Thread by @CharlotteOU812

Are the Australian Adult Industry Awards rigged?
A thread.
On Wednesday night the Australian Adult Industry Awards were held. A function that claims to recognise the best in our industry. And on Thursday the usual complaints began that the awards are rigged.
Let’s take a look

Full disclosure here.

I was nominated for 4 awards. I didn’t nominate myself for any of these awards although you can nominate yourself. Nominations for Alpha and Industry Ambassador really took me by surprise. I didn’t win.
I’m not bitter in the least.

It’s really true what they say. It’s an honour that someone nominated me. I feel touched that whoever did thought I deserve some recognition. That was very nice of you whoever you are, thank you.
I had fun that night, many people there did.

The AAIA is celebrating its 19th year. So now may be a good time to take a look at claims that the show is rigged and what if anything can change.

I heard about the AAIAs not long after I started in the industry.

The workers who told me about it also shared that the general consensus was that it was rigged and that it promoted whorearchy. So for a few years I ignored it. Then I made some friends who also happened to be winners.

They were lovely people, and I began to wonder how they could be involved in a terrible conspiracy to undermine the camaraderie of sex work in this country? How they could willingly participate in what was a sham award show?
Turns out, they weren’t.

The AAIAs are a privately owned and run award. They are not beholden to any industry standard or specification. They can do anything they want. Charge anything they want and run the show...anyway they want.

So if the AAIA give awards to the same 10 people over and over every year. Then they can. And that’s their business.
If they also choose to make money from the event, they can do that too.

I could find no evidence that the AAIA’s are rigged. In fact organisers happily shared tallies with me.
Lots of people wanted to tell me of their disenchantment with the awards, and their suspicions of corruption. But no one offered evidence. And I couldn’t dig any up

I did hear an entertaining story that apparently a few years ago a well known worker hired a tech guy to create a voting bot for her, to endlessly vote for her in her nominated categories. Hilarious.
But voting from the same IP address is now controlled.

On Wednesday night 3 of my friends won awards. None of them expected it. One didn’t even vote. In fact all winners on the night looked genuinely surprised to win.

Yes some of the old faces won awards, and lots of new ones did too. Some seemed to dominate, but some seemed genuinely left of centre. So if the awards are not rigged, why are so many workers upset with the AAIA’s?

In the past the rule was you could not win an award unless you attended the event. Even if you had the most votes. So yes that’s rigged. Definitely rigged.
But this was the first year that this rule was changed. And many who didn’t attend the night, won awards.

I’d say around half of the winners did not attend. And while it doesn’t make award shows run smoothly when a proxy accepts an award on someone behalf it was handled pretty well on the night from my viewpoint

So if the awards are not rigged, if the votes are tallied fairly. What does it seem that the same people win every year? Why do many workers feel they would never have a chance to win?

And as someone put it to me. How can a nominee be voted Breakthrough Escort one year and the very next year Hall of Fame? That’s a great question. And it’s a tough answer.

Visibility.
We see many of the same names win year after year because of visibility. Either they are out there campaigning or they are so well known by voters they don’t need to.

Imagine your average AAIA voter. Let’s call him Joe. Perhaps he has gone on to the site to vote for the girl he sees on a regular basis.
But there were over 60 categories this year. It’s a bit daunting. But sure, he’d like to vote. It might be fun, right?

As he goes through the list there are not many names he recognisies, but the few that he does. He votes for.
So if you are a household name, (or as household as a sex worker gets) then you are more likely to get the votes. It’s pretty simple.

Now I agree, that doesn’t seem fair. But that’s not the fault of the worker who tirelessly markets themselves to become as well known as possible. And they don’t deserve our snide.

Joe here has voted for workers he has never booked, for services he has never received because he recognised the name. And what of workers voting for their friends?Well I have received DFK from Charli Forde (bloody good too) so I voted for her.

But I voted for Monte Luxe for best anal, even though I assure you I’ve never given or received this service from Monte. I voted for her because I know she has worked tirelessly to brand herself in this manner. And I respect that.

So was I wrong to vote for Monte for Best Anal when I’ve never received that service? Is our average voter Joe wrong for voting for names he recognises but doesn’t book?

Many wrote to tell me that it’s unfair that workers can nominate themselves and vote for themselves.
Yet, many awards for business, sport and acting are done in exactly the same way. Nominating oneself for an award and voting for yourself are not concepts solely to the AAIA.

To be continued....
(I’m just taking a quick break. Please save your comments until the end of the thread. Thank you)

I don’t think it’s unfair to nominate yourself. And I don’t think it unfair to vote for yourself. Especially if you think you can market your brand around winning an award.
Not every worker wants to do that, but some do. And I respect how anyone chooses to do their business.

I think that those who are visible brands get more votes, just like how Jennifer Aniston probably doesn’t deserve half the attention she gets, but she has worked at her brand and so she gets the magazine covers. Good for her.

I could neatly wrap all this up in a bow now. And say that’s the conclusion.
But it’s not really is it?
The AAIA is the only real national award show we have. And it would be great if it was more inclusive.

If the AAIA could offer greater inclusivity and greater advocacy would some of us feel better about the awards? I certainly hope so.
What about Best Mature Escort? Best BBW? How about expanding the Kink categories?
Of course then we might have over 100 categories!

My suggestion would be that some categories should only be open to peer voting. I have no idea how that could be controlled though. But it would still be nice to offer peer voted awards. It would also be nice to recognise advocacy.

I didn’t see any advocacy represented on the night. I saw a lot of business, but as we all know sex work is a complicated field and business and advocacy go hand in hand. While those at the top end are dining on salmon we should be remembering those doing survival work tonight.

It’s important to remember that the AAIA has many categories that don’t involve SWs directly. Best bucks parties, best toy shops etc. It seems difficult to align what SWs need from an awards show and what say, sex shops need from an awards show.

Lastly many workers shared with me that $350 a night for an awards show held at a strip club is exorbitant and unjustified.
I’m quite sure that with alcohol, entertainment, a celebrity host and catering there wasn’t much left over.
And the discount tickets offered on the day?

Were for lounge seats only. No food, no drinks. Just to watch the show. Workers shared with me that the prohibitive costs plus flights and accomodation meant they could not attend. And I think that this is something that should be addressed.

Noe we come to that dreaded word. Whorearchy. I wish I had font that dripped with blood, I’d save it for that bloody cursed word.
The AAIA contributes to Whorearchy. Of course it does. When we say someone is best, it automatically means others are less.

But we are better than to allow a business marketing venture to erode us.

I’ve seen some pretty horrible things tweeted at winners this year, and I must say I’m appalled. I congratulate everyone who won this year, I don’t think a single person didn’t deserve their award.

If you don’t support the AAIAs, you don’t have to. You can run your business anyway you choose. But don’t attack the AAIAs on a thread where someone is sharing their excitement at winning. That’s really crappy behaviour.

Get your own thread. Shitting on someone sharing their award, whether you believe in the award of not is just low.
I watched the faces of those who won that night, no one was jaded, no one expected it. They were all genuinely thrilled.

It’s a free world. We are all entitled to an opinion. We are all free to express that opinion. But we don’t have to hurt each other to do that. What sucks about whorearchy is that the world already wants to tear us down and kick us in the head, why do it to each other?

So I guess my conclusion is this.
I couldn’t find evidence of any unfair practices at the AAIA. In fact many award shows allow people to vote for themselves, and campaign for votes. That’s not to say someone didn’t find a way to cheat the voting system, but I didn’t find it.

Anyone who won their category this year, did so quite simply because they had the most votes. And likely those who win year after year do so because they are the most visible in terms of name recognition. And name recognition by strangers is hard work!

The AAIA is a privately run organisation, and have no obligation to our community. But it would be nice if they represented more advocacy, more diversity and offered peer only voting categories. Because this would make the AAIAs more representative

You don’t have to support the AAIAs, but we all have a responsibility to support each other, and it’s important not to tear down the hard work and commitment of others. Even if they don’t run their business the way you choose to.

I have only one serious criticism of the award show on the night.
The host.
Hand job jokes, blow job jokes, and vaginal rejuvenation jokes? Could we have had anyone more whorephobic? 🤷‍♀️
I have a sense of humour. No really I do.
But I was offended. Many were

Hosting an awards show is a skill. It’s great to have a celebrity. But we need an educated one.
Look I wasn’t triggered or anything, but the constant slutty references made it clear our host didn’t know anything about sex work.
And that’s not cool. We deserve better

The AAIA is not a safe space. I didn’t expect it to be one. But I didn’t expect we would be insulted either. Certainly not deliberately, but sex workers know well those ignorant comments made by ignorant people.

And we shouldn’t have to tolerate them at an awards night

So there you have it, my take on the AAIA.

(Believe me I didn’t expect it to go this way either)

Until next time, all my love.
#Startlisteningtosexworkers

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