Why Sex Work ≠ Empowerment (And Why That Truth Makes People Uncomfortable)
Sunday, January 4, 2026
In recent years, sex work (especially online platforms like OnlyFans) has been aggressively reframed as “empowering.” We’re told that if a woman chooses it, profits from it, and feels confident doing it, then empowerment must be present. But empowerment is not a feeling. It’s not branding. And it certainly isn’t determined by how well something sells!
Before I begin, I wanted to say that this essay isn’t about shaming women. I'm not trying to police morality, purity, or conservatism. :) But I DO want to mention power, agency, energy, and structure — and why sex work, by its very design, is not liberating, no matter how often it’s repackaged as such.
Choice Alone Does Not Equal Freedom
One of the most common defences of sex work is: “She chose it.”
But choice within a constrained system is not freedom!
If:
-
women are economically disadvantaged, beauty is rewarded more than intellect, -
male desire dictates market value,
-
and sexual availability is one of the most profitable commodities women can offer,
...then choosing sex work doesn’t magickally dissolve those conditions.
Choice does not automatically mean empowerment. Sometimes it simply means this was the least damaging option available.
True empowerment would mean women thriving without needing to monetise their bodies or sexual availability, certainly NOT celebrating the fact that doing so pays well in a system built by male demand. Yep, read that again, MALE DEMAND :D
Empowerment Cannot Be Rooted in Objectification
Sex work exists because men want access to women’s bodies. I think we can all agree that that's the foundation.
No amount of reframing changes the fact that:
-
the consumer base is overwhelmingly male,
-
the demand is sexual access and visual consumption,
-
and women are rewarded for aligning with male fantasies.
Even when a woman controls her content, pricing, and boundaries, the axis of value still runs through male desire. Calling that empowerment is like calling a gilded cage freedom because it has velvet lining, lol... if empowerment depends on being seen as sexually consumable, then power is still located outside the self.
Validation Is Not Power
Many people equate confidence with empowerment... but confidence can come from validation, and validation is unstable.
When worth is reinforced by views, likes, subscriptions, arousal, and attention, then sexuality becomes something that exists only when witnessed.
This creates a feedback loop: attention → validation → exposure → more attention
That loop can feel intoxicating at first. But it’s not sovereign, is it? To me, it’s extractive. Power that depends on an audience collapses without one.
Sexual Sovereignty vs Sexual Display
This is where the conversation often gets muddied...
Sexual sovereignty is internal.
It is self-contained, selective, intentional... it exists whether or not anyone is watching.
Sovereignty means... one, sexual energy is directed, not broadcast. Two, expression is chosen, not demanded. And lastly, desire originates from within, not from consumption.
Contained energy amplifies power. This is why so many occult, mystical, and esoteric traditions emphasise veiling, thresholds, secrecy, and initiation. Sexual energy was never meant to be endlessly accessible.
Sexual display is externalised.
It is repetitive, consumable, and market-driven. It exists to be seen.
Display requires constant output, constant availability, and constant engagement. Even when it’s profitable, it leaks energy. From an energetic standpoint, sex work is not neutral, but... it is a continuous outward flow, and outward flow without ritual containment leads to depletion.
Why People Need to Believe It’s Empowering
The intensity with which some people defend sex work as empowerment isn’t accidental.
For many, admitting otherwise would mean confronting:
-
grief over self-exposure,
-
anger at systemic exploitation,
-
or the realisation that the system benefits men more than women.
Calling it empowering becomes psychological survival.
It transforms: “I did what I had to do”
into: “I’m powerful for doing this.”
That belief isn’t stupidity, though, especially with how different every upbringing is (because, you know, everyone grew up with different upbringings and mindsets). I think it's more like self-protection.
Capitalism reinforces this by hijacking feminist language, turning “empowerment” into a marketing term that conveniently silences critique. Question the system, and you’re accused of shaming women... which keeps the machine intact.
The Spiritual Reality: Sexual Energy Is Not Just a Commodity
From a spiritual and energetic standpoint, sex work is even more complicated. Sexual energy is not just physical, but it's something else to me. Something... more intoxicating. Something creative, psychic, and deeply entangled with identity. It's something powerful. Sacred even, to me (I know many don't agree with this).
When sexuality becomes transactional — energy is exchanged without intimacy, desire is separated from meaning, and even the body becomes a site of extraction rather than communion.
Even in Left-Hand Path and occult circles, there is a growing misunderstanding where selling sexual access is mistaken for sovereignty. But true sexual power is contained, not endlessly accessible. Ritualised sexuality is worlds apart from commodified sexuality. One is intentional and transformative. The other is repetitive and draining. Calling both “empowerment” flattens spiritual reality into aesthetics, eekk... :/ And I have seen this happen a lot in the spiritual community, especially the LHP.
Empowerment That Needs Constant Defence Is Fragile
People who are truly empowered do not need slogans. They do not need to convince others. And, above all, they do not react aggressively to critique. People who are empowered and truly sovereign would be too busy living in alignment.
The louder the insistence that something is empowering, the more likely it’s holding something delicate together.
The Real Radical Act
In a world that profits from women being visible, accessible, and consumable, one of the most radical acts is withdrawal from the gaze. Not hiding. Not shame. But the choice that is made from sovereignty, not demand. Empowerment isn’t being able to sell your body well. Empowerment is knowing your worth doesn’t require selling it at all. So, yes, I wholeheartedly disagree that public sexual acts = empowerment. Sexual energy is sacred and must be conserved.
♡ Ariela
Thank you for reading! Blessed be xx
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★ About the Priestess
Thank you for visiting my blog!
Hello, lovelies x
I am High Priestess Ariela. This title is recognised by the Sovereigns of Heaven and Hell.
I was ascended to High Priestess by my mentor, High Priestess Cecilia in April 2020, by Queen Lilith, the Mother of Demons, in January 2022 and by Duke Bune, my Godspouse, in November 2023.
I am a proud Malaysian-based witchcraft practitioner, and I am in my 30s and I currently reside in Penang, and although I was born in Kuala Lumpur, I love the peace and quietness here compared to the congested city of Kuala Lumpur.
I have officially been practising witchcraft and divination for a little more than 10 years now. However, I have always been interested in witchcraft since I was a little kid. I started developing my intuition as early as 6 years old, and learning/reading books on witchcraft when I was 10. My ancestors were shamans and spiritual healers so I am happy to continue this lineage. I have always been an intuitive person since I was a kid, being able to feel empathy and being able to communicate with the spirits since I was a kid.
My Witchcraft Journey
I studied witchcraft for many years before I started practising, roughly from the beginning of 2016 until now. I had previously worked in a coven and received lessons from an old friend who was also a High Priestess. I have also studied with them, and have performed mass rituals. I climbed through the ranks and have finally ascended to the rank of High Priestess myself. I am a heavy ritualist.
I am passionate about what I do and I intend to help people heal, just like how I healed from practising witchcraft. Contrary to popular belief, most witches do more healing than cursing. So, I am also here trying to change that mindset that people have, thinking that practitioners of magick are mostly bad.
I am currently going through the trials of the Tree of Qliphoth (Tree of Death). I initiated into the Qliphoth in January 2024 after being advised by Lord Lucifer and Lady Astaroth.
My Practices
• Qliphothic Left-Hand Path
• Demonolatry
• Dark Magick
• Forbidden Arts
• Necromancy
• Chaos Magick
• White Magick
• Moon Magick
• Fire and Water Magick
• Sympathetic Magick (poppets)
I am devoted to 5 infernal deities and 1 archangel for now.
My Spirit Allies
Infernal Deities
• Duke Bune
• King Belial
• Emperor Lucifer
• Earl Andromalius
• Duke Dantalion
I am spoused to Duke Bune, Earl Andromalius and King Belial.
Archangel
• Metatron
Outside the real world, I work in a multinational company (MNC). I am super passionate about what I do, both my full-time job and my side hustle.
I am also passionate about crystals, divination, and spiritual stuff. I have a large altar full of small, medium and big-sized crystals dedicated to my meditation time and also my devotion to my deities.
My Abilities/Gifts as a Witch
As a Witch, I am blessed with the following abilities:
• Energy Medicine and Energy Channelling (ancestral gifts)
• Prophecy Dreams/Visions
• Astral Projection
• Mediumship
• Witnessing (being visited by spiritual beings/deities/demonic deities)
• Claircognizance
• Clairvoyance
• Clairsentience
• Clairaudience
• Clairalience
• Divination
• Precognitions/Premonitions
• Telepathy with Humans
///High Priestess Ariela™
Why Sex Work ≠ Empowerment (And Why That Truth Makes People Uncomfortable)
Sunday, January 4, 2026
In recent years, sex work (especially online platforms like OnlyFans) has been aggressively reframed as “empowering.” We’re told that if a woman chooses it, profits from it, and feels confident doing it, then empowerment must be present. But empowerment is not a feeling. It’s not branding. And it certainly isn’t determined by how well something sells!
Before I begin, I wanted to say that this essay isn’t about shaming women. I'm not trying to police morality, purity, or conservatism. :) But I DO want to mention power, agency, energy, and structure — and why sex work, by its very design, is not liberating, no matter how often it’s repackaged as such.
Choice Alone Does Not Equal Freedom
One of the most common defences of sex work is: “She chose it.”
But choice within a constrained system is not freedom!
If:
-
women are economically disadvantaged, beauty is rewarded more than intellect, -
male desire dictates market value,
-
and sexual availability is one of the most profitable commodities women can offer,
...then choosing sex work doesn’t magickally dissolve those conditions.
Choice does not automatically mean empowerment. Sometimes it simply means this was the least damaging option available.
True empowerment would mean women thriving without needing to monetise their bodies or sexual availability, certainly NOT celebrating the fact that doing so pays well in a system built by male demand. Yep, read that again, MALE DEMAND :D
Empowerment Cannot Be Rooted in Objectification
Sex work exists because men want access to women’s bodies. I think we can all agree that that's the foundation.
No amount of reframing changes the fact that:
-
the consumer base is overwhelmingly male,
-
the demand is sexual access and visual consumption,
-
and women are rewarded for aligning with male fantasies.
Even when a woman controls her content, pricing, and boundaries, the axis of value still runs through male desire. Calling that empowerment is like calling a gilded cage freedom because it has velvet lining, lol... if empowerment depends on being seen as sexually consumable, then power is still located outside the self.
Validation Is Not Power
Many people equate confidence with empowerment... but confidence can come from validation, and validation is unstable.
When worth is reinforced by views, likes, subscriptions, arousal, and attention, then sexuality becomes something that exists only when witnessed.
This creates a feedback loop: attention → validation → exposure → more attention
That loop can feel intoxicating at first. But it’s not sovereign, is it? To me, it’s extractive. Power that depends on an audience collapses without one.
Sexual Sovereignty vs Sexual Display
This is where the conversation often gets muddied...
Sexual sovereignty is internal.
It is self-contained, selective, intentional... it exists whether or not anyone is watching.
Sovereignty means... one, sexual energy is directed, not broadcast. Two, expression is chosen, not demanded. And lastly, desire originates from within, not from consumption.
Contained energy amplifies power. This is why so many occult, mystical, and esoteric traditions emphasise veiling, thresholds, secrecy, and initiation. Sexual energy was never meant to be endlessly accessible.
Sexual display is externalised.
It is repetitive, consumable, and market-driven. It exists to be seen.
Display requires constant output, constant availability, and constant engagement. Even when it’s profitable, it leaks energy. From an energetic standpoint, sex work is not neutral, but... it is a continuous outward flow, and outward flow without ritual containment leads to depletion.
Why People Need to Believe It’s Empowering
The intensity with which some people defend sex work as empowerment isn’t accidental.
For many, admitting otherwise would mean confronting:
-
grief over self-exposure,
-
anger at systemic exploitation,
-
or the realisation that the system benefits men more than women.
Calling it empowering becomes psychological survival.
It transforms: “I did what I had to do”
into: “I’m powerful for doing this.”
That belief isn’t stupidity, though, especially with how different every upbringing is (because, you know, everyone grew up with different upbringings and mindsets). I think it's more like self-protection.
Capitalism reinforces this by hijacking feminist language, turning “empowerment” into a marketing term that conveniently silences critique. Question the system, and you’re accused of shaming women... which keeps the machine intact.
The Spiritual Reality: Sexual Energy Is Not Just a Commodity
From a spiritual and energetic standpoint, sex work is even more complicated. Sexual energy is not just physical, but it's something else to me. Something... more intoxicating. Something creative, psychic, and deeply entangled with identity. It's something powerful. Sacred even, to me (I know many don't agree with this).
When sexuality becomes transactional — energy is exchanged without intimacy, desire is separated from meaning, and even the body becomes a site of extraction rather than communion.
Even in Left-Hand Path and occult circles, there is a growing misunderstanding where selling sexual access is mistaken for sovereignty. But true sexual power is contained, not endlessly accessible. Ritualised sexuality is worlds apart from commodified sexuality. One is intentional and transformative. The other is repetitive and draining. Calling both “empowerment” flattens spiritual reality into aesthetics, eekk... :/ And I have seen this happen a lot in the spiritual community, especially the LHP.
Empowerment That Needs Constant Defence Is Fragile
People who are truly empowered do not need slogans. They do not need to convince others. And, above all, they do not react aggressively to critique. People who are empowered and truly sovereign would be too busy living in alignment.
The louder the insistence that something is empowering, the more likely it’s holding something delicate together.
The Real Radical Act
In a world that profits from women being visible, accessible, and consumable, one of the most radical acts is withdrawal from the gaze. Not hiding. Not shame. But the choice that is made from sovereignty, not demand. Empowerment isn’t being able to sell your body well. Empowerment is knowing your worth doesn’t require selling it at all. So, yes, I wholeheartedly disagree that public sexual acts = empowerment. Sexual energy is sacred and must be conserved.
♡ Ariela
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