The adult industry has entered an era where social media is now an important platform for both models and companies to promote themselves and their work. Many prominent companies have already incorporated social media and its benefits into how they conduct their business, including booking models with a large enough fanbase to mutually benefit, creating their own social media accounts, and researching algorithms in order to best advertise to their fans and promote their work.
It is the perfect way for models (both mainstream and indie) to build their brands and profit without having to rely on mainstream exposure. For many models, the entertainment world fluctuates in work. Many have to find other means of income. However, because of social media censorship, and even sex worker prejudice, it is becoming more and more difficult for models and sex workers alike to work independently. So why are others at war with porn on social media?
As many might know, social media platforms like Instagram and its parent-company, Facebook, are heavily funded by wealthy religious lobbyists, which makes online censorship extremely strict and unforgiving toward female users (most oftentimes being sex workers and porn performers). Over the years, many models have dealt with suspended and even deactivated accounts due to the over-moderation of our marginalized community. Many having recently fallen victim to an online predator targeting only sex workers, whose mission is to eliminate sex-worker social media accounts for what they believed to be a greater cause. Most of the models who have fallen victim to this blatant discrimination haven’t been able to recover their accounts or any of the images and memories lost from the deactivation: lost references, business connections, and current or possible work.
Many models lose out on what may have been or could potentially be a large part of their income because of prejudice, but social media has also helped bring the adult industry into the mainstream light. Similar to brand advertising and mainstream product funding in motion pictures and music, sex workers can now bridge the gap that once separated sex workers from mainstream entertainment. The adult model with a passion for music can now express herself honestly, revealing more than a one-dimensional sex icon. And the filmmaker with the need for an unconventional and open-minded model can now create the art they would’ve had to put on hold or alter for fear of personal judgment. Even the way that porn is being produced and made is being directed to a larger fanbase in order to market to majority of people worldwide. Not just movie parodies, but many musical and creative artists have turned to industry giant Pornhub as a creative outlet for recent works.
With that, even the quality of porn has not only changed, but evolved. Sex workers now have the freedom to express themselves through their work and form a stronger bond with their friends and/or fans who truly appreciate the content they produce. Porn is no longer limited to taboo sex and hardcore intercourse. Adult work has evolved into an art form, an art that allows you to use your body and your sexuality, while also becoming highly educational and enlightening for those who may be sexually inexperienced or experimental.
In December 2018, Tumblr announced that they would no longer accept porn on their platform, thus changing their terms of service. It was a devastating blow to sex workers and the adult industry, having removed one of porn’s biggest refuges. The platform wasn’t used for only writing and image-sharing, but a place where niche creatives and indie sex workers could freely express themselves, promote and share their work, and collaborate with other like-minded creatives that may or may not be established on other social media platforms. However, shortly after that, Tumblr announced that they lost a third of their users, having underestimated sex worker online influence. These users weren’t just sex workers, but also users who followed, invested, and even sponsored these creatives whose work couldn’t be found anywhere else.
I reached out to AVN Hall of Fame Dominatrix Julie Simone about her recent deactivation from Facebook.
LR: Have you ever been suspended and/or deleted from social media? (If so, do you have any idea why?)
JS: I was deleted on Facebook, then they reverted the profile to my full legal name and blocked me from changing it back. I was never given a reason. My account on Instagram was disabled for well over a month due to violating the TOS, though they never said specifically what I did wrong.
Do you use your platform to make extra income? Some models use IG to become brand ambassadors; do you do something similar?
When I was on Facebook it was my primary way of connecting with other models and photographers for work or content trades. I also sold a lot of artwork on Facebook to fans. Clients regularly mention that they look at my Instagram, and that motivates them to book a session or they look at it before the session to get amped-up.
How has losing your social media platform affected your work in the adult industry?
Not being on Facebook has been crippling. Tons of magazines want you to apply/answer casting calls via Facebook. I’ve lost my network of professionals. I no longer sell art, as my Instagram followers are very different from the followers I had on Facebook, who would often scoop up artwork within hours of posting it for sale.
All in all, Julie Simone missed out on the potential of selling dozens of works of art just by being suspended for only a month. Now imagine the many models who miss out on thousands of dollars as well as new possible clients on a specific platform, all because of their choice in profession. It isn’t just sex workers that are being targeted, but women in general. That is: women who are not mainstream models and actresses.
Alana Evans, who is AVN/XRCO/UrbanX Hall of Fame and President of the Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG Union) confronted this issue head-on with one of her own recent tweets:
Attached to this tweet was the following Instagram post from Kim Kardashian:
Adult performers and sex workers alike have been deleted from Instagram for much less, or in their case, for wearing more than Kim K’s birthday suit. From mesh tops, to thong-clad butts, models are being reported at an alarming rate.
On June 19th, APAG is forming a strike outside of the Instagram offices and all over the country to show their solidarity. Hopefully by the time that this piece is published, they will have come to an agreement with the platform and work on acknowledging performers as the artists that they are.
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