Sex workers are having a moment, but is the discourse missing the mark?

USA Today

17 hours ago

Sex workers are having a moment, but is the discourse missing the mark?
The internet is talking about sex workers. A lot.
They were in the spotlight during Oscars season − "Anora" won five awards, including best picture − and OnlyFans stars are gaining popularity on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, becoming pseudo-celebrities in the process.This week, the discourse reached new heights. On June 11, The Economist published a profile of controversial adult entertainer Bonnie Blue titled "Welcome to Bonnie Blue's Britain." The 26-year-old made headlines by staging a since-canceled "petting zoo" stunt to give male fans unfettered access to her. The move angered fellow OnlyFans creators, like Sophie Rain, and made headlines. So what's going on? Sex work is having a moment. But some sex workers, whether they work in strip clubs or as online adult content creators, feel their lived experiences all too often get ignored in the discourse.
'Sex work is work' has become a party line for progressive politics, says Marla Cruz, a 30-year-old sex worker. Signs with the phrase can be found at women's marches and bedazzled T-shirts. But Cruz, along with half a dozen sex workers and OnlyFans creators USA TODAY spoke to, say that while recognizing sex workers' labor is important, the spotlight belongs on the financial and legal barriers to their safety and agency, which they say requires a deeper understanding of their work.
'There are plenty of people who will destigmatize the concept that sex work is real work, which it is,' Cruz says. 'But just because you recognize that it's real work, that doesn't mean that you respect the worker behind it.'
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Controversial OnlyFans stunts make 'a joke out of all of us'
In December 2024, Lily Phillips made headlines for having sex with 100 men in 24 hours and documenting it for her OnlyFans. That documentary accumulated over 10 million views on YouTube and ignited passionate reactions. In January, Blue said she slept with 1,057 men in 12 hours.
Rain, a Miami-based influencer with over 500K fans on OnlyFans and 20M followers across social media platforms, called out Blue for turning the platform into a 'clown show.' Rain is a member of the Bop House, a content creator mansion of eight Gen Z OnlyFans creators. Her posts toe the line between sensual and sexually suggestive but never involve full nudity.
'It's no longer women empowerment. It's shock value, and she's making a joke out of all of us. We built this space to take control of our bodies and make money on our terms,' Rain said in a statement. 'Brands don't take us seriously anymore. Media doesn't take us seriously. I'm tired of having to explain that not all of us are doing circus acts for clicks.'
Adreena Winters, who has worked in the adult entertainment industry for over 15 years, starting with studio porn before transitioning to OnlyFans during COVID-19, also worries that customers will 'lose trust' in sex workers if these stunts are just tactics to garner media attention.
Still, she hopes these larger conversations can continue the positive trend she's seen in dismantling stigma against sex workers. She attributes this 'big shift' to OnlyFans' presence in books, documentaries and mainstream music. Artists like Lily Allen and Cardi B have used the platform to promote their music or release exclusive content, and Bad Bunny's track "Te Mudaste," which mentions OnlyFans, landed on Billboard's Top 100.
But Winters says the acceptance hasn't extended to other areas of sex work, such as studio porn.
'I feel like it is very OnlyFans related. OnlyFans is quite ambiguous, people don't just jump to the conclusion that you're doing hardcore porn,' she says, adding that there is also a 'ridiculous amount of stigma and discrimination in the business world.'
Keily Blair, the chief executive of OnlyFans, told the Financial Times that one bank turned her down as a customer. Both Winters and Cruz have struggled to access banking tools in the U.K. and U.S., they say, with Winters resorting to 'obscure, online banks' after having her accounts closed. Sex workers frequently ask for advice on Reddit and exchange tips for setting up a bank account to process their OnlyFans earnings.
And, FOSTA-SESTA, a U.S. law passed under President Donald Trump in 2018, attempted to shut down websites that facilitate sex trafficking, including the popular advertising platform Backpage, which had been taken down a few days prior by U.S. federal authorities. But sex workers say that in the process, it damaged an online infrastructure that helped keep them safe.
A 2020 study of FOSTA's effects on sex workers showed it increased economic instability for about 72% of the study's participants, and nearly 34% reported an increase in violence from clients. Cruz argues that repealing SESTA-FOSTA, which 'goes hand-in-hand' with decriminalizing sex work, is a crucial step in improving their working conditions.
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Sex workers need worker protections, not just attention
Cruz's introduction to sex work was as a sugar baby when she was 18 to help pay for college. After working an office job, she began stripping and offering "full-service," which includes exchanging sex for money.
She's moved around the country. At one strip club, Cruz faced the 'worst working conditions' she'd ever experienced. In those moments, the least of her concerns was whether or not people saw her labor as 'real work.'
While working as a stripper, she was strangled in the 'champagne room,' where clients would go for private services. When she turned to management, they encouraged her not to involve law enforcement.
'Whether or not somebody thinks what we're doing is normal is totally immaterial to whether or not we are safe at work,' she explains. 'I need an emergency button in the champagne room. I need a bouncer by the champagne room to be there if a customer is abusing me.'
Online, some young female OnlyFans stars make their lives look aspirational. Rain's 'Bop House' squad has a combined following of nearly 90 million users across social media platforms.
'I wanna be like you when I get older,' one follower wrote under a video of the women dancing. "I need to join the bop house,' said another.
But while Cruz has said committing to the industry was the best decision she has ever made, she doesn't encourage other women to follow in her footsteps.
On 'Stripper Twitter,' an online community of in-person sex workers, they look out for each other. Part of the reason that community is so strong, Cruz says, is because they understand how 'difficult, lonely and isolating' the work can be.
More: Online, young female OnlyFans stars make their lives look aspirational. Is it problematic?
Sex workers want better representations of their lived experiences
Cruz had been excited for the release of 'Anora,' but was disillusioned by the film.
'Anora' follows the whirlwind relationship between a 23-year-old stripper, Ani (Mikey Madison), and her client-turned-husband, Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. The romantic dramedy was marketed as a Cinderella story, and an early screening to an audience of sex workers, who clacked their heels in approval during the end credits, swiftly circulated on social media. When the film dominated awards season, other sex workers began expressing their disapproval.
One of Cruz's biggest criticisms is that it depicted sex workers 'through the eyes of customers and consumers and not as workers performing labor,' which she calls a 'disrespect of our work.' To her, the film was a 'reminder' that the lived experiences of sex workers like herself, and the tensions between sex workers and consumers, will 'not be portrayed accurately' unless sex workers are in control of that portrayal from start to finish.
''Anora' embodies the dehumanizing consumer fantasy of a devoted worker who loves the consumer so much she does not conceive of her servitude as labor,' Cruz wrote of the film.
In Mikey Madison's acceptance speech for best actress at the Oscars, Madison recognized the sex worker community: 'I see you. You deserve respect and human decency.'
For Cruz, those sentiments fell flat.
'Advocacy for sex workers cannot be ambiguous,' she says. Instead of awards, she'd like to see real, tangible change.