How Sex Workers Really Feel

''Being a sex worker is not just taking photos and videos ... ''

Onlyfans has become a popular site for sex workers to create and put forward their content recently, causing a lot of attention from the public. We've all heard how conservative society feels about sex work, but how do the actual workers feel about their job?

Prostitution is known to be the worlds oldest profession, being practised through ancient and modern culture. Sex work had been controlled by men to have women please them and do as they wanted. However, in recent times both male and female sex workers have personal control over their work.

A lot of people disagree with this career path  ''I think sleeping with people for money is gross.'' said a anonymous user on reddit, followed by numerous others and it isn't new information.

But, no one ever asks the sex workers how they feel about it. I interviewed Hayley Brooke, a successful onlyfans user about her experience on the site.

Do you feel Onlyfans has made you more body positive and confident?

Yes it definitely has! I receive compliments daily so after receiving so many compliments it really helps to realise that I’m not as “ugly” as I think I am and what I think are my “flaws” aren’t really flaws at all. I wanted to change several things about my body but after being in this industry, it’s helped me realise that I’m fine exactly the way I am.

Do you think being in this industry will affect your ability to get another job in the future?

I would say so but for me personally, at this point, I only want to work as my own boss so my own businesses. I’m also a self employed makeup artist and have had my own online clothing store before becoming a sex worker which I might want to open another one in future. 

What do you want people to know about the sex industry?

People are quick to judge and believe that working in the sex industry is just the easy way out, lazy and not a real job when actually it’s very time consuming, weighs on you mentally and physically and we pay tax! Being a sex worker is not just taking photos and uploading them. It contains multiple “real job” aspects including Video editing, fulfilling/taking orders, acting, performing/entertainment, marketing, branding, promotion techniques, graphic design, social media management & customer/client etiquette.

Is it draining dealing with clients? Do they treat you as an object?

It can be very draining. Unfortunately there are a lot of clients that can be very rude and expect things of you without having to pay or expect you to reply to them as soon as they’ve sent a message then abuse you if you don’t. 

Do you make enough income to fully support yourself?

Yes I make enough income to fully support myself & my pets! 

Do you wish there was more support for sex workers, such as mental health resources for the industry specifically?

Yeah unfortunately we’re still very criminalised and looked down upon. Sex work has been around for years, I wish it was more accepted.

What are some negatives of being a sexworker?

As an individual sex worker it can really weigh on you mentally because of not really having a set schedule and feeling like you have so much to do it’s just work work work and it can be very stressful. Then you get constant abuse from haters and have your profiles removed from platforms over and over because these people report all your posts to get your account taken down, and most of the time they don’t actually check the reported posts and accounts get deactivated unfairly. We then have to start from the bottom and build ourselves up only to get deactivated again and have to start all over. This has a negative effect on income and mental health. It’s very exhausting.