Onlyfans - good or bad for feminism?

Yes, great post.

I answered the first time without even having seen that it said 'good or bad for feminism' - I honestly thought it had said women, which is why I answered again.

It isn't good for any women, not even the ones who manage to make quite good money on it.

However I don't judge the women on it. I judge the men who buy access to women's bodies.

It's not about "being a feminist" it's about opening your eyes to the world you live in and, if you dont like it, standing up for change.

Do you like living in a world where male violence against women is both common and sanctioned "she was asking for it" etc.?

Do you like that woman = carer both for children and elderly/disabled relatives?

Do you like earning less than your male counterparts in the same job?

Do you like that there is less female representation at higher levels in all areas of life from commerce to politics?

Do you like the fact that your worth as a woman rests on how you look and as you age you are worth less? Do you like that this is not generally the case for men?

Do you like that technology has developed to the point that men and women can offer themselves up for public consumption and earn "fabulous money"? Do you think this is a job like any other? Or do you think it is degrading? Do you think that men (and it is mainly men) paying for such commodification of largely young, female bodies could get a distorted view of other women who don't choose to flog images of their genitals?

Do you think that putting yourself out there on OF Could be detrimental to future career prospects or relationships? Is society so sophisticated now that no one cares if there is footage of their CEO/MP/teacher/social worker going to town on themselves with a dildo? Have men and women evolved to the point that they aren't bothered if their husband or wife has been viewed naked and doing whatever by thousands (millions?) How do their children feel about it? Would you like it if it was your parent/sibling/partner/child?

Could porn in general cause people to have unrealistic expectations about physical appearance and sex acts? How does this affect self esteem and anxiety and depression levels in (mainly) young people?

So many questions.

Does that make me a feminist?

Stunning you said? Hmm...

Great post

*humans in their own right.

Marxist feminism would never argue that a woman benefits from sex work: she doesn’t control the means of production just by selling herself in the system, any more than the labourer controls the means of production if he sells his labour to the highest bidder, however high the price is.

The woman isn’t the beneficiary of the system any more than the freelancer who does piecework is, or the seasonal labourer in the factory.

A Marxist analysis would point out that the women are merely the labour for the system, and the means of production is the platform and its ownership. So the people who are really empowered by OnlyFans are — the owners of OnlyFans.

That aside, any sex work doesn’t just trade in the woman’s labour, but makes her into part of the product - turning her into a commodity, and alienating her from her humanity by making her into an object, rather than a full human subject. And the objectification of women as goods for sex and the sexual use of men, is the very first cause of feminism.

Objectifying yourself as a sexual product is never feminist, no matter how much money it makes you. It entrenches the system whereby men and their systems see women as chattels, goods, products for sale, fodder and objects for exchange and market rather than human in their Jen right.

There’s zero that’s genuinely feminist about OnlyFans. Don’t kid yourself. Making money from your own objectification isn’t feminism.

You can be a feminist and be on only fans

But anyone who thinks being on only fans is somehow a feminist act is wrong headed.

Its like being a feminist and waxing all your pubes. Some feminists do that. But it isn't a feminist act.

OnlyFans is no different to any other part of the sex exploitation industry. It uses the financial success of a tiny minority of women who delude themselves to think they’re “empowered” with the money they’ve earned, to mask a vast trove of misery, exploitation, trafficking and paedophilia in the levels below.

I have likened it before to an iceberg. At the top there’s the few that are sparkling in the sun, the ones making loads of money. But they’re still not exactly a warm safe place to be. Then there’s the layer just on the surface, the ones bobbing up and down, oscillating between having enough to breathe and get by and drowning and needing to expand their performance repertoire to earn more.

Then below that, in the icy depths are all the women who are just struggling, drug addicted, trafficked, even children - OF has been uncovered to have children on its site - that are kept submerged by the sparkling top of the iceberg people who enjoy their day in the sun without giving two fucks about the misery below them they help enable.

And do the horrible men who use it care whether you’re making a choice or coerced, or making lots of money or scraping by, or trafficked or not, or overage or underage? Of course not. You’re just another naked female to them.

OnlyFans is the world’s biggest pimp, and only women who don’t care about other women would freely choose to use it.

So no, it’s not compatible with feminism.

Only fans might seem great when you're fit and young and your body is in the best shape its ever going to be.

But you don't stay in your 20s forever and as time goes on, unless you make it big, but that doesnt happen at all if all you do is show a bit of tit now does it,.

So the things you have to do will get worse and more degrading, the money you get for them will get less. It won't just be photos, videos. degrading

First you'll agree to meet one man.

Then another.

Then you're selling your body to Fat smelly Stan with his beer belly and his scratchy stubble and chick that hasn't been washed in a week. And you'll be grateful for the £20 he gives you.

Yeah only fans. Great idea. Go for it.

Anything that reinforces to men that women can be bought is a blight on society, and I wish to God that it didn’t exist.

And very bad indeed for women and girls, which is what feminism should be about.

Also very bad for men and boys.

So it's a shit show all round really. Grim and depressing.

Very bad indeed.

Bad, just porn under another name.

Though we should condemn the site before anyone who is on it.

Women have more value to themselves and society than to be wank fodder for men who can't relate to them in the real world.
Feminism tries to help them realise that value.

If you see feminism on only fans then your idea of feminism is very different to mine.

I think most feminist theories wouldn’t support working in the sex industry. At a push the Marxist feminist model could be used to argue that a woman benefits from having control over her working situation within online pornography. If the woman earns plenty of money and has agency over her working life then it’s not exploitative…The argument’s dicey because ultimately this is serving the patriarchy and the exploitation is there in terms of nudity and dealing with online abuse/privacy issues.

Can you be a real feminist and be on Onlyfans, no, because Onlyfans is a willing part of the structures that uphold patriarchy.

Can you pay lip service to feminism and be on Onlyfans, sure, but your feminism is not going to improve things for women and so it's not real feminism.

From a personal point of view it's also a terrible idea that creates some significant risk for you, now and in the future. Professional consequences, lack of control over the images and video, potential for obsessed fans, encouraged to see yourself as a commodity for use by men - no amount of money is worth that.

*welcome to

Bloody autocorrect!

It's not difficult- do you want to sell your body for money.

End. Other people sell their brains. Feminists would say that brains are the right choice because men regard women principally as sexual creatures and nothing else.

The good thing about feminism is that it's made a world where you can ask this question.

Can you be a feminist and on Onlyfans?

No.

That's why I did it that way..I needed a moment to gather my thoughts.

Apparently my comment was somehow breaking the rules by going into detail. 🙄

I guess no freedom of opinions when it comes to porn either

Hello OP, welcome for FWR 🙂

I used to be very much of the opinion that things like this were a matter of choice - if a woman was doing it of free will then no problem. But the issue for me now is that while there is a relatively small number of women working in the sex trade voluntarily (although I’d argue that that choice is being made within the framework of societal expectations for women, e.g to be pleasing to men) the vast majority of women in this trade are trafficked and exploited.

When women sell sex or sexual services voluntarily, it gives credence to the idea that a woman’s body is a commodity to be bought and sold and creates a society where this becomes acceptable to a degree which, in turn, creates a market for the involuntary sex trade. A market = money to be made and there are always those who will exploit at at any cost to others.

Julie Bindel’s book “Feminism for Women” has an excellent chapter on this.

Of course it's bad for women. For all the reasons already stated. I despair of women who choose this type of work and don't see the harm it does. Of course some women genuinely don't have a choice, but those that do? No, just don't.

I used to be a manager and once, someone sent me a snippet from a porn mag of one of my team.

I shredded it immediately.

I cannot imagine the thought of appearing at a conference or gathering and random people in the audience knowing what my private parts looked like.

This generation have no fucking idea what fire they are playing with. And that's without the degradation factor.