What online content producers need to learn from sex workers

A New York-based fashion blogger named Stella Rose Saint Clair recently wrote on her Instagram:

Okay here’s the fucking thing. I’ve been so dead tired of the internet lately which probably sounds totally weird coming from someone who’s on the internet all the time, but bear (bare?) with me.

It feels to me like we were all sold this lie a decade ago about the web being a free market and it felt totally punk and awesome to start our own blogs and online shops and media outlets because it really truly felt like we could just focus on our art and do whatever we felt like.

And we were all like, sold this idea that we had to be our own brand so that’s what we all did. And now it’s like we’ve all been had because the big brands still win over the little brands and now we’re in this stage of deep capitalism where all of us are in this soul sucking rat race trying to beat the algorithm to chase some vapid idea of success.

I’m so tired of people being stoked on how many followers I have when more than 90% my followers aren’t even active on my content. I’m so sick of feeling like I have to self-market my art like an ad executive which takes all the good feelings out of it. I’m so sick of taking money from companies who’s products I don’t use in exchange for ad space on my page…