Well, not exactly. The industry is still alive, but it is dying.
Sex is shoved in our faces from a young age by the media in all its forms; you can’t even walk through the checkout aisle at the grocery store without being bombarded with bright, bolded statements on magazines like “HOW TO HAVE BETTER SEX!!” and “TEN TIPS TO MAKE YOUR TOES CURL IN BED!!” As soon as we learn to read, sex is already normalized. Don’t get me wrong, sex is completely normal and healthy, and everyone recognizes their sexuality at their own pace. When I was a teenager I know I looked at some things online that I shouldn’t have. All you have to do is open your internet browser, type in a few key words, and you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for with the click of a button;
“Are you 18 or older? YES or NO?”
It’s not hard to lie on the internet. Everyone has their go-to tube site, easily accessible free sites with thousands of uploaded pornographic videos ranging from professional to amateur, such as PornHub, RedTube, and countless more. It never occurred to me that most of the videos available on these sites are pirated. Not until I started sex work myself.
If I asked myself in my teens what I would be doing with my life after high school, I never would have guessed porn. Much like tons of others, I was an avid slut shamer. I talked down about girls in my grade who were sexually active, I threw around words like “skank” and “whore” like they were nothing because everyone else did it. I thought it was normal. Then I would go home, pull up my favorite tube site, and masturbate. Shaming women for being sexual, then taking advantage of that sexuality for my own personal gain. How ironic.
When I turned 20, I was no longer a slut shamer, considered myself a feminist, and I was beginning to truly embrace my own sexuality. This was when I began sex work, basking in the empowerment I felt from sharing something so natural and beautiful with other people. I didn’t expect it to be as hard as it was. From the perspective of most porn watchers, solo videos are easy: set up a camera, push record, and masturbate. After I built up a social media presence, I started releasing videos complete with gif advertisements and corny descriptions, then I waited.
I was confused — if I had so many followers, how come I wasn’t getting sales? Why was I getting more messages asking for free nudes than notifications for video sales? Was there something wrong with me?
No, not a thing wrong with me, but something wrong with society.
Tube sites have been so popularized that very few people want to spend money on porn anymore. Nobody has to leave the house to buy or rent a video cassette from a shoddy porn shop. Why buy Hustler or Playboy when you can just open Google and search for “hot nudes”? Then those same people who search for these photos and watch stolen porn go to sex workers already feeling as if they deserve something from them. When they don’t get what they want from a sex worker, she’s no longer “hot” and “beautiful”, she’s a “bitch” and a “whore”. We are no longer people sharing the luxury of our sexuality, we’re told to get “real jobs” despite the level of effort we put into our work. We are sex objects who don’t deserve to make a living.
In a country where sexuality is becoming more acceptable, you would expect that the porn industry would flourish. Like a trip to a high class restaurant, porn is a luxury. It’s not acceptable to eat your entire meal and then demand that it be free, much less to dine and dash. So why would you steal from sex workers?
There are some benefits to tube sites. Big porn companies can host their own channels where they can advertise and upload teasers that will bring viewers to purchase the full videos. Unfortunately, those same videos can be stolen by anyone and reuploaded to those tube sites and nobody will bat an eye. Even live cam shows can be recorded without permission and uploaded to these sites. In turn, the sex industry takes a hit.
Until we escape from the sexist, slut shaming reality, the sex industry will continue to decline. Next time you think about opening a tube site and watching one of the many pirated videos, take a moment to think about the people it hurts. Pay for porn, or it’ll be gone before you know it.
