Have you heard about the new sexploitation miniseries, “Sex Hub,” currently airing in the Philippines?

I heard about it because of this interview with Salome Salvi (@SalomeSalvi ) who is one of the stars, and who is a real porn star in the Philippines, and can be seen on Fansly and Justforfans.

The show, created by Bobby Bonifacio Jr. and John Raphael Gonzaga for the Vivamax streaming channel, dramatizes the experiences of Filipino cam girls, but mixes in plenty of titillation and a whole truckload of dramatic exaggeration.

Also staring Micaella Raz and Karl Aquino the series centers around the idea of unwilling girls who are kidnapped and forced into working as camgirls, ultimately ending up in a cam girl studio from which they cannot escape. While the plot revolves around one of the models being rescued by her father, the show takes liberties with reality and twists the narrative to add drama.

“Forced into sex work” might be a good trope for TV but it takes away from both the great majority of willing and informed online sex workers, and also the small but important minority of sex workers who are doing it under duress.

In the mythical Sex Hub studio of the Filipino TV series, the cam girls compete not just for tips, but with a mix of “The Hunger Games,” the girls with the lowest scores don’t just get fired – they get executed! It’s a dark and scary twist that puts me off, I don’t even watch the actual Hunger Games no matter how hot I think Jennifer Lawrence is.

While the show may be good for drama and ratings, it’s far from the reality of most cam girls. In reality, most cam girls are independent contractors who choose are doing the work for the money, just like any other job. Successful cam girls are smart, talented, and entrepreneurial, using their skills to build their fan base, establish a brand and create a successful business.

If you’re curious about the real world of cam girls working in studios, check out the behind-the-scenes cams at Camsoda or where you can get a real unedited look at the day-to-day life of a cam girl. You’ll see that it’s a far cry from the dangerous and exploitative world portrayed in Sex Hub.

I know all TV takes significant liberties with reality and doesn’t accurately represent the world, but when it is an area as sensitive as this it leaves a dirty feeling in the mouth.

If I could understand the dialog (it is half in the Filipino language) I might give this a better rating, but for me it is a 2/10.

Shares