Inside grownup business’s secret class system as star reveals worst ‘snide remarks’

Adult content creator Emily Mai has opened up about the pecking order where x-rated stars judge each other’s work in an often toxic ‘whorearchy’

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An adult star has revealed the truth about the ‘whorearchy’ – a term used to describe the hierarchy that exists between different forms of sex work.

The phrase refers to the way some types of sex work are viewed as more legitimate, respectable or acceptable than others, with workers often judged according to the services they provide.

According to adult content creator Emily Mai, who has worked across stripping, topless waitressing, sugaring and online content creation, the industry’s biggest divide isn’t between sex workers and the public – it can often exist between the stars themselves.

“For me, ‘whorearchy’ is the sex workers’ term for hierarchy,” Emily explained. “Different people will see different types of sex work as being better than others.”

She added: “Maybe there are people who do full service who say, ‘Content creators aren’t sex workers because they’re not out there seeing clients.’ Then other people will say, ‘I’m a content creator, but because I don’t sleep with anyone else, I’m better than those girls.'”

According to Emily (@‌itsemilymaixo ), the judgement can exist at every level of the industry, whether it’s online or in-person services. “Some [adult content] creators have the perspective that, ‘I only sell nudes. I don’t f*** myself on camera,’ and think they’re better than others.

“Then vice versa, creators think they’re better because they don’t post themselves online for what they see as a cheap price and instead charge a premium for custom content.” Emily first became aware of the phenomenon while working as a topless waitress and growing her online content career at the same time.

“I noticed it in the club because some girls would do full service,” she recalled. “There would be girls saying, ‘You better not be offering those services here.’ Then they’d look down on dancers who were doing full service outside the club.”

She says these attitudes were engrained in everyday interactions; with judgement and gossip overheard in club changerooms all too common. “It would come up as snide remarks. Girls would say, ‘oh, well I can just dance for a weekend and make this many thousand dollars.

“I don’t need to do anything else for it.'” What surprised her most was how often jealousy fuelled the judgement.

“If someone had a regular client spending thousands of dollars on them each week, other dancers would look down on her for doing things outside the club,” Emily said. “It was a very weird dynamic.”

“People would say, ‘If you’re a stripper, you’re just a stripper. Stop doing other things.’ But then as soon as they got a really well-paying client themselves, suddenly they wanted to give him their phone number.”

The same behaviour followed her into the world of online content creation. “You would hear girls say, ‘I do full service because I could never imagine putting my nudes out there for five dollars.’

“It’s the same judgement we get from outside the industry.” Emily argues that these assumptions ignore the reality that people choose different forms of sex work for different reasons.

“Some women choose full service because it’s easier to be discreet and screen clients. With online content it’s much easier for your family to find you,” she said.

“People choose different aspects of sex work for different reasons.” According to Emily, some women in the industry who share less explicit content argue that they aren’t sex workers at all.

“There are quite a few sex creators that I’ve met in my time who have convinced themselves what thet do isn’t a form of sex work”, Emily said. “They just share nudes and bikini photos and they have little chats and in their minds don’t believe it counts.

“But it does – they’re still providing sexual intimacy to these guys and there’s a transaction happening.”

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