Stripping the Sex Work Stigma

Contributions by Madeline Wilson Photos by Kassandra Eller Design by Sara Roach

When you hear the term ‘sex work’, what do you picture? Maybe a young girl who works at a strip club? Someone who sells their body on the streets? Or even the men and women who work for PornHub?

The sex industry is a complicated business that is continuing to develop new mediums such as PornHub or Onlyfans that can deliver sexual content to viewers across the world, outside of what many commonly picture as a sex worker.

Continue reading to learn more about how the sex work stigma is changing during the digital age.

Defining Sex Work Sometimes it can be hard to define sex work, espeially because there is a differentiation between working for oneself and being exploited. “Exploitation is kind of putting someone in a situation where they are dependent on someone else,” explains Pamela McMullin-Messier, chairperson and associate professor of Sociology. “It's thinking of an exchange where ‘in order for this to happen, you need to do this for me.’ It is some sort of dependance on other people.”

According to the End Slavery Now organization, exploitation can occur in many forms including coercion, force or fraud. There are also many differing motives for who someone could be exploited into performing sex work.

McMullin-Messier notes age as a primary factor as well as one’s immigration status, especially in the U.S. “In trafficking work, people often have their documentation taken away from them. So they have all control … taken away from them,” she adds.

Differentiating between sex work and exploitation is important because the two terms can be seen as interchangeable. McMullin-Messier says, “[Explotation] often gets confused with sex work because it is very often in trafficking they are doing sex work. It is seen as an exchange. You are having sex in exchange for money.”

So if it’s not exploitation, then how is sex work different from criminal acts such as human trafficking? As noted by the Open Society Foundations, a global human rights organization, “Sex workers are adults who receive money or goods in exchange for consensual sexual services or erotic performances, either regularly or occasionally.”

Because sex work is work on the basis of an exchange for services, online platforms like OnlyFans may employ people who would consider themselves sex workers. Morgan McNeely, OnlyFans creator and Oregon resident, explains she considers those who show more of their bodies on the site to be sex workers but it depends on the person.

She adds, “I’m doing it … for my self confidence because I’m not always comfortable or confident with what I’m doing [or] how I look. I’m using it for two spectrums: for more money in, and also to feel more comfortable with myself.”

While the term ‘sex work’ has a broad understanding, the perceptions of this profession have begun to change as it appears more in daily life.

The Digital World With sex workers beginning to work in the online world, there are still risks involved with privacy and safety.

McMullin-Messier explains that surveillance of people in online platforms can be common. “You have easy ways for people to survey you that you don’t realize. We have all these horror movies sort of romanticizing it and then you have all these horrible things [happen].”

One of the factors that is a risk is the lack of proper guidelines for sex work that occurs online. McMullin-Messier questions whether any guidelines are currently in place and what laws need to be passed in order to make the risk factors less common.

However, some of the sites like OnlyFans have allowed creators to manage who is subscribing to their content. “You can block people if you wanted to. If you felt uncomfortable and needed to block someone you can,” says McNeely. “You can control the privacy of it to where you don’t get all these messages.”

Even with such settings there is still a general lack of knowledge surrounding the laws regarding sex work on these platforms. McMullin-Messier explains, “The weird thing is we have the technology and we are creating these norms around it. We have more knowledge but still there is a greater propensity for it to become a larger problem.”

As people begin to become more familiarized with the nature of sex work, especially as the work increases online, the stigma will continue to be erased but there are still some negative perceptions today.

McNeely explains “The more people do it and want to do it, the more and more positive it will become.” When people become familiarized with the nature of sex work and are safely entering the field of non-exploitative sex work, there may be more people willing to accept that it is an actual profession.

Moving Forward However, that does not completely rule out the lack of research and education needed to understand how sex work is changing. McMullin-Messier says, “There really does need to be more research on it. The problem is: how do you do more research on it?”

She adds, “If you have government agencies that refuse to fund these studies, there is no way you can do it. You’re looking at risk management in many ways that has an impact on the ability of people to do research.”

The lack of research on sex work adds to the dangers that many face, especially online; having more government interest in protecting the lives and income of sex workers may help eradicate the stigma.