Do you remember your first encounter with digital pornography? Chances are you ended up on an X-rated website after your curiosity got you googling words you shouldn’t have been, or you scrolled a little too far on the sketchy side of Tumblr, circa 2013. Whatever your first exposure to porn was, it’s likely that the content you stumbled upon was uploaded for quick, free consumption. It’s also likely that, if you still watch porn today, you’re drawn towards mainstream, free ‘tube’ sites that are overflowing with free videos across a wide range of categories. So why would one choose to pay for pornography?
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the lesser-known dark sides of the adult entertainment industry. I explored the male gaze through which porn is usually produced, the racial wage gap, tokenism and stereotypes, as well as legality and consent (or lack thereof). Researching this information led me down a rabbit hole of problematic practices in the sex work industry, specifically with regards to the economics behind it all. Today, I want to explore why it’s so important to pay for pornographic content. To do so, I’m going to trace back to how the industry has evolved and the impact this has had on the amount of money made in the industry that actually trickles down to sex workers.
“Old School” Pornography
Believe it or not, porn has existed pretty much ever since humans were around, but the industry reached a sort of Golden Age in the 1970s, with the growing popularity of high production value adult movies. At the time, actors would sign contracts which would guarantee their appearance in multiple high budget movies, along with magazine features and supported advertisement which could easily turn a performer into a star overnight. Since men were by far the largest producers and consumers of adult entertainment at the time, there was not much variety in the content being offered. Pornstars were expected to fit into a certain mould, with little room for diversity or any body outside of the idealized, skinny and large-chested pornographic model. The industry has certainly always had its flaws in terms of representation, but up until the age of free and accessible internet pornography, performers could at least guarantee a significant income and a much longer career than today’s average, which is currently standing between 4 and 6 months.
A “Declining Industry”
According to industry experts, the average income for a female adult performer has gone down by half in the last 20 years, going from around $100,000 in the late 1990s, to about $50,000 today*. This figure isn’t entirely representative of what performers really make today, though. It’s important to consider the ways in which the industry has evolved over the past couple of decades, with a major difference being that performers are usually paid per scene rather than through a long term contract. As a general rule, female actors in pornography tend to make more money than their male counterparts. The amount of money a female actor can make from a scene also varies a lot, ranging from $300 to $2,500 depending on how well-known they are, or what acts they are performing. For male actors, the range isn’t quite as large, with the average being between $500 and $600 for a scene, and up to $1,500 for better known actors, who can generally maintain a much longer career than women in porn.
PornHub’s Model Program works similarly to YouTube’s model for paying creators per view on advertisements. However, this format allows for a lot of non-consensual, or otherwise problematic content, to be uploaded to the website. PornHub, and other free mainstream adult entertainment streaming websites have certainly contributed to democratizing pornography, but is this really a good thing? In addition to becoming a channel for fraudulent transactions to take place, these mainstream platforms have supported a variety of unregulated, harmful practices that continue to take place within the industry today.
What Can Paying for Porn Guarantee?
Here are a few reasons you should be paying for your pornography:
You can ensure that your porn is ethical and high quality. As stated in my article on ethics in adult entertainment, most content standing behind a paywall is produced in conditions that are equitable, consensual and legal.
Paid websites are usually safer for you. We’ve all seen the pop-ups surrounding porn videos on free platforms; one wrong click, and your computer’s caught a virus. As a general rule, paid websites which don’t rely on ad revenue are a lot safer to browse and download from.
You can track the content back to its creator. PornHub allows you to download videos and reupload them anywhere else on the internet, so it can become extremely difficult, especially without any watermarking, to trace the videos back to its original source.
Along the same vein, paying for pornography normally guarantees that the money will actually trickle down to the entertainer. Even with websites like OnlyFans, which take a 20% cut of the money made by creators, there is still a straight-forward structure for how the money gets to the performer.
You’re contributing to building a safer, more ethical environment in pornography. It doesn’t have to be much, but as long as you’re paying a fair amount and you’re not consuming it for free, swiping your card can support individual entertainers but also encourage more viewers to consume ethically.
Conclusion: Pay for Your Porn!
Paying for pornography is one of the best ways you can support sex workers. Adult entertainment isn’t free to produce, and performers need to be paid in order to sustain their work without cutting any corners. It’s more important than ever to push for better conditions within the sex work industry, but it all starts by putting our money where our mouths are!