Sometimes, it takes a major career change to get a person out of a rut in their life. One person who knows this all too well is plus-size pornstar Asstyn Martyn, who says that her life has improved immeasurably since she ditched her $40,000-a-year customer service job in favour of becoming an erotic model online.
Asstyn, who hails from Pennsylvania, used to hate her office job, but now makes between $500 (£385) and $1000 (£764) for each scene she shoots and earns even more money on commission from her fans.
She says she first got into sex work after meeting a man on a dating site who worked in the adult entertainment industry and mentioned how popular BBWs (Big Beautiful Women) were online.
Intrigued, she took to the internet and began researching the world of fat fetishists. Asstyn had always battled with her own body image, but upon realising that there were thousands of men around the world who found her body shape gorgeous, she decided to make her first foray into the industry herself.
Asstyn set up a Twitter account to share racy snaps of herself online, and soon attracted the attention of adult entertainment companies, who invited her to take part in some shoots. Now, when not looking after her children, she travels around the USA shooting x-rated content, including threesomes and fetish scenes; and is adamant that she is a sex-positive feminist.
Commenting on her drastic career change in a recent interview, Asstyn stated: "My life has absolutely improved since I started working in porn. I’m my own boss and have more control in my life, which is a wonderful feeling.
"At my old job, I was stuck behind a desk all day listening to people complain, earning around $40k a year, and didn’t get a whole lot of positive comments, which really impacted on me. In contrast, now I have people constantly telling me that I bring them joy, which brings me joy too."
She added: "Over the years I have been all different sizes. I have even lost a significant amount of weight. But I now know that, for me, that wasn’t the solution to self-acceptance. You really have to love yourself. I see girls and women all the time who, by society’s standards, are thin, but still tear themselves apart. Everyone is perfect to someone, but the main thing is confidence. Men love a confident woman. Obsession over calorie-counting and weight is a turn off to a lot of guys.
"I was a little nervous about it all at first, but I also felt like I had been living my life for other people for so long that it was time for me to live for myself. I had to overcome a lot of fear around other peoples’ perception of me. I’d been held back in the past by worry over what other people would say – but I now consider my own happiness above what other people think of me."
The former customer service worker has now launched her own website. Although she still attracts the odd negative comment from online trolls, particularly on social media, Asstyn says the reaction to her work from the public, and her loved ones, has been mostly positive, and she's not going to stop anytime soon.