Sex industry helps raise funds to fight blazes
Sex workers around the world will help extinguish the Australian wildfires by flooding the Internet with their nudes — as long as a donation is made first.
The novel fundraising idea went viral on Friday when Kaylen Ward, a 20- year- old model from Los Angeles who sells sexual pictures and videos online, sent out a tweet. She said that for every person who sent her a receipt showing a minimum $ 10 donation to a list of bushfire charities, she would send back a nude photo of herself.
Soon, dozens of women in the sex industry — some models, some porn stars, some sex workers — latched onto the idea and began offering their own nude photos and videos in exchange for donations to the Australian fire relief.
By Tuesday, Ward said she had helped to raise close to $ 1 million, but the National Post hasn’t been able to independently verify that figure. The Post has reached out to Ward but has not yet received a response.
Other online sex workers to jump on the bandwagon include porn star Riley Reid, as well as adult content creators Lena the Plug and Jenna Lee. Texas- based Lee, 30, saw the viral potential of nudes and knew she could help raise a lot of money.
“We’re all real people with good hearts, so I just knew that this was going to blow up,” she told the National Post. “And it being totally in my realm of capabilities, I think it would have been a disservice not to do it.” Lee said she’s raised $ 40,000 since her fundraising efforts kicked off Saturday.
Courtney Claire, a 21-yearold “full- service sex worker” in Melbourne, started offering nude photos and GIFS a day before Ward sent out her viral tweet. To spread her sexy philanthropy, Claire added herself to the dozens of sex workers who’ve picked up the hashtag # HoesAgainstscomo. The hashtag, which seems to have started in December, refers to sex workers who are opposed to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, colloquially called Scomo.
The Australian wildfires have devastated the country since at least November, charring more than 5.9 million hectares across six states. So far, 24 people have died and nearly half a billion animals are estimated to have perished, and Morrison has received lots of flak for his weak response.
When he visited a small town in New South Wales recently, he was heckled by wildfire victims and was seen walking away from a woman who directly asked him for help.
“He let his country burn while he went on vacation to Hawaii,” Claire said of the PM, who was criticized for taking a holiday in the U.S. at the end of December.
Claire said she’s helped to raise nearly $ 5,000 so far and aims to get that number to $ 10,000 by the end of the week.
The philanthropy doesn’t surprise Lee, who told the Post: “I hate to say it, but sex sells. To produce it is free and it’s instant. It’s instant gratification.”