1. You won't make millions, even though everyone will assume you do. Indie pornographers, unlike Playboy or Vivid, market directly to customers through social media, word of mouth, or through small distributors and production studios. Having a party-fueled mansion is the exception, not the rule. My job isn't much different than running a successful Etsy shop. But because I'm making and selling sex, I think there's a much different perception of who I am, what, I do, and how much I must be making in order to do such a thing.

2. Many people will assume you're unethical. The porn world has been depicted as a seedy place in films like Boogie Nights or Lovelace, but those films do not reflect my job or my ethics as a porn artist. Generally people are shocked that I'm a generous, kind, and reserved person. I wasn't prepared for the amount of sleaziness that has been projected onto me by others.

3. Nobody will take your art seriously. Imagine you write books for a living, and none of your friends will admit to reading them. That's what it's like being a porn maker. Even close friends will avoid your work and rarely tell you it has the artistic worth you put into it. No matter what, there's always going to be someone who thinks you've sold your soul to the devil.

4. Prepare for your work to be stolen constantly. If people don't take your work seriously as labor or art, why would they bother paying for it? Torrents, free streaming porn sites ("tube sites"), and password-sharing run rampant in the online porn world. This stream of free porn is a detriment to my livelihood as an indie artist and as a porn performer, and the livelihood of those who work with me or work for me. But as sex workers, we are seen as consumable objects that can be bought or stolen without consideration for the work we did and the consent we provided.

5. Hire a lawyer, because you'll need one. Your first lawyer emergency will happen sooner than you expect. The industry is full of people who will try to exploit you and your ideas, and it will cost you money to defend yourself. Make sure your contracts are legally binding and ethically sound, take time to understand the obscenity laws that apply to you, and be prepared to defend anything you've ever published.

6. You'll feel really awkward at parties and family functions, if you even get invited. Have fun answering the same 10 questions everywhere you go, and for nobody to ever really get to know who you are after they find out what you do. At the last wedding I went to, the bride put me at a table with five women who left the party with plenty of information about sex and sex work, and literally no personal details about my life or interests beyond porn. Eventually, some porn workers come up with alter egos (my default is "freelance web designer") in order to avoid spending their entire day talking about porn. I often feel lonely because I can't be truly out about what I do without getting put under a microscope.

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7. You're limiting what you can do in the future. Whether you're a producer or a performer (I am both), it's incredibly hard to leave or split your time in the adult industry with other industries and systems, like education, due to the stigma against sex work. Even in volunteer situations you'll face the risk of community backlash. Despite having won 12 awards for my work in porn, my résumé looks empty in the eyes of a mainstream employer.

8. You don't need any filmmaking skills whatsoever to make porn. I pieced together my first porn film in iMovie with no knowledge of film editing. Editing a single camera pointed at two people bouncing up and down is far easier than editing your last family vacation montage, as long as you start out with decent footage. It's even easier if you've got an iPhone.

9. You need a lot of filmmaking skills to make good porn. To make an entire adult film and make it ethically and make it enjoyable, you're going to need more than your libido and a flashlight. Experienced porn performers are professionals and can give great performances — you need them, or you need to have confidence in exciting, informing, directing, and shooting your amateur talent.

10. If you're good at it, you might get to do really cool things. Porn has taken me all over the world, to film festivals and conferences and even raves. It's gotten me free luxury hotel rooms, cool clothes, awesome sex partners, and all the free sex toys I could ever possibly need. You have a chance at a vibrant, albeit underground, film and party circuit that rivals the scandalous lives of a touring punk band, right down to the individual-size shampoos, late-night diner food, and your jealous boyfriend stuck at home.

11. Porn workers are generally quite shy. The words I would use to describe the majority of porn workers I know would include sexy, charming, captivating, and yes, shy! I was initially shocked to see how many people I worked with on set were soft-spoken and introverted — it's almost as though sex-loving shy people turn to porn making to fulfill their sexual fantasies without the added pressure of doing all the hard work of socializing and seduction themselves.

12. The male talent doesn't have it easy. I'm not sure exactly how many men have the fantasy of being porn stars, but the number of people who think it's easy to be a cocksman is dizzying. My productions are notoriously non-phallio-centric (meaning I don't require porn-size erections or cum shots from my talent and often encourage alternate shot lists), and we still come up against shy penises that make any scene with a cis man that much harder to shoot.

13. It's an expensive investment to be viable in the industry as a woman. If you're a woman in the porn industry, chances are you've come to set fully prepared with a suitcase full of costume options that you've paid for; hair and nails and body parts that you've paid for; tan, fit skin that you've maintained rigorously; two boxes of enemas; and a piece of paper that deems you STD-free and fit to shoot that you've paid for out of pocket. No wonder most female porn performers won't work for less than $600 — that's a lot of investment to show up to work.

Comparatively, mainstream male talent make closer to $100 to $400 per scene, but are able to work long into their 40s and 50s, benefit from an incredibly disproportionate "rooster-to-hen" ratio, and have an incredibly low investment level (STD testing, some travel, and a minimum level of fitness). Not only does a woman's career cost more to maintain, but it can also be complicated by endless fierce competition for gigs with hundreds of other female performers, and be over in a few years when she's no longer young enough, fit enough, or "fresh" enough to be seen as marketable. Indie porn can operate within those parameters, but generally most feminist/queer indie studios hire women and men at comparable rates, and don't have harsh beauty requirements that require performer-funded investments or set an expiration date on female sexuality.

14. Our bodies are totally, totally, awesome. Within a year of starting my work, I saw my own body — and all the bodies around me on set — in a whole new light. Working in porn has given me the most natural, caring, nurturing relationship with my sexuality, my body, my desires, my consent, my boundaries, and my fantasies. Bodies, no matter how old or young or fit or fat or light or dark or trans or cis, are all totally fucking awesome.

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