Australian Journalist Bension Siebert On Coming Out Publicly As A S*x Worker

Last week, former ABC reporter and current award-winning journalist Bension Siebert made headlines for proudly coming out as a sex worker. In his confessional substack essay, the polyamorous, bisexual (or, in other words, Melbourne-based) writer said fuck you to Australia’s mainstream media industry, and I’ll fuck you to a sea of newly-aspiring clientele, all in the same breath. 

The “Coming Out” Essay

In the viral essay, Bension narrated his painful redundancy from an investigative reporting role in March, 2025. This betrayal, coupled with a general disillusionment with the media’s phobic sprint from “risky” stories (and toward AI), drove Bension to undress an unlikely means to fund the stories that really mattered to him.

“The following week,” Bension wrote, “I uploaded some of my nudes to an escorting website and Ubered to a stranger’s apartment; carrying the mental equivalent of keys between my fingers; performing false confidence.

“I discovered I could earn as much in five hours of sex work as I earned in my best-paid week as a journalist. […] It was like I’d stumbled onto a cheat code to capitalism.”

Not only that, but some of the very skills that had made Bension a successful journalist had also come in handy, namely his discretion, charisma, and the ability to solicit trust and sincere human connection from a stranger.

Bension’s subsequent essay would proudly declare he had found a way to single-handedly (or in some cases, single-fistedly) fund his investigative reporting career, without having to pander to the cautionary and profit-driven whims of the industry. 

Bension Siebert, Now An Overnight Sensation (In Every Sense Of The Term)

Accompanied by an equally sexy “coming out” Instagram video, the essay quickly went viral (with no shortage of book or movie deals thrown Bension’s way either). 

“I think I’ve had 1.4 million views on my Instagram this past week,” Bension told the Star Observer, “which I will tell you is a bit more than usual.

“So it’s been very overwhelming and very heartening, because I’ve gotten an almost universally positive reaction from it.”

Accordingly to Bension, ten, even five years ago, coming out as a sex worker might have been tantamount to quitting journalism. And now, not only did his first national sex work tour also double as an investigative interview spree, it had funded itself (and m0re) too.

But Wait! Every Sex Work Story Is Different.

Despite his own empowerment and unprecedented autonomy, Bension was quick to qualify that his experience of sex work as a cisgendered white male is not universal, and should not be used to “glamorise or glorify” the industry as a whole. 

“Everyone’s experience of sex work is different,” Bension told the Star Observer, “and my experience of it, both the work and the coming out, has been overwhelmingly positive. But I know that for some people, sex work can be disastrous. It can be dangerous, and it can be really risky.”

Bension Siebert On Coming Out & The Benefits Of Sluttery

Bension also explained that, even for him, it was never all sunshine and rosebuds. Despite his essay being so effortlessly received, for him, it was the thrusting of a very vulnerable part of his life deep into the public consciousness, a thrust that required, dare-I-say, plenty of lube.

“It took me more than two months to write and redraft that essay,” Bension said, “because I really wanted it to be right, because I knew that this was the thing that I could point people to, as like, ‘this is my story’.”

Prior to Bension’s accompanying “coming out” video, which was the product of many abandoned takes, he’d been practicing coming out as a sex worker for a year. 

“What I did,” Bension said, “is that I started putting much sluttier content on Instagram. Because I wanted to practice the feeling of being exposed in that way, because I knew what was coming. And so I posted over and over again about being a big old slut, and that helped a lot. And I think it should be encouraged in others.”

“Sluts Against Clankers”: Supporting Thots & Sex Workers In The Age Of AI

According to Bension, his “go be a slut” advice is underlied by the fact that the current zeitgeist only stands to gain from more thot shots and thirst traps. 

“I think that there’s something completely insidious about, like, I don’t know, gooning to fake robot people,” Bension said. “So the more people can put their bodies out there, if they’re as comfortable doing that as I am, great. Love that.”

When asked if being a slut is inherently activism in the age of AI, Bension laughed.

“I hope so. Yeah. Sluts against clankers.”

You can find Bension on Instagram at @bensionfindsout, subject to Meta’s best behaviour, along with links to his email, Signal, and Investigative Journalism Fund.