Sex workers are fundraising for Australia bushfire relief by selling nude photos online. They've raised hundreds of thousands, but not without consequences.
Paige Leskin

Bushfires in New South Wales. Reuters

Australia is suffering through unprecedented deadly bushfires, and people from around the world have harnessed creative means to raise money toward the relief efforts.
Sex workers have been selling nude pictures in exchange for donations to relief funds, including Kaylen Ward, whose cause went viral and may have netted more than $1 million in donations.

Even with the success of her campaign, Ward has seen her Instagram account deactivated and her nudes passed around free online.

Dozens of sex workers have since launched similar campaigns, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many told Business Insider that throughout their careers they worked in constant fear their accounts could be taken down because of the stigma around their professions.

A sex worker has created one of the most viral fundraising campaigns for Australia's devastating bushfires, and she claims to have raised more than $1 million by selling off her nude photos in exchange for donations.

Since announcing her fundraiser on Twitter less than a week ago, Kaylen Ward — self-dubbed "The Naked Philanthropist" — has gone viral. Her initial tweet has garnered hundreds of thousands of reactions, and her efforts have been reported on by major news outlets. She hired two assistants just to get through all the messages she was getting from people showing receipts of donations and asking for nudes in return. Someone even started a petition on Change.org to award Ward the Nobel Peace Price for her humanitarian contributions (it has nearly 1,500 signatures).

Ward's newfound fame has not come without consequences, however. Though her campaign was launched on Twitter, Instagram deactivated her account for violating its policies over soliciting nude images. Fake Instagram accounts have popped up in its place, and people have leaked her nudes free on the internet. She said her family "disowned" her after her finding out about her sex work. Users have dug up past content and accused her of racism. That's not to mention all the harassment and criticism she's faced on social media, from people slut-shaming her to accusing her of pocketing donations.

Dozens of sex workers on Twitter have adopted the same nudes-for-donation fundraising model, and some have told Business Insider they've raised thousands of dollars in just a few days. Ward's approach isn't necessarily new: It's existed as a way sex workers have raised money for past causes, such as the Amazon rainforest fires.Twitter

But sex workers who spoke with Business Insider said the negative reactions Ward faced were somewhat typical of their industry. They shared stories of their faces showing up on dating apps, their identities getting leaked to family members and employers, and their nude photos shared freely without consent. Many referred to the stigma that their industry faced from those who didn't see sex work as a real job and made it a point to slut-shame them across the internet.

A sex worker named Skyla Rayne told Business Insider her nude photos "wind up everywhere."

"Unfortunately it is out of my control, and I choose to just believe that those people who share our nude bodies without our consent are incredibly broken," she said. "I can't personally stop it from happening."
'You'd be amazed the tips and tricks you have to learn not to get shadowbanned or deleted'

Ensuring their accounts across social platforms are in compliance with murky and oft-changing policies is even trickier, several sex workers told Business Insider. They have to be prepared for their accounts to disappear without notice.

Their presence online was thrown into even more uncertainty as a result of the sex-trafficking law FOSTA-SESTA, which took effect in 2018 and put internet platforms on the hook for what users created and published on their platforms. Instead of cracking down on illegal sex trafficking as intended, entire communities where sex work has thrived were shuttered.

Because of these complications, sex workers have had to quickly learn which social platforms are more friendly toward them than others. Many workers told Business Insider that Instagram — along with its parent company, Facebook — had been one of the harshest platforms toward sex workers. Rayne said her Instagram account had been deleted three times with tens of thousands of followers lost, eliminating one of her revenue streams and putting her livelihood in jeopardy.

Business Insider asked Instagram to further explain its policies on adult nudity and sexual activity, but the platform provided only the same canned statement regarding Ward's account: "This account was disabled for violating our policies. Offering nude images is not allowed on Instagram."

A US sex worker named Charlotte Mae accused Instagram of hypocritical application of its policies regarding sex workers and celebrities. Mae told Business Insider that Instagram would remove sex workers' explicit, yet censored, photos while allowing more graphic content from celebrities like Kim Kardashian.

Twitter, on the other hand, was described to Business Insider as one of the most sex-worker-friendly platforms — especially in the wake of Tumblr's porn ban in 2018. It's why Ward, and dozens of other sex workers, launched their nudes-for-donations campaigns there. Twitter's policies allow for adult content and nudity as long as it's consensually produced and published.

"You'd be amazed the tips and tricks you have to learn not to get shadowbanned or deleted. Almost all of us depend on social media for our livelihood," a California-based sex worker named Dominatrix Rin told Business Insider. "If they take it down after years of building up a following, the financial effects are very real. They are unceremonious about it, and will delete you without warning."

Despite the challenges facing them online, sex workers told Business Insider that the virtual community they had created was incredibly valuable, where fellow sex workers consistently provide one another with support, advice, and positivity they may not see elsewhere online.

"I have never seen a closer knit community than [sex work] Twitter. There are girls on here that I trust implicitly and love dearly," the Texas-based sex worker Alison B told Business Insider. "Sex work is a valid job, whether you do it online or in real life, part time or full time."

---30---