Written by: Pieter de Jong
OnlyFans started in 2016 to give people the ability to pay a small sum to pay for content of their favourite content creators. Part of this sum goes to OnlyFans, part of it goes to the creator. Nowadays most people know OnlyFans for the sheer amount of sexworkers that are on the platform. Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, the amount of people using OnlyFans, not only as users, but also as creators increased enormously. It’s Twitter followers have pretty much doubled since April.
Many people lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic and some of these people are moving to virtual sex work. According to OnlyFans they had a 75% subscription increase over March and April alone and about 200.000 people sign up for OnlyFans each day. Some of these sex workers are making over 100.000 a year, a very substantial sum. Subscribers on OnlyFans usually say they prefer the ‘authenticity’ of this amateur form of porn over the ‘professional’ porn. There is also a possibility to message and talk to the creator of your choice. This urge is said to have significantly increased since the pandemic has started.
It is however also said that the pandemic made many OnlyFans creators earn less, because many of their subscribers can no longer afford to pay for their content, or because the amount of creators significantly increased, therefore increasing competition. Recently BBC aired the documentary #Nudes4Sale, which looked into the fact that there are many underage people selling their content on OnlyFans as well, which is a terrible drawback to its many positives and should be properly looked into.
Besides the increase in use of OnlyFans, it’s also become way more popular on Social Media. A year ago, when I scrolled through my Twitter feed, I wouldn’t ever see anything about OnlyFans, nowadays, however, even though I only follow political, football and gaming communities, I get loads of OnlyFans links, photos and promotions. With this, I also feel like being open about sexuality on Social Media has become ware more prevalent. Content creators say the public opinion on their work is rapidly changing, although according to some, not quickly enough. The amount of linktr.ee links on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitch that include OnlyFans links have seriously increased.
Besides this, it’s also becoming more mainstream. Former Disney Channel star Bella Thorne opened an OnlyFans account this year to, as she said herself, break the taboo of being a sex worker. She broke all records reeling in 2 million dollars within the first week. Instead of reaching her goal however, she got a lot of backlash from other OnlyFans creators because her photo’s weren’t what the ‘fans’ expected and due to the enormous amount of refunds people requested, pay-cap limits were set by OnlyFans, therefore depriving other users of their income (oops).
I personally have used OnlyFans to subscribe to content creators in the past, although I don’t have any open subscriptions now, I enjoyed doing so a lot. I find the rise of OnlyFans to be a superb example of the more open look society has towards sexuality and showing sexuality, although it also has some problems considering technically everyone can see what you do, including people who should not be able to.
Would you dare to say if you were an OnlyFans user (not content creator 😊)?
I learned myself about OnlyFans because of one of my favorite YouTube bloggers. One of the topics of her channel is sex education, so having an account like this fits her well.
I see this platform as a nice thing and happy that it can help sex workers to still have their income during pandemic times.
If I were an OnlyFans user I would dare to say it, because I think that there is nothing to be ashamed of in supporting a creator if you like the content!
A few years ago I suddenly found myself hearing about it a lot and at some point even considered starting a profile when I was struggling financially. When researching the platform I realised how much effort it is for one person to maintain a profitable presence there. It’s editing, social media management, all in all a job description for a small team.
My feelings about OnlyFans are rather mixed. Although I do believe in its role in promoting sex positivity and providing a platform for sex works to earn more income, especially in times of crisis. However, I believe that the way the site is praised as being feminist, empowering, and liberating needs to be re-evaluated. If you really think about it, OnlyFans is playing the role of a procurer here, and at the end of the day, it is these virtual pimps that profit the most from the content posted by the sex workers. I doubt that OnlyFans even cares about their well-being at all.