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Lucy is a mum of two young sons. Her full-time job is on OnlyFans.

As she stands at the school gates of her kid's private school, mum-of-two Lucy Banks has become all too familiar with other parents wondering what she does for work.

She's a regular at her six- and eight-year-old sons' pick up and drop off. She attends every school assembly, sports game, and extra-curricular event - and all without a partner to share the load with. 

"I don't go and advertise it, but if someone asks me: 'What do you do for work?' or 'Why are you never at work?' I tell them: I'm a content creator... and then we go into that conversation," she told Mamamia.

In "that conversation," Banks has to explain that she creates porn.

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Video via Mamamia

Lucy had made a comfortable career for herself working in banking until her marriage came to an end, and she was forced to stop working to take care of her kids.

"I had $60 in my bank account, I had these two kids, I had all this debt, and I thought: 'I don't know how I'm going to wake up tomorrow. I don't know how to put fuel in the car to take them to school. I don't know what to do here,' but I knew I couldn't go back to work. I knew I just needed to figure it out because those kids needed me."

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Nowadays, she's making four times the money she did working in banking.

She's sending her children to prestigious schools, she's providing her six-year-old son with a disability the best medical care possible, and just last week, she booked a five-day cruise for her and her family - all funded by the money she's made as an adult content creator on OnlyFans.

"I don't think that sex should be anything that's dirty or shameful. It's just so normal.

"We all [have sex] and the fact that I'm monetizing it doesn't make me any better or worse than the man next door who isn't. I just saw an opportunity where I could really use my sexuality as something that was powerful and not something to be ashamed of."

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Banks was tempted to join OnlyFans while out with a friend who made their income via the platform. But it was only when her ex-husband told her she "better not" get into it, that she decided it was worth a try.

"I had never even thought about it and I wasn't going to, but just the fact that he told me I couldn't do it," she explained with a raised eyebrow and telling smile. 

"I was always going to transition back into banking once I'd moved out [from the home she shared with her husband] and got established, but doing OnlyFans provided me with enough money that I didn't have to go back.

"With this job, the harder I work, the more hours I put into it, the more research I do, the smarter I get and my income reflects that."

Banks has been on the platform for just under two years, and today she sits in the top one per cent of creators worldwide. But it hasn't been completely smooth sailing, as she told Mamamia.

"About a year and a half ago... I was outed to my family. 

"I come from a very conservative family. My mum's Islamic and I was outed by somebody who knew that the impact it would have on my life. They knew that my family would disown me, and they knew it would cause a whole lot of problems," she said.

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"I was faced with the decision of, well, I can either shrink back and be like, 'Okay, I'm sorry, I never should have done it,' or, I could own it and be like, 'You know what, f**k you guys, this is what I am doing. None of you guys pay for my kids, no one else pays my bills. So I'm going to do my thing'. And that's what I decided to do."

For a year, she was estranged from her family before they came back around, encouraged by the life she had created for her kids. 

"Like, they're never gonna be like, 'oh, what content are you filming this week?' But they know about it," she laughed.

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Pursuing a career in sex work has meant that the opinions of friends, family and even acquaintances ripple through Banks' family.

And while that's something she's considered, Banks refuses to let other's judgement stop her.

"It's possible that my kids will face some backlash for it, but that's something that we'll deal with at the time. 

"I have confidence in my parenting that I'm raising kids to be strong, resilient and to educate others as well," she said. 

"I'd rather focus on raising them to be able to handle it, then to try to control the world that hasn't caught up yet."

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Getting rid of sex-related shame is important to Banks, all the more so because she's a mother.

It's why she's "excited" to share what she does for work with her two sons when the right time comes. 

"I'm excited to have that conversation. I don't want them growing up thinking that porn is some disgusting, dirty thing because it's not, and I think it's really important.

"As parents, we have a real opportunity to educate our kids about ethical porn. What you see on PornHub isn't real, and for somebody like me, who is [creating my own content] as a normal-looking person - a normal mum - yeah, I think it's quite powerful to be able to have those conversations."

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Their response, she anticipates, will simply be one of surprise that anyone would "want to see mum" like that.

More importantly though, she hopes it will create an important conversation about respect for women and sex workers. 

"I'm their mum and they're very respectful towards me. I hope that them learning that I'm in the adult industry, will sort of carry over to how they view women in sex and porn in the future. 

"I'm confident that they will look back and be like, 'Wow, Mum did what she had to do. She was always there for us. She sent us to good schools, and she did that all on her own'."

For Banks, the positives far outweigh the negatives, and they're only becoming less and less important as society grows increasingly comfortable with sex work.

"I'm there for my kids 24/7, I'm able to pay the bills, and I'm not stressed like I was in my corporate job. I don't know how this isn't a good job for a mother. To me. It's ideal.

"I've been in a position where I was so embarrassed to not be able to pay my bills, from not embarrassed about being able to provide for my kids. Now, I'm not embarrassed about my job at all."

Feature Image: Instagram / @itslucybanks

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