Another entertainer I’ve not quite heard of has announced she’s sticking it to the man by getting her arse out. This time it’s singer Kate Nash. Following in the footsteps of Lily Allen, who announced she was flogging pictures of her feet on OnlyFans (OF), Nash explained that was putting her bum on DIY pornography platform. The 37-year-old claimed it was a “punk protest about how little our music is valued.” She is now selling snaps to subscribers for $10 per month as part of a “BUTTS 4 Tour Buses” fundraising campaign. Nash’s posterior has indeed proved to be more lucrative than her music, something she has predictably described as “empowering”. 

Self-employment can be a tough gig, and I feel a flicker of sympathy for creatives who are presumed to be financially sound because they have a public profile. Many of us who perform for an audience, whether writing or singing, know that we could probably make more money in a call centre. Whether this holds for Nash is unclear, but it remains the case that freelancing in a creative industry is for the pathologically driven or those with a thick skin and connections.

I find myself contemplating whether opening Mistress Josephine’s Parlour of Pain could be a feminist act

Sometimes, when working under the shadow of a deadline, the thought of being paid handsomely to stamp on the testicles of willing men has a certain appeal. I find myself contemplating whether opening Mistress Josephine’s Parlour of Pain could be a feminist act. I always conclude: No. The reason is not necessarily that I’d feel exploited, and I have no particular sympathy for the men with spare cash to have their scrotums squashed — it’s more that each of us has a responsibility to not legitimise any aspect of an industry that reduces women to their body parts. (Let’s be honest, with the possible exception of BBC green rooms, struggling male creatives aren’t dropping their pants for cash, let alone calling it empowering.)

For decades feminists have fought for women to be respected for their work, not their sex appeal. By making a quick buck from bum pics Nash has literally rolled over, sending a message to her young female fans that the best position they can hope for is to be prone. 

While men might drive the pornography business, they have accomplices in women like Nash and Allen. The traditional feminist response to women in the sex industry is to see them as victims — as making hard decisions because they lack real choices. Successful women opting to commodify themselves upend this analysis. It seems unlikely that a pimp is pulling their strings, and producing porn may well pay better than singing. But the problem is what happens downstream of such decisions.

… the average OF content creator can expect to take home around $140 per month

OF is generally presented as a platform where “content creators” (aka porn performers) are said to have agency. Where women, and it is overwhelmingly women, can set their own boundaries and gain financial independence. Much is made of the huge earnings of women like Iggy Azalea, who rakes in an estimated £7m per month on OF, and of the top 0.1 per cent of who generate revenue of over £80k every month. But the average OF content creator can expect to take home around $140 per month, with the (male owned) platform pocketing 20 per cent of the net. This is what lies ahead for any young female fans who will undoubtedly now follow Nash and Allen onto only OF. 

This year Reuters conducted an in-depth investigation into OF, uncovering stories from women who said they had been “deceived, drugged, terrorized and sexually enslaved to make money from the site”. Some were imprisoned by abusive partners, others found themselves locked in a cycle where they were expected to perform ever more extreme acts to keep the cash coming in. The journalists uncovered evidence that in suburban settings all across the US, criminals had beaten, raped and imprisoned women they forced to perform on OF, with some tattooing their names, or words including “dog” and “toy” on the victims.

OF was also the playground of misogynist influencer Andrew Tate. Now facing a second round of trafficking charges, he once described the platform as “the greatest hustle in the world.”

Nash says she has turned to OF because she wants “people to know the truth about what’s happening in the music business. I’m losing money from those tours.” Doubtless, the victims of alleged sex trafficking whose abuse has been sold on OF also want people to know the truth about what’s happening in the porn business. Nash and Allen have a responsibility to them.

It is a sad indictment of men’s priorities that an accomplished woman is able to make more money from performing porn than songs. But that’s no reason to champion an industry that chews up women and girls — that is rife with trafficking. 

At a time when the arts sector is full of creatives boycotting Israel and ousting dissidents for wrongthink, it is disgraceful that two apparently intelligent women have allowed themselves to stand on the side of men like Andrew Tate. Whether they like it or not, Nash, Allen and the host of other privileged performers trying to be edgy are role models. Do they really want to teach the next generation of girls that their talent lies in their arse?