How Paying for Porn Changed My Life

Do you remember the first time you paid for a porn site? I do, and it was a game-changer.

Image Credit: Nubile Films

If you've never paid for porn before, shame on you. And second, you have no idea what you're missing. The wealth of content behind those paywalls is truly mind-boggling. And it feels good to actually support the highly talented professionals that make porn what it is!

I was in college then, working my way through a degree in computer science while taking an interest in pornography, thanks in no small part to Andrew Blake's "Aria." Not just basic fandom, I was already thinking about the bigger questions of how scenes were shot, or why this film was objectively better than that film. High-level nerdy stuff.

A girl-girl fan, I was enamored by one star: Sandra Shine, a Hungarian model. Filmmaker Ron Harris once called her a “perfect ten.” He wasn’t wrong. She was stunning, and her brand of porn was fresh and unique. With a new debit card, I went for all-access to her personal site - SandraShineLive.com. This was long before OnlyFans or even YouTube.

Image Credit: SandraShineLive.com

It was titillating to make that first monthly purchase. Suddenly, I was supporting a beautiful and underappreciated art. It felt good knowing that my money was going to a performer and to the type of pornography that I loved.

What I found behind the paywall was incredible. There were dozens of high-quality and full-length videos, photo galleries, and tons of behind-the-scenes content. She even had an active forum for fan discussion which Sandra Shine frequented. It was worth every penny, and I was hooked.

Image Credit: Viv Thomas

Eventually, I moved on to Sapphic Erotica, VivThomas, and many more glamcore and artcore projects. It didn't take long to explore larger sites like NewSensations, DigitalPlayground, and JulesJordan. That was a big deal for me.

The bigger sites had a lot of hardcore pornography, which was something that I had generally avoided. I had a lot of negative preconceived notions about hardcore, but as a paying member, I started to look into the genre.

I found out that hardcore porn is amazing. It is a living performance art, full of athleticism, talent, and of course, sexuality. I had no idea that sex could be performed in such a raw, and yet sophisticated fashion. This porn thing was something special.

Image Credit: Jules Jordan

The deeper I journeyed down the XXX rabbit hole, the more adult film resonated with me. Porn was no longer a guilty pleasure. Pornography was a rich and beautiful art, celebrating diverse body types, personalities, and sexual preferences. I didn’t know it then, but that’s when I went from being a fan to becoming a student of porn.

Newly graduated, I knew that I had to find a way to contribute to the porn industry. I started my first adult film blog in 2008 and found a way to make a modest living writing about my favorite hobby: porn! But that's a story for another time.

A lifelong passion and a writing career stemmed from the simple act of paying for porn. And the porn landscape is even better for fans today. Think about it, for the cost of a Netflix or HBOMax membership, you could have unlimited access to so much adult content! And while I do love Stranger Things and Cobra Kai, I'll take high-end and ethically produced pornography any day of the week.