of content

from home has been gentler on their body in addition to being complementary to their

school schedule. Lilah, a 24-year-old mother and webcam model, has found that online

sex work has allowed her to make money efficiently while her son is at daycare, as

opposed to dancing, which also conflicted with her painful neurological condition.

Veronica exemplifies why adult content creation can be one of the most efficient ways to

earn money:

I’ll start talking to someone and they’ll be like ‘oh, what are you doing?’
and I’ll be like ‘oh, just taking a bath,’ and then I’ll just send them pics of
me in the bath and by the time I’ve gotten my coffee, I’ve already made
 29

$50. It’s amazing to feel like whenever you want money you can dip into
this stream that’s always flowing.

By being able to monetize everyday activities without having to leave her home or spend

time on a webcam stream, Veronica is practicing her autonomy by maximizing her time

on her own accord, oscillating between content creation and freelance writing throughout

her workday.

The hustle, however, does not necessarily come without stress, echoing the

demand for constant availability and consistent flows of information described by Guest

(2002). Emma, a 30-year-old member of her local queer porn scene, describes what she

refers to as “porn mind.” Porn mind is essentially a form of guilt that arises when she is

not leveraging every chance she gets for a sexy photoshoot. Veronica describes a similar

form of guilt when she chooses to enjoy a day at the pool without feeling compelled to

take photos of herself in her bikini. As Emma goes on to describe:

It’s really hard when you have ‘porn mind’ where you’re like ‘oh, I’m going
to go for a hike, maybe I can shoot a scene there.’ It’s just so hard to
disengage because it’s like you’re always thinking about things that you
could do to keep a following or keep people interested and I think that’s
maybe just different from being an independent contractor who’s hired to
do scenes all the time because then you don’t have to do all of that
brainpower.

More freedom can come with more unpaid labor, a paradox unique to entrepreneurial

employment; while a traditional pornographic actor performs, an adult content creator

also fills the role of the videographer, director, and editor while only being compensated

as the performer. In order to regain autonomy by mitigating some of this stress and

bolstering the quality of their content, Emma, as well as Riley, a 36-year-old dancer at a

longstanding club, will collaborate with other creators and videographers. However, she
 30

notes that it can be hard to find reliable people who will not waste her time, and

ultimately, her money. Emma explains that producing the most lucrative content causes

her to feel as though she is always working. While she is able to manage her 40-hour-a-

week adult content creation business during downtime at her vanilla job, becoming her

own boss has come with a learning curve in terms of work-life balance. Having to engage

in unpaid labor with the hopes of striking a windfall is a problem for all kinds of sex

workers, who are not paid hourly wages. For example, Skyler, who began their journey

into sex work with full-service, describes how the process of pre-screening clients can

prove to be a bust if they are not serious customers (or, potentially dangerous). Mandy

also describes how “[sex work] is only draining if you’re not making money.” As a

result, she likes to film videos dancing on the pole at her club to upload online when there

are not any in-person customers to entertain.

While filing taxes provides access to social safety nets in some scenarios, there

are tax disadvantages that impede on the autonomy of self-employed workers. Adult

content creators are ineligible for the tax breaks that corporate businesses in the formal

economy enjoy. They are also responsible for both employee and employer portions of

taxes. Contrary to public perception, online sex workers pay taxes (and a lot of them).

Because adult content creation leaves a digital paper trail, it is considered unwise not to

file, particularly for the most lucrative creators. Lilah describes how webcam models

have similar experiences, as most sites issue tax forms or earning statements. One of her

webcamming friends enlisted the help of a tax attorney, who effectively took her money

and ran. As a result, she still owes tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS. However,
 31

Lilah, among others, has found that also working a job that issues a W2 helps balance out

what taxes are owed and what is returned. Additionally, learning how to piece together

income streams in the most strategic fashion (e.g., Mandy filming her pole dancing),

helps mitigate the amount of unpaid labor being performed.

While the hustle both bolsters and impedes upon autonomy, adult content creators

learn how to cater their work to their lifestyles in a way that maximizes their income.

Classifying sex work as “real work” that is of equal worth to bureaucratically structured

jobs in the formal economy would keep adult content creators from facing factors such as

policing-related insecurity and an undue tax burden. Ensuring that the income stream of

online sex work is not impeded upon by these factors would keep already vulnerable

populations—women and/or sexual minorities—from enduring additional disadvantages

in the workplace. Aaliyah addresses anarchist feminist concerns, stating, “Even though I

came from poverty I wouldn’t say I was coerced into [sex work], but I think capitalism is

inherently coercive.” While it is perhaps impossible to achieve complete liberation in any

sector of the economy, Aaliyah sees online sex work as exploitative insofar as all paid

labor is exploitative.

The Girlfriend Experience

The emotion work performed in adult content creation is largely defined by the

girlfriend experience, or how content and communication provide the sense of a non-

commodified relationship. Because adult content creation largely leverages mainstream

apps, selling an authentic girl-next-door type of image is considered more desirable, as

opposed to other kinds of sex work that capitalize on a hegemonic feminine ideal. The
 32

ability to sell one’s organic likeness expedites the process of creating content. However,

it does not come without challenges to autonomy—mainly, walking the tightrope of

being like someone’s girlfriend without having to perform excessive unpaid labor.

Nevertheless, participants have learned how to exert control be setting boundaries, even

when creating custom content, in such a way that maximizes their bottom-line while

being able to maintain a sense of distance from working relationships. Engaging with

hobbies, non-commodified relationships, and charity work serve as relaxation rituals that

help manage their well-being in their off time. Other participants enjoy the connections

they make at work; therefore, they do not mind investing additional time by serving as an

emotional support system to their customers, as it leads to fulfillment in their jobs.

Enjoying this process serves as an incentive to produce more content, and ultimately,

adds longevity to their business.

Participants invest in a sense of performative intimacy in which they engage in

girlfriend-like correspondence and imagery. Adult content creators must negotiate

performative intimacy carefully because, as Veronica notes, “their holy grail is always

‘oh, let me get you off this app.’” Shauna finds herself increasingly straddled between

what is “real” and what is effectively just a business for her. She feels safer working

through a word-of-mouth system with customers being referred by friends and

acquaintances. However, this comes with the price of having to utilize her personal social

media in lieu of separate sex work accounts:

I think one of the boundaries that’s pushed [is that] I don’t have any separate
accounts, like I use my regular Facebook and my Instagram. I think that
makes it a lot harder for men to understand that it is still kind of just a job
for me. I don’t want to meet them in real life. I don’t want to be their
 33

girlfriends and I think that’s a lot harder when you’re creating, and maybe
that’s because I make girlfriend experience-like content. It definitely makes
a big difference in trying to keep those boundaries respected.

After growing tired of leveraging her Snapchat for adult content creation,

Veronica decided to try out a new app called Phrendly. Phrendly, along with pay-for-

content sites like OnlyFans, is an example of how technology is catching up with the

demand for adult content creation in such a way that hyper-mainstream apps do not need

to be utilized. Veronica enjoys Phrendly because it has built-in protections for creators—

transactions go securely through the app, and it has strict instructions to only interact with

users within the online sphere (the app’s tagline is “Real relationships, Only Online”).

However, Phrendly, which monetizes conversations between the creator and the

consumer, is distinct in that it is “very much cloaked in traditional dating vernacular,” as

Veronica describes. The structure of Phrendly helps Veronica make better use of her time

in that she is paid a fraction of a dollar for every message she sends—interactions that she

must typically do in the strip club for free. However, the app’s imagery also adds

ambiguity to its transactional nature that has the potential to encroach on protective

boundaries:

It’s usually male users, but they have the option to send you gifts [in the
form of illustrations], but it’s really just money in certain increments. You
might be like ‘send me chocolates’ but that’s really $25. And it’s like oh
okay, he gave me $25, so here’s a picture of my butt or something like that.

Another method through which adult content creators provide the girlfriend experience is

by acting as “the girl next door.” Diverging from traditional pornographic actors who

tend to sport hyperfeminine, hypersexualized images, adult content creators’ brands often

mean not having a brand at all. Accordingly, the getting ready process for adult content
 34

creation involves tweaking lighting as opposed to fixing hair and applying false

eyelashes, as is the case for preparing for a shift at a strip club where autonomy over a

dancer’s appearance is monitored by club management. While some maintain a sense of

distance by utilizing separate sex work accounts and pseudonyms, the semblance of

engaging with a “real” person’s content and not a distant pornographic actor must still be

provided. As Belle, 28, a Memphis-based creator with full-service experience elaborates,

“a lot of middle-aged men kind of look for that because they think they’re trying to relive

their high school/college days.” The seeming contradiction of selling an escapist

experience while also selling one’s own personality can be exciting in that it allows for

the use of humor and creativity, which ultimately bolsters the autonomy of a creator’s

presentation. Olivia, a 27-year-old dancer, for example, developed her fondness for sloths

into a mascot, photoshopping one of the subdued mammals into her photos and using

their likeness to advertise her dancing schedule. This wholesome, relatable identity has

been so successful that one of her followers is now paying for her to get a sloth tattoo. In

other instances, acting as the girl next door is more mundane. When describing what she

posts on Instagram, Shauna states the following:

I’ll do some cute little gym pictures and stuff like that, which actually draws
me in an okay crowd of guys who are interested in purchasing content. I
think they like the allure that it’s not a sex worker, it’s a normal girl who’s
breaking the rules a little bit.

While walking the tightrope between being a sex worker and a “real” app user can

be awkward, respondents demonstrate a kind of resilience that protects their time and

effort. All participants offer custom content services in order to satisfy the requests of

their consumers, which requires the ability to transform ideas into a dynamic photo or
 35

video. Requests pertain to what clothing is worn, what props are used, and what part of

the body is accentuated. All participants report feeling as though they are able to assert

their boundaries when a request becomes more uncomfortable or demanding than it is

worth. Lilah describes how taking control over custom content makes it “a lot less

tedious”:

So, a lot of girls are moving away from custom content and they’re doing
custom ideas. So instead of being like ‘I really want you doing this, this,
and this at 34 seconds--because men will send you a screenplay of what they
want you doing every 10 seconds--you do custom ideas, which is where
they’ll be like ‘I want you in a cat girl outfit, I want it to be 10 minutes, and
I want it in this position.’ Then you can make it how you want it without it
being a literal porn screenplay. Because men think we’re bending to every
whim and I’ve found custom ideas to be a little easier, so a lot of women
are moving towards that.

Being able to cater to the market of custom content while still ultimately holding

the reins is a way for adult content creators to express their autonomy, as they have the

final say on what is being created. When it comes to customer interaction more broadly,

Lilah describes how a certain customer with whom she was engaging was ultimately

becoming too needy, requesting that she entertain phone calls in which he declared love

for her. While she acknowledges cutting him off was seemingly risky, the money she was

making from him was being spread thin across her work hours due to his excessive need

for attention. She has learned to prevent similar scenarios by informing her customer base

that she has a set work schedule, ensuring work-life balance and mitigating unpaid labor.

Other participants also developed a work window, such as Veronica, who multitasks from

9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Adult content creators also prevent burning themselves out, which

has consequences for the longevity of their businesses, by engaging in various relaxation
 36

rituals, such as reading books, listening to podcasts, spending time with pets and

significant others, exercising, crafting, smoking cannabis, and resting their bodies. Belle,

in addition to attending a sex work-positive therapist, has also started embracing

Quakerism. She explains that her local chapter was “collecting teddy bears for the child

advocacy center, which is basically where kids go when they’re victims of sexual or

domestic abuse, so I took a sack full of new teddy bears and attended my first Quaker

friendship service.” Other participants find support in sex worker-friendly spaces.

Allowing for meaningful time off ultimately fosters greater productivity during their “on”

time, as their energy is recharged.

It should also be noted that a couple of participants find the human element of

their work as a source of passion that also facilitates their willingness to work. Twenty-

four-year-old model Angel finds that the emotional labor she employs to be fruitful in

terms of performing self-actualizing work. “I really like it as long as the client and I get

along and there is mutual respect,” she explains. “I actually really have had positive

experiences where I feel like I've helped clients grow by not only pulling them out of

their comfort zone but offering them guidance and support.” When she feels comfortable

enough to transcend performative intimacy in order to build genuine human interactions,

she discovers a kind of fulfillment that can be otherwise tedious to achieve in service-

oriented labor. Mandy echoes this sentiment when it comes to content creation, as well as

sex work more broadly, stating, “I love what I do and I like making people happy...I

mean, you don’t owe them anything that you can’t readily give away, so you have to be

able to realize what your gifts and talents are and be ready to share them with the world.”
 37

In other words, sharing her people skills entices her to work, but can also be retracted if a

customer’s demands exceed what she wishes to give.

Adult content creation fits into the category of feminized labor because

maintaining a sense of authentic intimacy, as well as catering to the needs of men, is at

the forefront of the demand for content. However, it differs from other forms of sex work

in that selling relatability, or the authentic image of an app user, is valued over the

elaborate fantasy of an adult entertainer. Selling the image of the girl-next-door without

overextending their emotional labor—and ultimately, their time—is a balance that

creators ultimately learn how to strike in order to preserve their autonomy. Being their

own boss is a major factor in creators’ abilities to assert their boundaries by moderating

requests and setting work hours, which represents a level of power that is largely absent

from feminized labor in the formal economy. The enjoyment that some participants get

out of the human element of work prevents feelings of alienation that would otherwise

discourage them from selling content. In sum, while adult content creation demands

emotion work, its context in the informal economy makes it moldable to creators’

personal boundaries and profit motives.

Cultivating Their Experience

Harassment and inequalities hold the potential to run rampant on user-generated

platforms, and ultimately, adult content creators’ autonomy. Yet, simultaneously, creators

have the power to cultivate their online spheres in such a way that protects their safety

while maximizing their ability to share their identities. While consumers of their content

are emboldened to say whatever they wish due to the relative anonymity that computer
 38

and phone screens provide, it is easier for creators to cope with this harassment online

than through in-person forms of sex work. Blocking accounts and warning other creators

of suspect individuals through word of mouth or online social media groups is a key way

through which peace of mind is achieved. This safety net allows creators to continue to

work without anxiety regarding gendered harassment. Participants feel that the context of

user-generated platforms is more hospitable to those who do not meet mainstream

definitions of beauty—thinness, whiteness, hyper femininity, and so on—upheld in

spaces like strip clubs and webcam websites. In other words, adult content creators have

the power to carve out their own images and followings while in their own corner of the

internet in which they can thrive.

Harassment from consumers comes in a variety of forms, but the most recurring

trend is men sending detailed sexual fantasies and/or unsolicited genitalia pictures to the

creator. This form of communication is perceived as stemming from the disempowering

fallacy that because creators are putting forth sexual imagery, they are seeking sexual

responses. Emma describes her frustration, stating, “I get uncomfortable with people

giving me heavy inquiry all the time about what they want to do to me or things they

want me to do or how they want to meet me.” Consequently, she has led her to consider

her level of exposure, not because she is concerned about her vanilla job finding out

about her adult content creation, but because she wishes to rein in the array of men

sending her unwanted communication. Lilah reports that a friend of hers, a popular

creator, receives paragraph-long DMs from followers communicating their affection and

sexual desires. “I’ve been taught that boundaries are what keep you out of those
 39

conversations,” she says. In the case of harassment, boundaries are largely set by either

disregarding unwanted communication or blocking any user who chooses to escalate the

situation. All participants find that cultivating their following by blocking certain profiles

generally takes care of any issues. This option is a marked shift from in-person sex work

where removing a problematic customer is not so simple. As India, a 26-year-old

cannabis brand ambassador, elaborates:

If you're out in the world it would be a lot harder to direct people’s attention
if you don’t want it. When you’re on social media you get to choose the
times when you are working [and] I’m getting to do it from the safety of my
own home. To me, that’s the obvious number one pro. You know where you
are, you’re safe. Even if you don’t have a steady home base, you can do it
from friends’ houses.

India highlights how working from home can add a protective layer to a field of

work known for gendered violence. Working outside of more formal service sector

settings in which face must be maintained means more freedom to take candid

approaches to harassment. Participants who are dancers place strip clubs in the more

structured category, citing how they must continue to smile and remain polite when

dealing with problem customers. Some report how bouncers side with customers over

dancers, or simply fail to remain attentive over the course of a shift. “I can assert

boundaries because I can close my computer or turn off my phone and it's over instead of

having to think on the spot to get out of a situation,” Skyler says, indicating that they can

effectively serve as their own authority on security. Mitigating fear of harassment that

can escalate into gendered violence empowers content creators to work.

In addition to being a space in which adult content creators can cultivate their

audiences, user-generated platforms provide creators with the freedom to express

 40

themselves through creativity. “I always loved modeling and just realized there was a

market I could appeal to with my content, which is mostly composed of artful nudes or

teasing videos unless the client specifically asks for something more explicit,” says

Angel. Seeing her work as an extension of a lifelong creative passion, she feels as though

she is finally able to monetize her art. Aaliyah particularly enjoyed the atmosphere on the

popular blog website Tumblr while it was still a viable platform for pornography. While

Tumblr banned adult content in December of 2018, her time spent cultivating her photos

on the platform instilled a love of the personal creative direction that is largely absent

from mainstream pornography. This appreciation is shared by other creators with whom

she has connected. For Nikki, the freedom to mold her content to her own tastes is a

refreshing change from the oversight that she experiences at her home strip club:

I have the option to do [what I] want to do, so, like, in the club there’s
laws…you know, there are parameters there. So if someone wanted to touch
my butt I still can’t be like yeah, you can touch my butt because the law is
the way it is, so it’s really nice to have the freedom of making every single
executive decision over what I do with my body.

Nikki’s orientation of creative freedom within bodily autonomy more broadly is

one that is echoed by participants who hold marginalized identities. For Skyler, who is

non-binary, and Emma, 29, who is mixed race and full-figured, being able to carve out

spaces in which they can exist as they are has transformative effects. After being fired

from their strip club when their gender identity was scrutinized, Skyler is able to continue

supporting themself through online-based sex work, finding a specialty in reviewing toys,

which are often bought for them by their audience. “Now that I’ve kind of established my

own audience, I’ve kind of experimented with being more fluid with my gender,” they
 41

state. “I feel like people have been taking to it because I’m making my all-time high that I

have been while doing content creation.” In other words, presenting as their true self is

not only affirming, but lucrative. Emma, who notes earning less money in the strip club

when at a higher weight, also expresses enjoyment in creating a space in which she can

be herself. While most participants perform solo, Emma enjoys expanding her content by

working with other women and nonbinary individuals. While working with others creates

more variables to manage, Emma finds it worth it in order to increase queer

representation in sexualized imagery. Mandy, who is also a full-figured woman of color,

notes discrimination in stripping, saying “a lot of the clubs, as you probably know, are

not body positive, so I have a harder time getting contracts at like corporate clubs and

things like that.” A barrier to one kind of sex work has also been a bolster to another as

she thrives in adult content creation, which can reach a variety of tastes and preferences

outside of hegemonic beauty norms. Further, adult content creation provides a space in

which women can assert their own perspectives and pleasures. For example, Riley shares

that she enjoys sharing real orgasms with her content consumers, even though it may

require more time than engaging in performative pleasure. Being a consumer of

mainstream porn is not necessarily a prerequisite for being an adult content creator; in

fact, many participants were motivated to cultivate what is not already out there,

providing a voice to new populations

More broadly, the sample presents a duality of privilege in which some

participants sought out sex work because they wanted to, while others followed a course

like Belle. “I fell into it through desperation before realizing it was really beneficial if I
 42

did it in a smart way, so I just kind of maintained it and tweaked it to [my] lifestyle as

I’ve gone on,” she explains. Whether it be houselessness or drug addiction, the most

vulnerable participants have followed a path to content creation, which has ultimately

allowed them to go back to school or practice the business skills they have picked up

along the way. In sum, the accessibility of social media opens up adult content creators to

negative experiences, but it also makes it as simple to block consumers in such a way that

is not possible in face-to-face sex work. Additionally, the blank slate of social media

allows creators to assert their own identities in lieu of molding themselves into an ideal

set by more structured forms of adult entertainment. While having one’s own space to

thrive outweighs the threat of harassment, harassers have the ability to report content for

violating apps’ terms and conditions, which persecute rather than protect adult content

creators.

Platform Restrictions

While the advantages of adult content creation have largely outweighed the

challenges to autonomy presented thus far, the policing of social media platforms in the

wake of FOSTA-SESTA remains a definitive roadblock. The most common experience

among participants is shadow banning, which is when a user’s content no longer appears

in news feeds, and their handle no longer appears in app-wide searches. While users are

not notified when they are shadow banned, they find out when other users inform them

that they have not been seeing their posts or that their handle is not searchable. This

measure impedes on a creator’s ability to interact with their followers and recruit new

ones, which has a detrimental effect on their economic independence. Some participants
 43

have had their accounts entirely deleted, and with it, the following and body of work they

have worked to cultivate. If participants have not had their accounts deleted, they know

someone who has. This looming threat to their stability as autonomous workers creates

anxiety among creators. Consequently, some participants have been moving to the

OnlyFans—a platform where consumers can pay directly through the website in order to

view creators’ content. While OnlyFans also hosts vanilla content creators, the platform

is perceived as tolerant towards online sex workers. Yet, it raises some similar

restrictions to webcamming. The platform takes a cut of creators’ earnings and it takes

one week to process transaction. Also, it requires users to leave hyper mainstream apps to

find content, which has only become more complicated since its app has been banned

from major app stores.

Upon being passed in 2018, FOSTA-SESTA had an immediate effect on full-

service sex workers. Skyler, who had been successful in full-service work, expresses the

following: “I was mentally just worried because I went from feeling like I had so much

opportunity to just nothing and so I was definitely worried that I was going to run out of

money.” Skyler advertised on Backpage and had room to be picky about their clients,

who had to undergo a vetting process. After FOSTA-SESTA, they no longer had this

privilege, which ultimately led them to “ignore red flags” about a suspect client, who

ended up assaulting and robbing them. “I totally, totally blame that on FOSTA and

SESTA because if I wouldn’t have been so desperate, I wouldn’t have been put in that

situation where I wouldn’t have gone against my own gut and gone against what I know

to be right,” they reflect. FOSTA-SESTA impeded on client vetting processes as the

 44

influence of legal liability rippled across the internet. Belle notes that the message boards

hosting the networks she established with other sex workers have been removed, leaving

them without a space to share when a client was been problematic or acted dangerously.

As the effects of FOSTA-SESTA continue to bleed out into user-generated

platforms, adult content creators’ accounts are endangered. Being suddenly left without a

place to work is a definitive threat to autonomy. In many cases, it only takes one report or

flag from a resentful user or administrator perpetuating “phobic bullshit,” as Belle

explains, to negatively affect an account. Multiple participants cite being shadow banned.

Using certain hashtags or sharing links to other sex work accounts can put creators at risk

as much as a picture that is deemed too risqué, which undercuts their ability to recruit

new customers, particularly among lucrative kink communities. Veronica, 39, explains

that platforms such as Phrendly are occasionally shadow banned from app stores entirely,

impeding on her ability to leverage potential users she meets at the strip club. The

underlying anxiety that this risk breeds hinders their sense of stability. Nikki elaborates

on this feeling:

I haven’t [been shadow banned or deleted], and I’m not quite sure how, but
I haven’t. That’s one of the things I’ve been like waiting for. Like, well,
when am I going to get shadow banned or when am I going to have my
commenting turned off. I’m, like, waiting for it. It never happens, or it
hasn’t happened yet, which is a good thing, but it is something that I’m kind
of twiddling my thumbs waiting for.

While some participants were waiting for their accounts to be deleted, others were well-

versed in being deplatformed. While experiences with policing on Twitter and Snapchat

varied among participants (speaking to the arbitrary enforcement of app terms and

conditions), experiences on Instagram were generally negative. Not only does Instagram
 45

allow an ambiguous degree of nudity, it permits male nipples to be shown, but not

female. Lilah, who has had multiple Instagram accounts deleted, also notes that adult

content creators who participate in sex work activism tend to have their accounts

targeted. She reports that an alternative model had her account deleted after

demonstrating in front of Instagram’s headquarters. In sum, policing on user-generated

platforms not only affect creators’ ability to host and sell content, but it infringes are sex

worker solidarity and discourse.

One of the responses to shadow banning and deletion has been to migrate to

OnlyFans. Through a transaction that goes directly through the site, customers have

access to an unlimited amount of content for a set user. While this platform serves as a

more secure space to keep content safe, it reimposes some of the restrictive features of

more traditional forms of sex work, as users must pay out to a host in order to feel

protected. It is also uncertain if OnlyFans will begin cracking down on adult content

creation in the wake of FOSTA-SESTA in the same fashion as its similarly structured

competitor, Patreon. While adult content creation is not technically illegal, it is being

regulated by app terms and conditions out of fear that the platform will be subject to

policy scrutiny in the wake of FOSTA-SESTA. While work oriented in the informal

economy may not be subject to the red tape of bureaucratic structures in the formal

economy, gendered inequalities are reinforced through a trickledown effect of policing.

At the top, FOSTA-SESTA imposes a new jurisdiction of legal liability, which leads to

deplatforming and shadow banning and the ground level. The latter would not exist to the

same extent without the former.

 46

Chapter 6

Conclusion

Adult content creation is the latest development in the well-developed historical

timeline of sex work. The advent of the internet facilitated the development of webcam

websites as well as message boards where full-service sex workers advertise. More

recently, sex work has emerged from niche communities, finding a home on hyper-

mainstream social media apps in the form of adult content creation. Adult content

creators have subsequently found themselves navigating a unique set of circumstances,

which leads to distinct consequences for their autonomy as workers. Running an

entrepreneurial enterprise, performing feminized labor, and negotiating direct

relationships with clients define the daily lives of online sex workers. Maximizing

income streams is a top priority for creators, who have found a lack of stability in other

forms of adult entertainment as well as in vanilla work.

Hustling outside of formal economic settings means unprecedented flexibility,

particularly for creators who are managing other businesses, family obligations, and/or

educational commitments. The hustle can also involve an insatiable drive for innovation

with little eligibility for tax breaks. The demand for the girlfriend experience can provide

a sense of purpose for some creators, while many others must actively set barriers to

protect their investment of time and emotional labor. Performing gendered work also

means having to cope with disempowering sexual harassment from customers who

believe that sex workers are welcoming explicit conversations by virtue of working in

adult entertainment. While all of these conditions can be challenging, creators are highly
 47

adaptive, developing ways to overcome certain barriers while maximizing their creativity,

incomes, and ultimately, autonomy.

While personal boundaries are enforced by setting working hours, reining in

custom requests, and blocking problematic consumers, overcoming the trickle-down

effect of FOSTA-SESTA is more arduous. Deletion and shadow banning are common

experiences among creators, who are vocal about the censorship of the human body.

Because this censorship disproportionately affects users who share feminine imagery,

infringement on bodily autonomy reflects the devaluation of feminized labor. Creators

link the heightened surveillance by app algorithms and administrators to the legal liability

of platforms imposed by FOSTA-SESTA. When bearing in mind that many creators

recognized the market for adult content creation as other forms of sex work has become a

less profitable use of their time, a pattern begins to emerge: as sex work continues to

evolve, so do efforts to hamper the autonomy of its workers.

In the beginning, creators were able to develop their place in a new budding

market, but their businesses have slowly been encroached upon by regulation imposed by

a structure of both public and private censorship. A pyramid of policing has formed:

federal regulations act at the top, dictating the criminal jurisdiction of the internet, while

app terms and conditions work at the ground level, enforcing self-serving regulations at

the expense of users. The result is a direct impediment on adult content creators’

autonomy by taking away the means of performing their job at the most essential level.

This scope of policing acts as the organization enforcing gendered inequality in the

absence of a formal bureaucratic structure. By limiting opportunities for women and

 48

gender minorities across all economic spheres, the chances of becoming upwardly mobile

remain low and the status quo gender dynamics are retained.

FOSTA-SESTA, like many other initiatives addressing sex work, formally aims

to address the global issue of human trafficking in the United States. Yet, the experiences

of creators indicate that this legal package has destabilized their safety and security at the

most basic level, in addition to their autonomy as workers. While adult content creation

was a good alternative to the tumultuous conditions that full-service sex workers faced

after the shuttering of Backpage and Craigslist personal ads, it has since been subject to

scrutiny by its hosting platforms, who are taking discriminatory precautions to avoid

criminal liability. While adult content creation is coercive insofar as all paid labor is

coercive, there is a population of sex workers online who are working within the

guidelines of sexual consent. This research is not claiming that all online sex workers

work under homogenous conditions, nor does it aim to undermine the harsh realities of

human trafficking. Rather, it is arguing that measures like FOSTA-SESTA do a

disservice to sex workers who operate consensually, as well as to those who are being

trafficked. Because both conditions are effectively being conflated, resources that could

be used to stop trafficking are being expended on those working consensually, which

increases vulnerability for both populations. Those working consensually lose the power

to safely advertise and vet their clients, and those who are truly being trafficked are being

overlooked in the process. In order to undercut human trafficking while ensuring the

autonomy of consensual workers, rethinking the laws governing consensual sex work by

treating sex worker rights as worker rights is essential.

 49

However, given the apparent economic implications of policing sex work, it is

unlikely that motivations are strictly about eliminating trafficking. Historically

marginalized populations who subsist outside of the formal economy are targets of

policing because their labor is going to their personal benefit rather than that of larger

corporate entities. Women and gender minorities are pushed away from seeking sex work

as an alternative to, or a supplement for, the low wage service and ghettoized

administrative sectors through the threat of policing. In the case of adult content creation,

this discouragement takes form in the anxiety stemming from sudden deplatforming. So,

while more effective legislation of combatting human trafficking can be proposed, sex

workers are unlikely to be considered a population of workers whose autonomy is worth

defending as long as their labor can be exploited in the most vulnerable sectors of the

formal economy.

Like with many studies investigating hard-to-reach populations, the data guiding

these claims is limited by a small sample size. Snowball sampling can also impede on

diversity, as operating through personal networks taps into a more homogenous

population. Saturation was achieved on topics such as emotional labor and workplace

flexibility, but the lack of extensive racial diversity among the sample was not ideal.

While both mixed-race participants were forthcoming in their experiences, it is not to be

implied that two women of color are representative of all content creators of color. Thus,

future research on adult content creators of color is necessary to corroborate this study’s

findings. It is also not to be implied that a single non-binary participant can represent all

non-binary creators. Achieving a larger sample size would increase the likelihood that
 50

more non-binary individuals are represented. As the story of adult content creation

continues to unfold, a more comprehensive experience can be shared. Optimism remains

that adult content creation is a space in which workers can openly display their unique set

of identities.

While the advancement of sex worker rights is at odds with economic interests,

the participants, who already demonstrated resilience in so many other facets of their

work, indicate that they do not plan to relent on surviving as proud sex workers. Rather,

they aim to have their voices heard by speaking with the press, getting involved in local

politics, engaging in demonstrations, forming networks among other sex workers, and in

many cases, simply being present online. The collective solidarity that a vast platform

like the internet provides will continue to be a key tool in mobilization. While the

reinforcement of gender inequalities in the economy is institutionalized, it will become

more challenging to keep sex workers silent about the conditions within the presiding

organization, one defined by surveillance, regulation, and censorship.

 51

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