“Only fans is the X-rated instagram meets harvard business school”- Katie Salmon, Reality TV star and Only Fans creator.
Only fans is a subscription based service where content creators post content that users can access by paying a monthly subscription fee. Only fans has a lack of restrictive policies and censorship, which makes it a popular sight for adult content, especially that of which is created by young female sex workers. This time of content ranges from bikini and lingerie photos, to nude photos, to pornography. Additionally, there is pay per view content and private messaging services that require additional compensation to access.
Only Fans is the world’s fastest growing influencer platform, growing even faster than Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook. In just under five years, the site has amounted to over a million content creators and is a multibillion dollar platform. They amass over 500K new users everyday, with a total of 85 million worldwide as of March 2nd, according to Timothy Stokely, the founder and CEO of Only Fans.
Private messaging is what makes Only Fans so different than traditional pornography. It’s not a big production, it’s more personal. You can interact with the people that you’re watching, which creates a more intimate experience than porn. This intimacy is likely why in the past year alone, Only Fans was able to pay out over $750,000,000 to its creators.
Many have raved about the financial freedom they have achieved from their success on the site. While this is a great platform for creators to make money on, the top 1% of creators bring in just over ⅓ of the sites total revenue and the top 10% taking in 73% of the total revenue. The average income on the site comes out at $180 per month. In fact, most creators on the platform take home less than $145 per month.
Only Fans takes a fee “20% of any payments that subscribers make. The more you charge and the more subscribers you have, the more money that OnlyFans makes. And this applies to all payments on OnlyFans, not just the adult content, according to a report conducted by Influencer Marketing Hub.
According to Only Fans’s branded blog, “in an influencer market where content creators are having incomes suppressed by YouTube, and monetising content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms is virtually non-existent, we have paid out in excess of $60 million to our account holders.”
A lot of the OF creators we see on social media, are already influencers, such as Bella Thorne, Mimi Zow, and Cardi B. They usually sell bikini and lingerie photos, and are marketing to fans they have already amassed. But the majority of OF creators are starting their accounts from zero and making it anonymous. “I definitely went into Only Fans thinking that it wouldn’t be that much work, but it isn’t easy. I have put in a lot of hard work, but part of our job is to make it look effortless”- Anonymous creator.
Only Fans establishes a secure space where creators can make serious financial gain from personal branded content. Many freelancers on the app have endorsed the platform for aiding in paying for general living costs, such as rent, bills, and food. Creators have also promoted the site for allowing them to pay off debt, purchase a car, buy or rent their homes, pay off medical bills, and save up for college or university expenses.
Only Fans “enables many creators to change their lives for the better. Because of the numerous monetisation features OnlyFans provides (such as pay-per-view messaging, tipping and subscription bundles), content creators can earn without limits on the platform. This can be empowering for many people,” according to the company’s site.
Another reason is that the site allows women to reclaim their bodies under the male gaze and celebrate their sexuality. Creator ‘Spoiledvicky1’ says, “I have always been really confident in my body and I wanted to celebrate that.” Another anonymous creator notes that Only Fans has “ actually given me quite a bit of confidence, I was never massively confident about my body, but putting nice lingerie on and doing my makeup and taking nice photos, it just gave me a lot of confidence and when I look back on photos, it makes me love my body, and it’s nice to get compliments from people.”
With the site’s main reputation stemming from NSFW content, one has to wonder about the security and safety of their content once purchased, especially in the Internet age where almost everything is sharable. However, the platform has put measures in place to protect their creators. Only Fans allows creators to watermark their photos, videos, and live streams in order to create a confidential and owner based platform. Only Fans also has a team of lawyers for their creators in cases of copyrighted content distributed from a 3rd party.
Dr Lauren Rosewarne is an Associate Professor at the School of Social and Political Sciences and Gender Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She specializes in sexuality, social media, pop culture and technology.
Rosewarne says people have personally branded OnlyFans as one of the polar opposites empowering or exploitative, but she advertises against labeling the site in either extreme. “Offering the capacity for women to empower themselves and earn money and to give them another vehicle to achieve autonomy … You could say that for some women this platform has been successful in that endeavour. That doesn’t mean the platform is perfect.”
Only Fans creator, @spoiledvickey1, notes that, “It’s a pressuring job, knowing that your income is based off of subscriptions. You feel the need to put out as much content as possible and prove that your content is worth it. Some people are very demanding, they are only paying $10 but they are wanting to have a girlfriend for the whole month.”
“For me, I think the worst part is that it’s hard to promote through social media accounts that you already have. You have to take that risk and promote your OF account on your personal social media. It can be really uncomfortable when mutuals or friends or people that I’ve met in the past, message me on instagram. I don’t like the thought of who has those photos of me; but at the same time I do know that I am putting those photos out there for anyone to see.” -@bri.die_
It’s difficult either route. On one side if you choose to be anonymous, you know that it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to start a following from the ground up. On the other side, if you do choose to promote on your personal social media accounts, you know that people from your private life, whether it be friends, family, or just people from your past are going to judge you for it.
Another big question right now is if having an Only Fans account will affect job opportunities in the future. Historically, working as a cam girl, stripper, or prostitute has prevented women from job placements. Since this platform really started taking off in the past year, it is hard to tell if there will be repercussions when it is attached to your personal profile.
Because we live in a society which stigmatizes female sexuality, it would follow tradition for women to lose job opportunities based on their history on the platform. Looking at the difference between the way society treats traditional sex workers of both genders, we can see that the consequences of previous sex work affects women far more that men. This is because our society stigmatizes and magnifies female sexuality much more than our male counterparts.
Only Fans represent female liberation. Many Only Fans creators feel very empowered in their jobs, because they are monetizing their likeness and sexuality. The male gaze is a prominent factor in modern society, so the fact that we can now make money off of it, is a big bonus.
“The most liberating part of OF is when you see these little boys on twitter or just like in the comments or whatever of people slacking it off, because like, ppl have even called me and been like ‘omg I saw you posted this and your ass’ and it’s like… so your money is in my pocket? (laughing) that’s fucking liberating to be honest” -@bri.die_.
“I think it represents liberation, because anything women can do that they are in control of and can make money off of it, that is liberation! You are taking control of your life and you are doing whatever you want.” – @blancheburlesque.
The reason that influencing and social media is questioned as a legitimate source of income is because the industry is predominantly female. This career takes extreme entrepreneurial and business skills, however since women are headlining the job market it is seen as less than. This can create an inherently feminist creator network on platforms such as Only Fans.
Claire Cesarz, who is known under the username ‘therustyranger’, is a fashion model and creator who has had much success on OnlyFans. She has created a space where her fans feel personally connected to her, which is the goal of every passionate content creator. She uses her platform as a space to raise awareness about mental health and animal rights.
Cesarz says that she feels the site is a place to “take back your power. Owning your femininity in whatever version that may be for you. Expressing yourself without fear or limitation. Aligning yourself with others who uplift and empower you, who challenge you to grow and evolve. Women have sacred, powerful energy that we are often taught to mute and hide at an early age. We are often shamed for speaking our truths no matter what they might be.” She says that Only Fans “offers women an opportunity to strengthen and support and love each other as that is what we are ultimately here on this Earth to do.”
Another creator who goes by the username ‘Snarky Brunette’ and is known for her comedy channel, testifies that “our main goal in life used to be: grow up, look hot and get married, but now we are becoming CEOs, making strides in the entertainment industry, and dominating comedy. I cannot wait to see what the future holds in store for our next generation of women!”
The creator ‘Mystical Mama’ says the site has empowered her as a woman and has given new depth to her identity as a feminist. In a 2020 post for Only Fans, she states, “women are thriving and succeeding unapologetically. Women are the foundation of everything in this world and we need more than one day to show how much we are appreciated. We persevere through so much while climbing the ladders of life. We have to endure judgment from being too sexy, from being working moms, and even being too opinionated. Regardless of the things I have to endure, I am proud every day to be a powerful, Black woman.”
While Only Fans has taken strides in women’s liberation and financial freedom, it would be naive to say the platform is exclusively positive. In talking about sex work, there needs to be an acknowledgement of continuous exploitation. There is a history of abuse in sex work whether it be prostitutes with pimps or strippers and their managers, but OF is a way for sex workers to work for themselves. They hold the power in their client relationships.
There are people who believe that sex is the opposite of feminism. There is a narrative behind giving men what they want and that women are sexualized enough in society. A lot of people believe that sex workers are almost pandering to it. People question how OF can be liberating when you receive abuse from your clients. Although when you look at it objectively, the abuse is far less than these women would recieve compared to other lines of sex work. It’s a great way to do sex work with less exploitation, not the absence of it.
The definition of sex work, according to Miriam Webster, is “the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation”, e.g. selling provocative pictures and videos on Only Fans, being a camgirl, being a stripper, being a porn star, selling underwear, or being a prostitute.
While forms of sex work such as Only Fans, are a great form of female empowerment, the broader world of sex work is still a dangerous and usually trapped workspace for women. Often when discussing Only Fans as sex work, the realities of prostitution and trafficing get glossed over. Prostitutes and strippers often get into sex work, not as a side hustle, but because they have to do it for money to survive. They endure bad working conditions, dangerous working conditions, and violence against sex workers.
The criminaliztion of sex work has been an ongoing issue throughout history. We can see in the past and present that the criminalization of sex work is not a feasible answer. It places responsibility on those who turned to sex work, because of a capitalist society that they were placed at the bottom of. The only way to truly ‘dissolve’ sex work would be to dissolve the system that got them there in the first place.
Juno Mac, sex worker and author of Revolting Prostitutes, writes in her book that “we need to think empathetically about how changes in criminal law change the incentives and behaviors of people who sell sex, along with clients, police, managers, and landlords. If you understand how those behaviors change and why, then you will have a much deeper understanding of how changes in the criminal law make people who sell sex more- or less- safe.”
Some feminsists argue that sex work isn’t s justifiable career as it is innately exploitative. However, if we are looking broadly at a capitalist society, every career should be considered exploitative. Looking at large corporations who make billions of dollars and pay their service workers minimum wage has similar corrupt foundations. Only in the patriarchal society, women sex workers are less accepted for their line of exploitative work. “They often are suffering extreme levels of violence and discrimination due to the laws surrounding sex work”, says Theresa.
Unfortunately, with emerging sites such as Only Fans we have come out with what Juno Mac describes as a ‘Happy Hookers Movement’. The movement asserts we are pushing aside issues in sex work need to be addresses, such as violent clients and unsafe working conditions, because of women doing less dangerous forms of sex work, such as Only Fans, rave of body positivity and sexual empowerment. This movement tend to minimize the critical realities of many women in sex work.
“Despite many governments claiming that the laws surrounding sex work are put in place to protect sex workers, sex workers have been criminalized and demonized for years. You actually cannot enter the United States if you have sold sex in the last 10 years; this is along with terrorists, Nazis, and spies. The best way we can protect sex workers is to take power away from police and border control,” says Theresa.
When talking about sex work in any form, decriminaliztion, protection, and workers rights need to be the center of the conversation. The established, modern wave of feminism often aims attention towards violence from males. Yet, these same feminists fail to acknowledge the consistent and severe violence that many sex workers face from their clients, managers, and landlords.
“Sex workers are the original feminists. Often seen as merely subject to others’ whims, in fact, sex workers have shaped and contributed to social movements across the world,” says Molly Smith, sex worker and feminsist advocate.
Due to the lack of protections for sex workers, they are often easy targets for rapists, serial killers, and murders. Sex workers oftern fear going to the police for help after suffering violence or assualt due to the fear of being persecuted themselves. This means these same violent offenders are now free to commit more crimes against women.
Criminalization gives power to the police and law enforcement agencies, which in the United states, have a history of corruption. Often, perpetrators of violence and assualt towards sex workers are those same law enforcement officers that are depicted as saving them from violent streets.
Women of color are also subjected to additional scrutiny while doing sex work. According to figures from Revolting Prostitutes, “In the 1970’s Black women were 7x more likely to be arrested for prostitution related offences than white women…. On top of that, between 2012 and 2015, 85% of those charged with loitering for the purpose of prostittion’ were black or latinx, despite these groups only making up 54% of NYC population.”
Criminalization is directly correlated to the prosecution and oppression of women of color. On social media, we see law enforcement bureaus going as far as tweeting out names and pictures of women who have been arrested for sex work, which enately endangers these women.
When observing how the media portrays the arrests of sex workers, we see that they are often refered to as a ‘rescue’. This narrative illustrates police officers as heroic. Yet, if these women are in fact being rescued, why are they being incarcerated? Under the current laws, what is the defining line of victim vs criminal?
“The aim in decriminalizing sex work is not to advocate for a ‘right’ for men to pay for sex. On the contrary, naming something as work is a crucial first step in refusing to do it.” -Molly Smith.
The criminalization of sex work has painted the public’s image of sex workers as criminals, instead of women trying to make ends meet in a system that consistently oppresses them. Decriminalization and enforcing proper, protective labor laws for sex workers will aid in the true and absolute liberation of sex and women. We need to intensify the voices of all sex workers in this conversation, and not just our favorite celebrities, like Bella Thorne, who sell lingerie photos for $1,000 each on Only Fans.
“People should not have to demonstrate that their work has intrinsic value to society to deserve safety at work. Moving toward a better society—one in which more people’s work does have wider value, one in which resources are shared on the basis of need—cannot come about through criminalization. Nor can it come about through treating marginalized people’s material needs and survival strategies as trivial. Sex workers ask to be credited with the capacity to struggle with work—even hate it—and still be considered workers. You don’t have to like your job to want to keep it” -Mac.