We live in a world where a woman is vowing to release a sex tape to gain followers.

Lena The Plug is, without a doubt, a YouTube success story.

Her ‘About’ section is pretty straight forward – “I got a big booty and you’re probably here to see it” – but it’s a formula that  works. At just 25, she has 144,343 subscribers to her YouTube channel, and almost two million views.

Lena The Plug (real name Lena Nersesian) grew up in the LA suburb of Glendale, which is predominantly Armenian. Her parents were extremely religious and conservative, and as she flourished into womanhood, Lena decided to go the opposite direction.

She has been uploading to her personal YouTube channel for just over a month now, and found instant fame thanks to her curvy figure - hence the 'plug' reference - and flirty, sexually-charged videos.

Which brings us to why and how Lena The Plug came into our orbit.

The vlogger found herself in the spotlight this week when she uploaded a video declaring that, if she reaches one million subscribers, she'll make a sex tape.

Yep, a sex tape.

“You may or may not have heard that I am planning on making a sex tape when I hit a million subscribers," she says in the video, uploaded six days ago.

She added: “I have been approached to do porn multiple times in the last year — putting provocative pictures on the internet will get you such offers — but it’s never been something I’ve been interested in, or tempted by."

“I don’t want to do porn and I really have no interest in doing it. But a sex tape with someone that I’m seeing and totally comfortable having sex with? That sounds cool to me.”

Initial reactions: eye roll. Outrage. Disgust. Jumping on that high horse and galloping away shrieking profanities about online celebrities and the #YouthOfToday.

And yet, as I dug deeper into the seedy world of sexy YouTubers, Lena The Plug started to seem less like an attention-seeking online personality, and more like the standard blogger of the time we live in.

To be famous in 2017, you need shock value.

But there's a Catch 22 of online stardom: you're only as shocking as the one who came before you, and will cease to be so as the next one comes along.

Remember when MTV's Jackass seemed like the most intense viewing you'd ever seen? They seem like church boys compared to what's out there online these days: faux kidnappings, pretend terrorist attacks, even disturbing science experiments involving chicken eggs and human sperm.

Fair to say it takes a loud voice to get any attention online these days.

Lena's plan to snag one million followers is not hers alone. The man she plans to feature in her sex tape is fellow YouTuber Adam Grandmaison, better known as Adam22.

For their sex tape to come to fruition, he too must reach one million followers. In an extreme case of 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours', the two fame-hungry vloggers are set to mutually benefit from their scheme.

It won't be the first time they've taken their sex life live.

In a previous video alongside her best friend Emily, Lena declares that together they plan to have a threesome with Adam.

Giggling and nervous at the start, the video ends with the trio clearly drunk and rolling around on the bed, managing to give a final, heavy-lidded promotion for their respective channels.

Oh yeah, and they had just had sex.

As someone only a few years older than Lena, I find it hard to judge. Haven't we all been 25, drunk, explored our sexuality? Declared threesomes and taken provocative pictures? I guess the difference between Lena The Plug and most of us, however, is that we didn't have an audience of 144,000 people watching our every move.

The issue here isn't Lena. Or her sex tape. Or even her desire to be famous. The issue here is the audience.

In 2017, the clicks and eyeballs rule the roost when it comes to online content - and that goes for everything from Mamamia articles to YouTube bloggers. We're primed via social platforms like Facebook and Instagram to crave approval, and interaction, and admiration.

Even the tamest of Instagrammers would readily admit to feeling a rush of happiness at likes or comments when uploading a selfie. It feels good. People like you.

But perhaps this is now peak narcissism and voyeurism.

A young woman who is neither a sex worker nor an adult film actor is opting to post her sex tape on the internet. Pornography created by willing professionals is one thing - that's great. That's healthy. I'm all for that.

But a sex tape for the implicit reason of online attention? That's not healthy - that's scary.

I can only anticipate the hordes of readers who will argue that it is Lena's body, and her sexuality, and her choice what to do with it. And you're right. But I'll ask you: what were you doing at 25? Are you proud of it today? Would you be happy for it to exist online, forever, for the judgement of whoever wishes to find it?

I can't help but feel Lena and the thousands of other young women like her are just the victims of a global obsession with being the most shocking, the most famous, the most outrageous; with women like Gabi Grecko acting as collateral in the game for popularity.

At 25, Lena The Plug has grown up through the filter of social media and the concept of an 'online' and 'offline' personality.

After announcing her sex tape, she muses on the nature of her videos.

"Just, you know, a normal announcement. About me filming my sex life and putting it out for the world to see. Very 2017 of me."

Very 2017 indeed.