Sex Workin’ While Black
By: Love Siren
Tags: Pornography, Sex Work Is Real Work, Onlyfans, Sex Work, Black Women

I strutted my hot ass into this business at 24 years old ready to release my inner Jezebel and swim in coins. I chose the business because sex symbols and hoe cultutre as a whole heavily impacted my life. My first tattoo was Marilyn Monroe’s signature because I was a die hard Marilyn fan in my early 20’s. I felt strongly about owning my sexuality and I enjoyed creating content with nudity so Marilyn was just one of many of my idols. Sex positive figures always appealed to me from Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Trina, and many more big names from the past to the present. No matter how much I was told to not be like these women, I couldn’t suppress who I was and I was ready to just be me. I wanted to celebrate my sexuality, see the magic of turning my nudes into dinner or an outfit, and see what my body could really do.

Selling nudes was how I got my start. You would think since so many people are dying to see you naked that it would be an easy buck right? Wrong. The popularization of tube sites and this idea of “porn should be free” makes it very hard to be a sex worker and ten times as hard to be a black sex worker. I have the typical assets a black woman is known to have; fat ass, thick thighs, curves, etc. I received boatloads of thirst but that first sale was a bitch! It took me a month to sell my first nude set while I watched white sex workers say “Yeah I sold nudes before, I made like $400 my first day!” My DM’s were full of “You should remove the censorship so I can see” once I told them they had to pay they would most likely ghost, curse me out, or block me. All sex workers deal with that male entitlement but it’s way bigger when it comes to being a black sex worker. My black body isn’t put on a pedestal, like some sculpture in a museum people would die to have in their homes. No. My black body is instead looked at as a dime a dozen. Nobody wants to pay a fee to see people who look like me, instead they’d rather peek through the window, send their homeboy in to take a picture for them, and send it to all their friends. I learned very quickly.

As a black cam model I learned even quicker. Camming was and will always be my least favorite avenue of sex work. Go to a white cam models room and see a chick fully clothed staring at the screen halfway to her goal. Go to a black cam models room and see her twerking, playing spin the wheel, teasing, talking, repeating “You gotta tip for that” it makes me sick! Black cam models gotta be the biggest crowd pleasers and in return they’ve made $10 in 4 hours. Once that new model promo wears off good luck to you! New model promo is being pushed to the front page your first week so you have to perform your best to secure your spot. How do black women secure their spot as a cam model when after that first week they’re pushed down the rabbit hole pages and pages into the abyss? Everything after your first week as a black cam model is fighting to get to the front page. New model promo wears off for all models but if by society's standards Becky is more appealing then Monique, who do you think will truly be affected by the loss of new model promo? How do you get those much needed private shows when you’re seen as easy and should already be naked in free chat? But Karen and many more Karens are already naked because they have the clientele. Tokens are also 50 cents a piece and these men will throw two at you and go “Show tits'' telling you your price is too high for anything higher.

Black women performers may get a little bit of a boost if we work with men. We work much harder than male performers yet it’s hard to prove our validity if we aren’t taking dick. I had a partner on cam for a while and got a pretty nice audience on Chaturbate but it was drenched in racism. I was horrified reading “Watching black people have sex is the best!” I made more money as a couple creator but I didn’t want men centered in my work. I also didn’t like the idea of a bunch of racists watching me fuck my partner. Imagine not wanting to get naked for free and being called a “nigger”. Imagine the envious men saying your black partner's locs probably smell like cow shit all because he fucking and the viewer watching you can’t. If you would like a slight glimpse into the world of a black cam model, watch “Jezebel” on Netflix.

Now imagine being black working clip and subscription platforms such as; ManyVids, JustForFans, Onlyfans, AP Clips, FetLife, IWantClips, etc. The fans of black sex workers are super entitltled and they love nothing more but to consume our content. These people are leeches sucking everything out of you as you create clip after clip, interact, have discounted sales, and fight to have the energy to keep going without tips and little to no acknowledgement. Every week it’s just “Dance harder monkey we’re not entertained.” You think of new video concepts and ways to stand out. I was twerking with balls, cups, and plants on my ass, no tips. I did a recreation video of “Crush On You” by Lil Kim doing all her iconic looks,no tips. My Onlyfans was like a virtual strip club and I had new looks every week, still no tips. Black sex workers also lack the funds to hire people to do production and editing work for them so we do it ourselves. I put over 10 hours of labor into each clip I made and alot of my clips barely sold. Tell me how I can reach payout when I haven’t made sales all week on my one million videos sitting collecting dust? The payout amount is different for each site; On Pornhub it’s $100, Onlyfans it’s $20, ManyVids it’s $50. Payout means I need to make a certain amount of money to even get my money that I worked for in the first place. To put it bluntly, even if you have money sitting there from sales if it isn’t x amount you can’t receive it. Imagine your employer holding your money hostage because you didn’t make x amount on your check. Imagine how hard it can be to even get to that amount when your race is an obstacle from you getting the much needed sales to get your money.

Social media is your livelihood when you’re a sex worker! Yet everyone thinks it’s a free peepshow. The disgust I feel when I see “I just came here for the freaks” in mens bios as they jerk to black sex workers previews and don’t tip as much as a dime! I love to tell the story about the white girl on my facebook feed who said she linked her Periscope to her twitter going live for 2 minutes. From that point people would find her Onlyfans on her twitter and subscribe.These lives consisted of her being fully clothed throwing up peace signs.This woman said the key to building a clientele is looking pretty, good lighting, and logging on everyday. She also said she doesn’t promote other sex workers because it may drive sales away from her. We top it off with “I never get naked in my promos and I don’t make videos on my Onlyfans.”That’s cute baby, I don’t know one black sex worker that hasn’t tried nude promotions as a desperate attempt to get subs. I don’t know one black sex worker that doesn’t have to shake some ass. I don’t know one black sex worker that doesn’t rely on retweet groups to bump their posts. What is it like to make 6K on Onlyfans in 6 days and all you’ve done is look pretty in a 2 minute live on Periscope? To add insult to injury she barely looked pretty. Sis threw on a hoodie and sweats, had on glasses, and her straw straight hair unstyled. Also, imagine being shadowbanned on twitter (the only platform thats somewhat safe for sex worker promotion)cause you “promote too many links” when all you’re trying to do is build your clientele. And as a black sex worker your’e reported more cause you’re seen as too vulgar. Now potential buyers/regulars can’t find you and you’ve lost business because of it.

Let’s talk about how black sex workers spend 30 minutes to an hour preparing for their videos or webcam shows. I have over ten wigs of all different colors and styles posted up in my room. I made it a mission to never shoot in the same lingerie twice. Once a week either I or my super fan were buying new props, lingerie, make up, press on nails, pleaser heels, toys, etc. to keep my content fresh. Becky doesn’t have to work this hard. Becky doesn’t work 10 hours on her feet at her vanilla job and comes home to prepare for 4 hours of ungrateful cam viewers. There was never a time at any point in my career when I could quit my vanilla job and be ok. I honestly can’t believe i spent 4 years trying to make sex work a full time job, I barely made enough money a week for sex work to be part time.

So I was promoting consistently on social media and I got fed up with the huge amounts of interaction but so little business. Gaining pay for traffic was my goal for joining Pornhub since there is none on twitter. If I can get paid for traffic why would I plaster my ass all down the timeline for free right? My numbers on Pornhub were shooting up very quickly, quicker then I expected but the sales remained the same as anywhere else. Ad revenue on Pornhub is trash! Most Pornhub models' money is in their personal sales (videos,customs, etc.) fanclub subs, and tips. Now we run into the same issues. How many black pornhub models are featured? Unless you’re popular or you’re featured on Pornhub your average ad rev sales for the month are between 20-$40. That amount hardly has to do with your free views and more to do with your premium views. If you sell videos on Pornhub you can allow premium subscribers to view it for free and it’s a slight bump in your money. But how garbage is it that they don’t just buy the video? Pornhub is swimming in white men with ebony fetishes who will straight up tell you “I don’t pay black girls” they say it with their whole chest and the $9 I had sitting before I deleted all my videos proved it. When it comes to black pornhub models being featured, yes it does happen, but I need people to stop acting like the front page is full of black models. I need people to stop acting like black content creators aren’t lucky if they make it there. Do me a favor, go to any adult website right now and tell me what race of performers you see the most on the front page.

Black sex workers have to be perfect with not one hair out of place. I kept quiet about my financial woes so customers wouldn’t take advantage of me. I always wanted to appear as the bitch who had it all together. As a black sex worker you’re stereotyped as the broken girl who didn’t have a father so now you trickin’ to get by. We’re viewed in such a distasteful negative light. Do you think the song “40 Ball” was aimed at white sex workers? No. White women are valued by default, they don’t have to prove they’re valuable. I couldn’t afford to have blurry pictures, videos with bad audio, a broken nail, bad angles, low quality equipment, etc. I wanna say that at least 50% of being a black sex worker is proving you’re worthy. But even when you’re as sharp as the stilettos on your feet, you still find yourself looking for rent money between your couch cushions.

The numbers people see on their timeline creates the smoke and mirrors effect. You see black sex workers with 18K followers and 150 retweets and you assume all those followers are paying them. Wrong. People gravitate towards black sex workers because we know how to put on a show! However most of them are the same people who sit by the stage at strip clubs and don’t tip. I’ve spoken on my experiences many times on twitter and I got met with “Show your Onlyfans percentage or nothing in this thread is valid.” If I were to post my Onlyfans percentage and it was high, people would have thought I lied. If I posted my Onlyfans percentage and it was low, people would believe me. Numbers mean absolutely nothing! The numbers create a false image that people judge you by. Black sex workers have posted their Onlyfans earnnings to set the record straight about “Oh my God 15K followers! You must be rich!” No baby, these are freeloaders.

Numbers can never confirm how a sex worker is doing financially unless its an earnnings screenshot. Which brings me to the topic of “stuntin’.” People are often irritated by how much black sex workers boast about their sales. We have to, this goes back to the paragraph where I addressed us needing to appear perfect. Just because we’re posting cash app screenshots, doesn’t mean we’re rich. Just because we aren’t posting cash app screenshots, doesn’t mean we’re broke. If we post our tips too much people will think we don’t need their business. If we never post our tips, people will think we’re broke and bad for business. There really is no winning, because people don’t want to support us anyways.

In fact, people want to destroy you when you’re a black sex worker. Black sex workers can never leave the business even if they quit. I’m a former sex worker but I will always have a “reputation” I will forever have to live a double life. I will forever have to watch my back and protect my loved ones. My nudes have been sent to my little sister, I’ve been outed to family members, I’ve been stalked by clients. And at the end of the day nobodies coming to rescue black sex workers. “You should have never chosen that lifestyle” is what people say about us when we speak on any form of harm we receive. Black sex workers aren’t met with patience, empathy, and the warmth that white sex workers are met with. Black sex workers are mostly exploited for our labor, harmed, and disposed.

Cheap clientele and erasure were two things I hated the most about being a black sex worker. “Baby whatchu tryna do for this 40 ball?” Not a damn thing! “Black sex workers are cheap and easy” was the message GMACCASH was trying to send in his misogynoir ridden song “40 Ball” that induces the poor treatment we already endure. Speaking of any of this gets you silenced and told “It must be you” “Grind harder!” Sadly you’re told this by other black sex workers just because they were the lucky few who reached stardom. Even though they still had to work harder, be haggled, and picked over more than their white peers. No amount of hard work, knowledge, or skills will ever change the fact that you’re black. The experiences I’ve spoken of are not anecdotal. Below is a few similar experiences other black sex workers have shared with me:

“White women don’t get haggled because of their race, they get haggled because the person is cheap. They don’t have to hear “Oh my God race doesn’t matter!” when race very much so and very clearly has a part in how sex workers are treated. They don’t have to play mammy to everyone so they probably have way more time. They don’t have to be “respectable” and perfect all the time to get sales. They don’t get gaslit anytime they say they’re struggling.”

(Anonymous)

“When I started making videos, I used to DM back and forth with potential customers a lot more often. When I would suggest myself, “Oh you’re sexy but I don’t buy porn from black women.” Then, I’d go out into the non-cyber world and hear from people’s mouths “Oh you’re beautiful, for a black woman.” I don’t think white sex workers would understand being desired in whispers yet seeing their features emulated with surgery and make up on others.” (Anonymous)

“You know, as a sex worker there’s already a whole flock of people against you because of their issues. Being black seems to add on even more drama. You work 3x as hard with better editing skills and still get passed up for the conventionally attractive and skinny white girls. Then when you do get attention, they immediately expect your prices to be lower while they pay $30 for Becca’s Onlyfans and $20 per ppv(pay per view). Sex work is mentally and physically draining for a person of color. Then you have the white guys who want to “worship” you but also request race play all the time. I personally had two white finsubs mid session, ask me if they could call me a house nigger cause I’m “too pretty” to be a field nigger. If it’s not one thing it’s something else.” (Anonymous)

As if being a black sex worker wasn’t hard enough, there’s double the bull shit you receive when you’re a sex worker who’s black and queer, trans, disabled, fat, darkskinned,and non binary. I wanted this article to be as inclusive as possible showing at least a few examples of these. Here’s a few sex workers who deal with mutiple marginilizations:

“Where do I begin? Being an openly queer black sex worker has been an amplified version of my everyday life. The blatant disrespect I had gotten when I first started two years ago was insane! The constant struggle to just get paid as a queer content creator is too real. I still get asked for meet ups by men even though I don’t take an interest in men and I’m not quiet about it. I also have to hear about how my content isn’t good enough without men very often.” (Gothcakez)

“Sex work has always been something I’ve gravitated towards even from my early daydreams. When the opportunity came to give it a try I delightfully accepted. I started on Pornhub posting homemade videos. I then learned about Reddit through word of mouth and decided to try my hand at getting actual customers. When you first think of sex work you’d think it’s progressed since we’re now in the year 2020. Everyone basically watches porn so there has to be room for just about everything and everyone. Reddit definitely was the social app that was rumored to be a safe space for sex workers who look like me but that couldn’t be more false. My first month on Reddit I was called a fat nigger and every comment ended with the phrase “chocolate”. My pictures were of higher quality then my thin white peers but they received barely any acknowledgement. Men poured into my DM’s asking if they can “eat my fat black ass” and begged for free content. When I brought my grievances to twitter I was once again met with the same responses “Keep your head down, work harder, and you’ll get to the top”. (Anonymous)

A rose colored lense is placed over sex work and I’m simply tired of it. When black sex workers reach out for help, other black sex workers will fund us before our viewers, fans, or followers. Black sex workers pass their empty cups around the table to fill it with whatever water they have left. We take from our own fountain and we’re supposed to be happy and silent about it. We’re talked over with articles and videos of Becky telling her viewers how she made 30K in one month. People see a few chicks post their Onlyfans statements and assume it’s the only experience. People see 3 or 4 black sex workers become rich and assume the game must be equal. It took me until the end of my career to make it on the “Top 100 Ebony MV Star” list and trend on AP Clips. Lil B was in my DM’s and didn’t tip or buy any of my content. It doesn’t matter what level of recognition or praise I received, the money never matched it. Black sex workers content is disrespected on the highest level. I had over 20K interactions on one of my tweets and received 4 subs. “You just gotta find your audience” I don’t have an audience of 20K people?

How much harder shall I grind? What level of exhaustion must I have reached before I blew up? I literally worked my ass off until I damn near killed myself. It took me 3 years to get a buyer who worshipped the ground I walked on. I stayed up all night on cam until 3am and had to be at work at 8am. I bought new lingerie for each video I made. I paid the OG’s for tips. I invested in books and rebranded. My consistency? Unmatched! Throw out every tip or suggestion you’d like, I’m sure I’ve done it. I had to shed light on the black sex worker experience that’s swept under the rug. I had to show people what it’s like to truly be us.

Everyone wants to enter sex work now, if you’re a black woman enter at your own risk. Sex work can be beautiful. Sex work can be fun. Sex work can be lucrative. Don’t get me wrong, I have good memories of sex work. I have no regrets of doing sex work despite every obstacle I faced. But at the same time, it’s an ugly dirty game for black women. It’s being a crab in the bucket never making it no matter how much you climb. It ain’t cute bitch, but do you!