Stockton, California’s Bear Creek High School has won national recognition for its student paper, the Bruin Voice. And last week, it made national news when it published “Risky business: starting a career in the adult entertainment industry”—a profile of Caitlin Fink, who has been making a living for herself in adult entertainment since leaving home several months ago.
The profile, written by Bailey Kirkeby, met with major resistance from the school district, which demanded that the paper’s faculty adviser, Kathi Duffel, turn in a draft for review before publication. Duffel protested and attracted national news coverage of what she believed was an affront to free speech. The district agreed to an independent review of the article by an outside source, and “Risky Business” ran last Friday.
Since then, Caitlin Fink’s star has been on the rise as the story has garnered attention from media around the world. She agreed to be interviewed and to use both her name and image because, she told a local CBS station, “Adult entertainers aren’t just objects, they are actual people. They have feelings; they have goals; they have motivation.”
Fink saw the article as an opportunity to educate readers about the porn industry and about herself.
“I’m a lovey-dovey, old school romantic, and people just assume things about me,” Fink said in the article. “People assume that just because you’re in the industry, you would do sexual things with anyone, and that isn’t true,” she continued. “Adult entertainment is a job just like any other job.”
She started by selling erotic photos online, and “I liked the attention I got, [such as] being called beautiful. I enjoyed it because it made me feel good about myself,” she told the Bruin. Since then, Fink has learned a lot about how to make a business out of her work. “I used to sell my content first before receiving any sort of payment, and when I asked for the payment, [buyers would] save my content and block me,” Fink said. “I’ve also had to put my name on pictures sometimes because people would try and sell them, claiming them as theirs.”
She recently became a verified member on Pornhub, where she hopes to start earning on her work soon. She’s also signed with an adult talent agency and should start begin shooting professional content soon.
