Grabbys Spotlight: Eddy
Targeting trophies in Torremolinos.
As we count down towards the Grabby Awards in Torremolinos, we caught up with Eddy.
Gareth Johnson
Eddy is nominated in five categories:
- Actor of the Year
- Best Bottom
- Creator of the Year
- Social Media Personality of the Year
- Twunk of the Year
- Collaboration of the Year
Gareth Johnson
You've said that winning a Grabby Award would be recognition of your sustained work and effort in the adult entertainment industry - how did you discover and start to explore that performing on camera and content creation was something that you're passionate about?
When I started, I really had no idea that it would be something I could be passionate about.
I was already a sex-worker, but there's something that feels easier and neater about meeting someone for sex off-camera, without the pressure of creating content from it that can be watched over and over again. Plus there's the added layers of the work like editing, scheduling, and social media marketing.
After a while, I began to realise how many aspects of the work invite creativity, and how fun it can be to try to tweak and improve things to make my content even better.
Something else I never expected was how rewarding it would feel to get messages from other trans people who hadn't seen themselves reflected in adult content in a way that felt realistic. There are a lot of trans people making amazing porn and I love seeing how successful and creative we all are, and I love the huge variety of bodies and content all catering to different audiences and all being authentic and proud.
Trans people with autonomy over their bodies, prioritising their pleasure, is something that's often missing from mainstream porn, so having complete control over the content I make is pretty empowering.
Winning a Grabby would be recognition of these contributions and of my ongoing work as a trans sex-worker.
Do you consider yourself an exhibitionist?
I definitely never used to before I started doing porn.
It wasn't an aspect of the work I put much thought into because I started quite slowly and organically in lockdown, and didn't have any grand plans for turning it into a full-time career.
Once I'd posted a few videos, I realised how much I enjoyed the fact of being watched and appreciated in a sexual way. The longer I've done porn, the more I've begun to think of myself as an exhibitionist.
What are some of the challenges that content-creators have to navigate?
One that I think most creators are very conscious of is that it's more work than people realise. The market is quite saturated now, and although there are still opportunities to make money, you have to do more than just take some low-quality pictures and post occasionally in order to make a success in this business.
Another barrier - which I don't see enough people talking about - is the constant censorship and attacks on our digital privacy. I'm sometimes amazed when I see creators complaining on the one hand that Meta has restricted their Instagram for posting something too risqué, but on the other hand speaking in favour of draconian anti-privacy laws masquerading as 'child protection' laws. This is an ongoing battle, and as sex-workers we should be at the forefront of it!
The FOSTA/SESTA laws - introduced in the US in 2018 - were ostensibly designed to prevent sex trafficking, but meant that sex-workers lost sites like Backpage and were no longer able to screen clients for their own safety. This forced workers into much less safe conditions, including street-based work, increasing the likelihood of violence - exactly the opposite of what the law said it was doing.
The aim is to eradicate sex-work completely, including porn.
I think over the next few years we're going to have to contend with increasingly punitive digital privacy laws, which are very difficult - even impossible - to reverse once they're brought in. They help no one, and I'd love to see more adult content-creators speaking up about this. Our livelihood literally depends on it.
How has your work in the adult entertainment industry changed the way that you experience intimacy?
It hasn't much. I'd say it's changed my opinions about sex in some ways, but not intimacy really.
If anything, I'm better at asserting boundaries and being clear and direct about what I want, although that could also be because I'm older now.
Beyond the Grabby Awards, what else is on your vision-board for the months ahead?
Honestly, taking things easy if I can! I'm a hard worker and I put a lot of pressure on myself, so I'd like to allow myself to enjoy downtime without feeling like I should be working and grinding all the time.
I imagine it's the same for a lot of self-employed people, not only sex-workers, but it's hard to let yourself relax - or to say no to things.
This may be contradictory but I'd also like to do more studio work this year! I've had fun in the limited studio work I've done so far, so it would be great to branch out even further.
Voting for the Grabby Awards is now open.
Gareth Johnson
