“The first time I posted a nude, I think, my first fully nude picture online was [on] Gone Wild.”

Amber Martin, 28, doesn’t look like your run-of-the-mill nude model. Her photos are mostly untouched and her face is frequently shown without makeup. She has natural breasts, blue hair, and lots of tattoos. And in spite of looking unconventional, she has amassed thousands of fans by sharing nude pictures of herself to Reddit’s GoneWild community.

As you’d expect from any place that hosts pictures of naked women, Gone Wild is, well, a bit controversial. The community, comprised of just under a million subscribers, has been labeled exploitative, creepy, or just downright trashy by critics.

But GoneWild differs from more traditional porn sites. The women and men who voluntarily post sexually revealing pictures of themselves don’t ask for money in return for posting. And anybody is encouraged to post—you don’t have to look like a stereotypical porn star to participate. More often than not, the amateur models directly interact with their fans in the comment section.

Courtesy Amber Martin

It may not come as a surprise that the majority of models choose to hide their identity when posting. Martin (AKA Reddit user Yassdaddy) is one of few who doesn’t conceal her face in photos.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to hide my face, especially since my tattoos are kind of a dead giveaway,” Martin tells Upvoted.

Martin is new to the Gone Wild community—she began posting just a few months ago. It was her first time sharing a fully nude picture online.

“I really didn’t expect any attention. I thought nobody would notice. I got really popular,” she says.

Some of her images have garnered over 100,000 pageviews.

As for her motivation?

“Part of it is just for fun. Part of it is just for the self-esteem boost that comes with it. I model and stuff. I have a YouTube channel. It’s great exposure. I booked a couple of modeling jobs through Reddit. That’s pretty cool. I kind of want to be, like, internet famous.”

So far, Martin says her friends and parents have been supportive. She states that her male friends “love it” and her girlfriends admire her courage.

It was kind of funny getting texts from friends that said ‘Hey, I just saw you naked on Reddit.’

As for her family, Martin shares that her family is well-aware of her online life and entirely comfortable with nudity: “My mom has a framed picture of me, where I’m topless, in our living room. It’s funny that my mom has that in our living room.”

Framed picture of Martin in her family’s living room. (Courtesy Amber Martin)

She also describes her father as “free-spirited.” When Martin asked him for advice on whether or not she should post nude photos online, he told her, “Just do whatever makes you happy.”

But Martin says that not everyone in her life would ever be so supportive: “My ex-husband would have never, ever, let me do anything like that,” she explains, “so it’s kind of a liberating thing.”

She says that she finalized her divorce around the time she first began posting to the community.

Of course, Martin is simply not shy when it comes to being naked—in fact, she prefers being in a nude state: “If I could be naked all the time, I would, honestly.”

But she shares that she wasn’t always so confident with her body, describing herself as awkward during her teenage years. Martin says she grew her confidence by posting her photos on Gone Wild.

Courtesy Amber Martin

“For the most part, the Reddit community is really supportive and nice,” Martin shares. “It makes me feel good when people say, ‘Wow! Your butt is awesome.’ I’ve gotten a lot more self-confidence in my late 20s.”

Martin tries to engage with all the people who leave comments on her images, saying that she sees them more than just usernames on the Internet: “We message back and forth. I say, ‘You guys are not fans. We’re friends.'”

The responses, however, are not always supportive: “I have some guy telling me I’m trashy. The creepiest was from someone offering to buy my used feminine hygiene products. I’ve had people offer to buy my dirty panties. ”

And, of course, there have been guys who offered to pay her for sex. But she says one of the most despicable comments was from that one guy who closed his message to her with an “OHHHH M’LADY I NEED YER COONT!!!”

Overall, she says, the comments have been overwhelmingly positive, and the trolls are few and far between. Martins assures that she doesn’t consider herself exploited, stating that she is the one entirely behind her decision to share her photos online:

“It’s not like revenge porn. That’s not cool. Nobody is forcing anybody to post pictures. I post on my own terms. And that’s the case with Gone Wild: women on their own terms. We control what we post and what we share. It’s not like going to some creepy couch to do porn because you’re broke and need money. That’s exploiting women.”

As for her future plans, Martin says she hopes to one day pursue a career in anthropology. But for the time being, she has no plans to stop posting her images online anytime soon:

“I’m really thankful for how kind everyone is. [Reddit] has been so welcoming. It’s been a really positive experience.”