Porn is fucking amazing.
Producers pour time, money, passion, and energy into creating content. We hire performers, editors, camera people, website builders. We buy ad space, rent film locations, and pay for food to be at the set.
Performers pay for STI checks (if they’re in an area where this is an out-of-pocket expense), clothing, toys, makeup. Sometimes gym memberships. They take time off of their day jobs to be on set, spend time, effort, energy, and passion to get their “look” right, to perfect the scene, to shoot something fantastic.
We don’t have job security or medical/dental benefits. We don’t know when the next gig is coming or how much we’ll make for it. But it’s worth it for us.
Despite this, the industry is suffering
DVD sales and pay-per-view services are decreasing drastically (Steven Hirsch, the head of Vivid Entertainment, estimates that sales have decreased 80 percent in the past five years).
Why?
Because fans are using sites like Tumblr, Xtube, and PornHub. They use streaming services and pirate videos – many people not viewing this as “stealing” content but as “sharing” it. They don’t think their actions are harming anyone. After all; the porn industry is thriving, isn’t it??
What people don’t realize is that they are taking someone’s creative property and sharing it on a site that allows millions of people to view it for free – often without even crediting the performers, producers, or crew.
This is millions of views that weren’t paid for initially, and those viewers won’t even be able to easily track down the performers! You aren’t getting paid, and the “exposure” isn’t even helping you, as it isn’t directing people back to your work. You aren’t “helping” us get exposure, you’re actively making it harder for us to make sales.
When streaming sites like PornHub came out between 2005-2010, torrenting and streaming rates increased dramatically. This resulted in studios going out of business, thousands losing jobs, budgets being slashed (affecting how much performers are paid, having little to no crew, getting by on cheaper quality gear than is optimal, etc). It became much more of a struggle to actually profit from the work that they made, especially smaller companies.
Many porn performers took to other means of supplementing their income – escorting, stripping, and cam shows being some common methods (though obviously porn stars work in all industries, not just the sex industry).
According to Siri (the performer, not the AI) in her article over at The Kernel, “Unlike Hollywood actors, adult film performers are not millionaires. This is not a get-rich occupation. Even the most popular and successful among us, or about 10 percent of performers, earn the same approximate annual income from shooting scenes as that of an IT manager. The other 90 percent of performers would be lucky to make the same annual income as a high school teacher. And they’re the ones who are forced to take the biggest pay cuts for their per-scene rates, just to get hired.”
And it’s true. As someone who works in a niche market of the industry, most people I know who produce or perform in porn are at or under the poverty line – we are definitely not living the glamorous lifestyle people expect from our career! There are so many common misconceptions about the industry, but this is one of the biggest.
I understand that many people view porn as being a luxury product. That their finances are tight and “porn isn’t a thing that you pay for, after all”. And I completely understand not having money for the things you want/need!
But the thing is that we can’t expect to get products for free without it having a major impact on the industry.
As more companies are forced to shut down, and more performers are forced to supplement their income elsewhere, the less new content will be made.
The industry is shrinking, even as the number of people performing in porn increases. If things continue like this, the industry won’t be able to sustain itself. If action isn’t taken – now – it will be too late.
Q&A
What do I do if I like a specific performer’s work but nothing else on the site and don’t want to get memberships with each?
Some sites give you the option to buy specific videos! If not, head to the performer’s twitter/website and see if there’s any option to tip/donate money; maybe you can buy tokens for their cam shows or donate to their patreon, or buy them things off of their wishlist.
What if I can’t afford to pay for porn?
Look into their policies! CrashPad Series has 7 Ways to Watch CrashPad for Free (and Still Support Queer-Made Porn) that you can read over, if you want to access their videos!
Message performers or producers that you like and see if there’s any agreement that you can make (especially likely with smaller studios). Be respectful about it, though. If you message us saying “I don’t want to buy your work, send it to me instead”, we probably won’t respond as nicely as if you say “I love your work but unfortunately am not able to financially support it. Are there any services you need that you’re willing to exchange for a video?” There are definitely projects that I need assistance with!
Why would I pay for porn when I can get it for free?
Did you read this post? If you have read everything I’ve said about the dying industry, workers’ rights, rising costs, etc, and still don’t see a reason to pay for your porn, I don’t know what to tell you.
I don’t have a credit card
You can get pre-paid credit cards! These can be used to buy individual clips or a month/multi-month subscriptions with one of these. When it runs out of funds, some are reloadable, or you can get a new one, or hopefully you’ve bought enough individual clips that you have enough porn to last you a while!
I don’t watch enough of it to warrant a monthly subscription
That’s fine! There are sites like clips4sale where you can buy individual videos, or many sites like CineSinclaire have a clip store as well.
I live with my parents
Do you have your own computer? Or a thumbdrive you can put your porn on? Wipe your browser history and continue on with your day, as you do when you’re watching porn that you haven’t paid for.
Further Reading:
The Willingness to Pay for Porn – Pink Label TV
5 Ways To Support Ethical Porn (Even If You Can’t Afford It) – Autostraddle
3 Ways to Start Watching Porn Ethically – The Daily Dot
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