Watch Insight “Sex and Subscribers” on SBS Tuesday 8.30pm and On Demand.
Georgia was 21 when she first started making online sexual content.
“I was sceptical at first. I had just finished studying an opera degree and I was fully considering doing that path as a career.
“I was like, ‘I kind of have to make the decision here. I can't really go back into singing if I do this.’”
She says the financial pressures in her life influenced her decision to pursue online pornography.
“I just saw how much money people were making and I was broke. I was a receptionist working at a job I hated, “ she said.
Years later, when the pandemic hit Australia, Georgia’s partner joined her in making pornographic content. She says the financial strain was the reason her partner decided to participate.
“We owned gyms at that point and all the gyms had shut down during COVID, “ she said.
On the platform Georgia uses, content creators like her make money by sharing their material with paying subscribers.
Georgia and her partner made porn together for about six months before her partner decided to stop.
I just saw how much money people were making and I was brokeGeorgia
“There was definitely a massive increase in income when we started doing the more sexual content. Like, we tripled our income.”
While she believes her partner doesn’t regret the decision, now that he is financially stable, she says he would never go back to making online porn.
“It definitely served a purpose. It was definitely a very hard time for him financially and it did really help. It helped save our gyms. But he would definitely never come back to doing it.”
The reality of the online pornography industry
Tegan Larin is a PhD candidate at Monash University researching massage parlours and the unregulated sex industry in Melbourne. She says the hype around subscription platforms paint a picture of a platform that empowers women through sexual liberation and an increased income.
“You see the stories about women earning thousands of dollars a day. It’s seen as a kind of quick and easy, cheeky side hustle.”
In reality, content creators earn between US$10 ($15) to US$2000 ($3015) per month, according to a 2021 report by the Avery Centre, a US foundation researching adults experiencing commercial sex trafficking.
“It's not always such a quick and easy job for everybody,” said Dr Larin.
“I guess a lot of content creators out there who are working really hard to make that content but not necessarily seeing the income that follows.”
The report also found revenue for OnlyFans - a porn subscription service - increased 540 per cent in 2020, as the world went into lockdown.
Dr Larin says the rise in women flocking to subscription platforms reflects the difficult position many were faced with after losing income during the pandemic.
It’s seen as a kind of quick and easy, cheeky side hustle.Dr Tegan Larin
“Women were adversely affected by the pandemic in a lot of ways more so than their male counterparts. One of those ways was financially due to the type of work women are more overrepresented in like casual, or part-time or insecure, precarious forms of work. So they were often the first to lose their jobs,” she told Insight.
Dr Larin says many women were suddenly faced with a situation where they suddenly couldn’t make ends meet.
“If that’s a choice between paying rent and eating or not, is that really a choice?”
'Part of the gig economy'
Tilly is a sex worker and escort who briefly created content for online porn websites at the start of the pandemic. She believes the online porn industry has similarities to the gig economy.
“You're part of the gig economy and if that platform disappears from under you, if they decide to delete your account for some reason, it's really hard to build that platform somewhere else.”
Women were adversely affected by the pandemic in a lot of ways more so than their male counterparts.Dr Tegan Larin
Tilly believes that women in general are exploited by society and if people want to profit off their own bodies, nobody should stand in their way.
“I think also when women are choosing to profit off their sexuality, it's like, who are we to turn around and say, ‘No, you can't do that.’"
Meanwhile, Georgia has continued making content online.
“I actually transitioned into doing just solo content.”
“[My partner] is a big supporter of me doing it as long as it makes me happy.”
