None of this is to say that these changes have been an unqualified good for women and other marginalized people. Seizing more control over the material often requires women to work more for less. Niche queer and feminist productions tend to serve smaller audiences and pay less, too. And a new law ostensibly passed to crack down on sex trafficking also risks sending all sex work underground, forcing women to again work through intermediaries and walk back the freedoms they have gained online.

Even social media exposure is a double-edged sword, as women in pornography have to work overtime to combat mainstream stigmas. And of course, whenever women rise, a male backlash awaits. For women, making it in porn is more of a hustle than ever.

But even that has its way of challenging stereotypes. It’s harder and harder to argue that porn performers are desperate people lured in by easy cash and coerced into submission. There’s just too little money in it — and women have to work too creatively to make it — for that to stand.

The past few years have shown a glimmer of what’s possible in porn. Now, as Ms. Hearts said, “we’re just waiting for these old white men to die off.”

Molly Matalon, an artist and photographer in Los Angeles, received her B.F.A. in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.