Here's how to be an ethical porn consumer

According to audio porn stars, 'ethical porn' starts when you pay for it.

By Valeria Martinez

Photo by Charles Deluvio

Audio porn — a new genre of picture-free X-rated recordings — is clearly having a moment. But this doesn’t mean traditional porn is dwindling — not even close.

Last year, 6.83 million videos were uploaded to the free porn website Pornhub, which attracted 43 billion visits.

However, as abusive and precarious labour practices within the industry dominate public discussion worldwide, more people are finding in audio porn a more 'ethical' alternative.

"People want to know how to be an ethical porn consumer as well as how to produce porn ethically," says audio erotica creator Girl On The Net.

For Girl On The Net, the first step to achieve a more ethical porn industry is to pay for porn. But with 94.3% of respondents of a survey* conducted by Sorry Not Sorry declaring they would not pay for porn, how realistic is that aim?

* Sorry Not Sorry surveyed 33 women and 19 men.

Today, 1 in 5 mobile searches are for pornography, but over a decade after the founding of free porn sites like Pornhub and Youporn, the way porn creators are making a living is quite different.

"The average person doesn't care about that porn actor who they're seeing on Pornhub and downloads their content for free," says audio porn creator Jim Nova — best known as Feel Good Filth. "This makes it much harder for them to get paid fairly for their labour in the first place."

The stigma around porn and sex work can be a major deterrent for potential paying customers. "I think that people and consumers need to change their attitude about porn and sex workers. And that's where it starts, right?" asks Jim.