If the stats from things like Patreon are to believed (and filtering out the "dead weight" of creators who don't post or have given up without closing their account) there's a serious "top 1% of creators make XX% of the revenue" problem.
Which means that for a small fraction, it's a job, for the vast majority it's a money-losing hobby.
And even if you don't, certainly an "industry" where 99% of the people "employed" don't even make the poverty line or make back their expenses (patreon and only fans would fall here) wouldn't. (The people trying to 'make it big' are probably moonlighting as retail/restuarant anyway, just as all those who tried to make it in Hollywood did in years past).
There's certainly major abuses but the 1099 and "self employed" world is even more full of them than the W4 world.
/s
But that doesn't make it a job. You could do hard work in moving a mountain but that's not a job.
Needless to say, earning money off of your looks (something you didn't work hard to gain in the first place) doesn't qualify as hard-working job.
Even if you're very conventionally attractive, you need to put in a lot of networking and marketing before you can make money off of "your looks". Even then, you don't just sit back and let your looks do everything.
Porn stars generally spend a couple hours DAILY in the gym. Then there's all of the events you have to do to remain relevant in social circles. Then there's actual shooting. But before that there's hair and makeup. Then there's outfits. Selecting garments that match your personal style and also are sexy enough to excite your fans isn't easy and it usually isn't cheap.
Going through all of that to get paid by the fans is absolutely a job. If the fans didn't pay, it wouldn't be a job.
Plus, I earn money off of my natural intelligence. I didn't do anything to gain it in the first place, I just happened to have intelligent parents.
> doesn't qualify as hard-working job
Two questions:
1. Why doesn't it qualify as a job if they are earning income?
2. Why should someone have to "work hard" to earn a living? If have a high-value easy-to-sell product, then why work harder than you need to?
Ignoring the time spent setting up shoots, editing, engagement, etc, and focusing just on "looks", you have to spend a lot of time on working out, make up, shaving, putting together outfits, etc.
If you think that looking good is something that doesn't take any hard work, it's because you've never tried to put in that work yourself.
An African American woman, for example, has almost zero chance of making it to the top 10 p$rnstars list, no matter how much she put effort and time to prepare herself.
Some things are just the realities of the world. Thinking otherwise makes you delusional.
If you have a cognitive aptitude for mathematics, you didn't "earn" that either - everything in some way or another is part of your birthright and privilege, both nature and nurture.
If you genuinely believe that the mind is somehow magically distinct from the same genetic system that gave you your physique, I'm afraid you're the delusional one.
Job (n):
1. a paid position of regular employment.
2. a task or piece of work, especially one that is paid.
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It seems to fit #2 perfectly (exhibiting to an audience), and #1 can be met based on e.g corporate structure (subscription pay into an LLC that normalizes the salary etc)
I'd argue that it's in fact potentially "skilled labor" in that it's not obvious what it takes to produce content that brings regular subscribers. Tons of adult content creators burn out and pivot because they can't get traction.
If people are willingly paying you to do something, that's a good job as any other job.