Chicago – \u201cIf you\u2019re still trying to shame sex workers in 2022, it\u2019s time you woke up to reality\u201d – so says adult film star Cindy Starfall of the seismic shift in social mores that were long ago put into place in order to keep women firmly in their place. \u201cThose days are over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thanks to two years of COVID restrictions, \u201csex work is more prevalent than ever and people no longer have the power to discredit or stigmatize our career choices\u2026 it\u2019s a far cry from when the threat of our \u2018secrets\u2019 being \u2018outed\u2019 to our families weighed heavily on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starfall recounts the time a little more than a decade ago when she was working a 9 to 5 job at a famous fashion retail store while moonlighting in the evenings as a webcam model to help pay off her student loans and supplement her meager retail salary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept this night job completely separate from my day job: however, one day I was called into HR and confronted with my profile photo from the cam site. They told me that a customer alerted HR, but I believe it to be someone else who sent the photo to my company, as well as every woman in his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though having this second job wasn\u2019t \u2018wrong\u2019, I was shamed by HR – they \u2018expected more\u2019 from me – and now that all my co-workers knew about my other job, I found myself in a hostile work situation and had to quit the job, which was nothing in comparison to my former boyfriend\u2019s family sending me harassing and rude texts\u2026 his mother told me I was ruining her family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now with the rise of OnlyFans, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic, independent content creators became their own bosses and working from home took on a whole new meaning. \u201cWith nearly two million content creators catering to more than 170 registered users, OnlyFans and the pandemic created the perfect opportunity for sex workers to enjoy financial success.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back, I know I made the right career decision; I am much more comfortable working with open-minded people who have an appreciation for what I do,\u201d adds Starfall. \u201cIt\u2019s human nature to judge people\u2019s life choices, and choices like this certainly leave us open to criticism; we are just not listening anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n