There are roles of a lifetime, and then there’s the role of Bella Cherry in Ninja Thyberg’s dangerous feature length directorial debut, Pleasure. Played by newcomer Sofia Kappel (who’s so good in it she won a Guldbagge last year, the Swedish equivalent of an Oscar), Bella is a young woman from Sweden hellbent on making it as a porn star, and so she makes the journey from her hometown to Los Angeles -- effectively the epicentre of the porn world. There, she learns the tricks of the trade, a mere minnow in a gigantic, male-dominated pond, and realises that, no matter how far her limits can stret ..read more

“Lick the bottom of my shoe,” Scarlet instructs her slave seconds after the credits dissolve into PVT Chat’s opening scene. He clamors toward the camera, tongue extended, laptop teetering precariously as he masturbates with intensifying vigor. The new psychosexual indie film, PVT Chat, is the anti-romantic comedy to end them all. There’s no real romance, or comedy, yet boy — online gambling fiend and possible incel, Jack (Peter Vack), who finds affection at rub-and-tug parlors in downtown Manhattan — still meets girl: San Francisco-based cam model, Scarlet (played by Uncut Gems breakout star J ..read more

Around 13 years ago, Shona, who is from the north west of England, left her job as a mortgage broker in the city to become a financial dominatrix, or ‘findom’. Her submissives – also known as ‘subs’ or ‘paypigs’ – get off on relinquishing control of their finances and showering her with gifts and money. Unsurprisingly, over the years the cash has flowed in. But in the past few months, Shona has noticed significant changes in her paypigs’ behaviour. As inflation soars to a staggering 9.9% in the UK, some clients have been unable to pay their mistress their usual financial gift – or ‘tribute ..read more

Ira Lupu grew up taking pictures in her native Ukraine, but it wasn’t until 2015, when war and military conflict broke out in her country, that she became invested in photography as a way to express what words couldn’t. Ira went on to work as a local art stories producer for Ukrainian-American photographer Yelena Yemchuk, while studying at the ICP in New York. It was there, that she developed “On Dreams and Screens”, an aesthetically and emotionally powerful multimedia project exploring female sexuality and identity, both online and off. Ira’s series investigates various forms of intimacy with ..read more

While fashion is often touted as an industry with a generally progressive attitude towards sex, scratch the surface and you’ll quickly see that the reality is far more complex. That’s particularly evident when you look at the industry’s relationship with sex work. While on one hand, designers have openly embraced the saying “sex sells” — think: Vivienne Westwood’s punk-era defining boutique, SEX, and Thierry Mugler casting porn star Jeff Stryker way back in 1992 — there’s no shortage of examples of prominent fashion figures having espoused diminishing views of sex workers. Take, for instance ..read more

OnlyFans flourished during the pandemic, growing to 120 million users in peak lockdown. So too did Cameo, the app where celebrities like JoJo Siwa, Brian Cox and Fiona the Hippo offer custom videos for fans, charging anywhere from $20 to $2,500, also exploded in popularity too. Now, two years on, both apps are providing online sex workers with a highly monetisable platform. That’s right, there are currently around 200 porn stars listed on Cameo. The personalised videos show adult performers in string bikinis ordering viewers to “punch [themselves] in the balls,” thanking customers for “wanking ..read more

Sex work as a subject for photography is one that has been visited and revisited. But too often it’s the outsider’s view that’s prioritised, and one of plain objectification, as in Terry Richardson’s infamous Terryworld where actors, friends, and sex workers alike are framed in terms of unapologetic exploitation. Or else sex worker’s experiences’ are distilled into purely political statements, as in the more honourable 2020 photography project Absence of Evidence, which sought to highlight the trauma of women trapped within sex work. Ellie English’s photobook Does Monday Work? avoids these tr ..read more