Well What Is O.School?
From O.School “We offer the sex ed we all should have had. Through live streams and moderated chats, our Pleasure Professionals will help you overcome shame, heal from trauma, and develop skills to communicate and set boundaries in the pursuit of your sexual pleasure.”
First of all
I never had the same experiences that other Pleasure Professionals had with them. My first initial conversations where I explained my area of expertise, they initially informed me that they did not want any streams relating to sex work. They explained to me, that they wanted a more base level that is more accessible to more people. While that’s fine, they did not keep that rule for all of the Pleasure Professionals.
They had other sex workers stream on sex work topics, so already there was an unfair slant for “more popular” educators. They also made it seem like I couldn’t stream on certain topics because other educators were already streaming on them. So I felt limited in my options for streaming. Certain other educators took up a ton of space in terms of taking teaching opportunities and stream topics.
In that same vein, after there was a ton of fallout from other educators I came to find out that other educators were receiving a base “thank you” pay for streams. I on the other hand had to chase them for months to even find out I had been tipped only $5 for my stream. Which they then take half off, plus a processing fee. So where other educators got a base pay plus their tips, I got offered $2.05 in total.
I also never got featured in any email blasts to fellow Pleasure Professionals, or other.
The only time you ever saw my name was when I had my own stream. I was never featured on their website, and had to ask them to include a picture of me for my stream. which they had access to the entire time I was with O.School.
There was also promises of speaking gigs, and other promotion. This is invaluable to me being relatively new to trying to get my name out there. I am not a new educator but had not tried expanding my teaching options until recently. I was never once considered or offered any gigs.
My Timeline
[O.school] checked in with me January 28th, but I had been asking about payment and analytics that they promised us… I responded to that check in on the 29th, and heard back from [O.school moderator] telling me to follow up with [O.school staffer]. I did, and didn’t hear anything back.
…On March 11th I got an email telling me they are deactivating my account. I told them I understand and wish I had been given a heads up, then again asked for my money. Then on the 12th they finally informed me my stream made all of $5. So to think I had been chasing them, for a payout of $2.50 was really disheartening.
It’s Ironic
A platform meant to be shame free made me question not only my own looks, but made me feel shame for not looking mainstream and “marketable”. I wondered why other educators were getting offered things that weren’t even being offered to me. It made me wish I hadn’t gotten as many tattoos, and looked more white passing then I already do.
Then maybe I would have gotten more chances to teach outside of the limited streaming options. And a platform that actively looks for marginalized people, but doesn’t pay those people is simply ironic isn’t it? You can’t be feminist when you’re not even paying your most marginalized educators.
So What now?
Support your local sex educators. Especially queer, trans, POC, disabled, and fat educators. We get far less opportunities because a lot of people are worried about alienating their “mainstream” clientele. We have a wealth of knowledge if you give us a chance.
