I mean if you pay a creator directly I don’t see how that could be unethical

Plenty of actresses and cam girls - particularly those working overseas - are managed directly by pimps or by agencies that function no differently. Plenty more are exploited indirectly in the same way Uber and Lyft exploit their drivers - treated as contract labor, underpaid, and subjected to abuse both off and on camera.

The system is fucked but people still need to eat

Sure. “No ethical consumption under capitalism”, yadda yadda.

And there’s plenty of arguments for why direct sourcing has better broad economic incentives. But Hugh Hiefner played this game with Playboy sixty years ago, insisting everyone was paid well and treated respectfully. And that was the softest of soft core. Turns out his organization was barely a step above the guys making porn videos for Times Square.

You make the best decisions you can. But at some point you have to recognize that you’re buying a narrative as much as anything.