Liv

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Art is subjective. It’s up to the viewer to seek out their favourite musical composition, painting, photograph, or film. Viewer discretion and mindfulness is always a priority when consuming media and it should be an individual’s choice.

Now, imagine a world where art is withheld from public view based on its contents. How many of your favourite programs or artists would forcibly retreat into the depths of censorship? The hypothetical world I speak of is our near-possible reality and a hushed rumor that makes its way around governments and red-pilled spaces. We abhor it.

Our support for those in the sex work industry remains a prominent part of FILTH RISING, although there is much to be done in the way of harm reduction. For example, objectification from the porn industry has ingrained itself into our society on a massive scale. Although liberation found through body confidence and the mention of sex (not having been brought up in a male centered space/conversation) is freeing us from a normalized double-standard, we also must critique the industry:

– Pornographic websites frequently use racist, transphobic, misogynistic, pedophilic, and incestual language.

– Some of the top porn sites allow videos of trafficked, underaged, and unconsenting individuals on their websites.

– Most adult production companies do not have mental health resources available for their talent.

– Many people don’t view porn as work despite it taking enormous amounts of courage, time, and energy to create.

Our belief is that you can criticize a system that you uphold, whether that be the porn industry or, say, capitalism. While we cannot single-handedly resolve these issues, we hope that by bringing awareness to them we can open a discussion on these topics and strive for improvement.

We’re here to share OUR experience in an over-saturated industry that can be horrifying, absurd, and occasionally comedic. Stay awhile, and stay FILTHY.

Mal

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(yes, this is an essay, sorry <3)

Filth Rising is a project we started to highlight and bring awareness to the sex industry and its problems. It’s well known that the sex industry has many issues; however, in this particular project, we wanted to highlight the stigma and violence faced by sex workers as well as the role of the consumer in sex work.

With the rise of websites like OnlyFans and FeetFinder, it’s become common to entice young people into joining the sex industry under the guise of empowerment, when in reality, creating this kind of content is dehumanizing and reduces the people in the videos to objects that can be purchased for a monthly fee. Websites like OnlyFans also attract people into joining with the claim that you can post whatever you want and charge any amount for it; however, over time and with the promise of more money, creators are often coerced by the audience into loosening their restrictions on what they’re posting. As this continues, the demand for grosser types of porn grows into making content that can be psychologically damaging for the creator, bringing them way further than the website had originally advertised. As part of this project, we joined OnlyFans with the idea to create posts that parody different types of fetish content, the idea behind it being “If you want filth, that’s what you’ll get”. By doing this, we wanted to remind people to think about the content they’re consuming and about the impact it has on content creators.

Along with the dehumanization, creators also face constant harassment online. While hate from non-watchers can be intense, the hate from active watchers is unjust. If you consume porn, you have absolutely no right to criticize the creators. While creating this kind of content isn’t positive, creators never deserve to be harassed, especially when you don’t know the circumstances that caused them to turn to sex work in the first place. The people leaving these comments are also commonly faceless, allowing them to say things they would never say in person and not have to take accountability for their actions. For Filth Rising, we created characters who dress revealingly and have gone out in public multiple times without experiencing a fraction of the harassment that would be inflicted online. We hope that by appearing in public, we can remind people that there are actual humans behind what they see online and that the comments they leave are read by real people who exist outside of their screens.

Another large issue faced by sex workers is violence. In Canada, female sex workers are anywhere from 60-100 times more likely to be victims of homicides and are significantly more likely to experience abuse and human trafficking. Because of the secrecy involved in sex work, it’s difficult for sex workers to find help when they’re in dangerous situations, and many homicides involving sex workers are left unsolved. Many consumers of sex work are aware of this and use it to their advantage, which is why sex workers are often targeted by serial killers and other violent people. With Filth Rising, we wanted to create characters who were themselves targeted and murdered for their sex work to bring awareness to the commonality of violence targeted at sex workers and the risk of sex work.

Overall, Filth Rising is a project that hopes to make the audience think about sex work and the dangers involved in it. It is not a glamorous life and includes many difficulties that are often brushed over when people are being coerced into joining the industry. If you don’t take anything else from this, please remember that sex workers are people who deserve respect just like anyone else.