by BARDOT SMITH
PHOTOS by PENELOPE DARIO
Make no mistake, sex work is business. And in business, edge is everything.
What gives us an edge? It can be anything. A look. A skill. A technological advantage. A new efficiency. Unique insight into a niche market. Timing. Luck.
So how do we find it?
Sex workers exist on the periphery. Our lives overlap with the civilian world in quiet or obvious ways. But we’ve never been more visible than in the era of social media. While this visibility has made content distribution, audience development, and advertising easier in some ways, it has also come with the horrors of increased surveillance and policing. Sex workers online have been front-runners of the technological developments that have brought the internet to where it is now, and we are frequently a test population for new services, as well as new modes of surveillance and control. As one platform closes, we move on to the next, finding new ways to exist in a world that seems to have a love/hate relationship with us.