I don't understand this issue with OnlyFans.

[DragonSnapCrimson]

I’ve been thinking about OnlyFans recently and can’t fully understand why it appears to be seen in such a bad light here.

In the cases where a person is pushed into it, feels it’s no other option etc then yes, I fully get why it’s not a good thing.

But I have seen some people on social media who are aware of all of the risks, aware that their photos could be shared with third parties etc and they’re completely ok with that, they’ve spoken on it. They’ve made buckets of money with the app in order to pay for uni, a house deposit among plenty of other things. So why would that be seen as a bad thing?

If they’re fully aware of the dangers/consequences yet still consent to it and make decent money for their future/whatever they like, then I don’t see the problem. Or is there no problem with people in this particular situation?

This post isn’t about other kinds of sex work, just OnlyFans.

It’s not about the individual women people who are making money from it.
It’s about the way that a platform that relies on women’s bodies are commodified and exploited as the objects of the male gaze, and what that reveals about the true power in society.

I have no clue if the majority is men seeking out women, but I do know that there are tons of people of all demographics on OF, not just men seeking women's bodies.

twitter.com/Woke_Misogyny/status/1490601146213445634

This tweet has screenshots from Reddit's AmITheAsshole, where a bloke made sure a woman lost a paid internship - because she's on OnlyFans.

You're not seeing the bigger picture. Only Fans is another form of exploitation - some women may benefit from it but by and large women will be negatively judged for doing it, or pushed into it, or feel that they don't have a choice. It's not an even playing field.

This tweet has screenshots from Reddit's AmITheAsshole, where a bloke made sure a woman lost a paid internship - because she's on OnlyFans.
That's shocking. He says the fact that he subscribed to her channel proves he supports women doing Only Fans - but he also used her OF as a way to lose her her internship. Cognitive dissonance, much?

@Zerogravity

You're not seeing the bigger picture. Only Fans is another form of exploitation - some women may benefit from it but by and large women will be negatively judged for doing it, or pushed into it, or feel that they don't have a choice. It's not an even playing field.

This. “I choose my choice” isn’t valid here, it would be full of men if it was in any way empowering or lucrative.

One of my patients makes her living on the site. She doesn’t want to do it but as she points out, who is going to fund all the additional needs her toddler has? He needs a lot of interventions and treatments and she has no family support and no one to help care for him. I despair for her. It’s so sad. She is worried about the end of masks in hospital as she is worried someone will recognise her from her camera work. She is getting more money at the moment as she is pregnant so appeals to a niche market.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.spectator.co.uk/article/there-s-nothing-empowering-about-the-sex-work-on-onlyfans/amp

www.google.com/amp/s/www.moralrevolution.com/blog/the-dark-side-of-only-fans%3fformat=amp

www.google.com/amp/s/www.refinery29.com/amp/en-gb/bbc-onlyfans-nudes4sale-young-women

It is perfectly possible for something to be a bad thing (for society, for people etc) even though some people do it through choice. Besides, as you pointed out, some are coerced. Do we just ignore that bit?

No we shouldn't ignore that bit at all. My question was simply if the situation I highlighted was seen as "bad" or not.

The freedom to do what you like with your own body seems compelling. For me the argument against selling yourself goes quite deep. I don’t believe a person can really dissociate “herself” from her body. So in displaying/selling oneself on OF you are treating yourself as a product or commodity. You aren’t that. You are a human being with all the richness of thought, emotion, feeling, and relationship that you are capable of. The word devalues springs to mind. People devalue themselves doing this. As a young woman I could really feel the power of display that women have. In working with this in a relationship it is meaningful. It is something special. When money changes hands it changes into something else. I think it dehumanises both men and women. The viewer sees a product and the seller sees a punter. Both are in a state of vulnerability, but not recognising that.

The OnlyFans Affiliate Model

If you’re not familiar with how referral or affiliate marketing works it’s really simple. When someone uses your code or link to buy something or register for a service, they get a commission. In the case of user-based companies, like OnlyFans, affiliate programs are a great way to increase your user base quickly.

If you’re a member and someone signs up using your referral code you actually collect 5% of their earningsfor an entire year. [Note from Purgatory- it used to be forever, IIRC]

What’s important to note here is that is incredibly scalable passive income. Anyone would find that attractive and some people earn substantial profits just through referrals and affiliates. Affiliate marketing itself isn’t a scam and many online creators have some part of their online income coming from affiliate earnings. MLMs just happen to also use referral or affiliate programs for their recruitment to incentivise members to recruit.

(Continues)

It Turns OnlyFans Into an MLM – Sort of

AnMLM, or multi-level marketing company, is essentially a pyramid with the people at the top benefitting from everyone under them – a pyramid scheme. While this referral model isn’texactlythe same, there are a lot of shocking similarities to those types of companies.

First of all, you can base your entire business onreferrals.Justlike with an MLM company, you can make the bulk of your OnlyFans profit not with your own sales, but with your “team”. Coaching a team, rather than producing your own content, is big business in the OnlyFans world.

Blown out incomes lure people in. Imagine going from poverty to making over $30,000 amonth.Thosestories are being shared around, but the truth is that those are the top 1% earners. And the top 1% of OnlyFans accounts earn 33% of the money coming in on OnlyFans.

Direct sales folks use similar tactics but the reality for both is a lot of work for a lot less money.

Easy money and lifestyleselling.Ifthe money isn’t enough these folks sell you on joining their lifestyle. Just like Tupperware lets you “party for a living”, OnlyFans creators can allegedly earn an income by uploading a few pictures from the comfort of their home.

(Continues)

Pressure, pressure,pressure.Whenall else fails, many MLMs and OnlyFans affiliates use this tactic – and you might not even realize it’s happening. Things like, “Hey, babe” (or “Hey boss babe” from MLMs) and “Come on, you’d be great at this!”.

All of this is bad enough when you’re trying to coerce adults into joining, but imagine if you used these same tactics on children?

(Continues)

The creator says that when you’re 18 you can join the platform and you, too, can make money. They might even invite you to a private group or Discord server to get tips and tricks if you sign up with their link.

Everyone is welcoming and supportive.

Kids Are Being Groomed

Now that it’s mainstream, people are asking teenagers to make OnlyFans when they turn 18. Two groups are responsible: Creepy people who find them attractive and want to see those types of pictures and predatory affiliates who think they can profit off young girls

Continues:
www.liketodabble.com/is-onlyfans-an-mlm/

@DragonSnapCrimson

No we shouldn't ignore that bit at all. My question was simply if the situation I highlighted was seen as "bad" or not.

So I don't think it is "bad". Rather it is "sad".

From my POV, we have created another platform for people to traffic others.

These already exist. For the individuals who have gone on by choice, made some good money, understand the consequences etc then great, good for them. For those who have been pressured into doing it, for those who are coerced, for those who maybe don't fully understand the consequences etc, it's just another way for them to be abused.

It’s just another way to let men know that they can get whatever they want as long as they have money. So why should they ever bother being nice to women when they can buy them instead?

@JoodyBlue

The freedom to do what you like with your own body seems compelling. For me the argument against selling yourself goes quite deep. I don’t believe a person can really dissociate “herself” from her body. So in displaying/selling oneself on OF you are treating yourself as a product or commodity. You aren’t that. You are a human being with all the richness of thought, emotion, feeling, and relationship that you are capable of. The word devalues springs to mind. People devalue themselves doing this. As a young woman I could really feel the power of display that women have. In working with this in a relationship it is meaningful. It is something special. When money changes hands it changes into something else. I think it dehumanises both men and women. The viewer sees a product and the seller sees a punter. Both are in a state of vulnerability, but not recognising that.

Great post Joody. Ad yes, it's sad, tragic, depressing to see this lauded and praised.

As pp said, it's a pyramid scheme. If many many young women are on it, they will have to offer things that other women don't to compete, and can easily get drawn into doing things that they may not be comfortable with and may have ramifications down the line given that it's public and available to your employers, people in your social circle, family members etc.

https://thecritic.co.uk/onlyfans-is-just-another-pimp-led-pyramid-scheme/

On the first point, the “wealth creationon” myth of OnlyFans is one that is often reproduceded by the media, with an uncritical misrepresentation of an industry that offers young women a get-rich-quick platform through the sale of sexual content. However, this ignores the intense exploitation both sexual and economic that occurs at every level of the transaction.
For examplele, approximately 73 per cent of the entire income generated by the site is concentrated into the hands of a mere 10 per cent of its creators. This leaves 90 per cent of the creators left to split a meagre 27 per cent of the remaining profit, with an average incomeme of $180 for performers. Economic exploitation has always been one of the bedrocksks of the commercial sex industry, and OnlyFans is no differentnt in that regard.
But, in a dystopian twist, OnlyFans has managed to double down by utilising the crushing oppression of gig-economy tactics to create a saturated, free-for-all marketplace where the lowest fees combined with quantity of contentnt_ is king.^

@DragonSnapCrimson

I’ve been thinking about OnlyFans recently and can’t fully understand why it appears to be seen in such a bad light here.

In the cases where a person is pushed into it, feels it’s no other option etc then yes, I fully get why it’s not a good thing.

But I have seen some people on social media who are aware of all of the risks, aware that their photos could be shared with third parties etc and they’re completely ok with that, they’ve spoken on it. They’ve made buckets of money with the app in order to pay for uni, a house deposit among plenty of other things. So why would that be seen as a bad thing?

If they’re fully aware of the dangers/consequences yet still consent to it and make decent money for their future/whatever they like, then I don’t see the problem. Or is there no problem with people in this particular situation?

This post isn’t about other kinds of sex work, just OnlyFans.

My teenage daughter is being asked if she has an OnlyFans by her classmates. Is this ok to you?

Meanwhile, @DragonSnapCrimson joins or namechanges on Mumsnet to ask innocent questions about OnlyFans, and claims not to understand the many valid reasons against it.

reported.

It's the thin end of the wedge in softening up women and girls to 'sex work'. There aren't enough accessible women in the world to willingly enter these professions to meet the global demand*, hence trafficking to feed the industries in countries where 'sex work' is decriminalised.

And now, the grooming of average Jane, in media and with the seal of approval, at university. That's a whole working life not being considered when thinking of the money rolling for a brief while*. Case in point: the damage wreaked by the Redditor in the tweet above. Note also, he was a subscriber to the 'sinner' and went unpunished.
Ultimately, the sex-positive crowd would like the white collar office-working world to accept a 'sex work' past at college or whenever.

*burn-out for women in porn is 18 months AFAIR?

• • most OF accounts

@WhereYouLeftIt

twitter.com/Woke_Misogyny/status/1490601146213445634

This tweet has screenshots from Reddit's AmITheAsshole, where a bloke made sure a woman lost a paid internship - because she's on OnlyFans.

That’s fucked up. What a knob.

OnlyFans is pretty grim though.

The issue is that it targets young people who are not sufficiently mature to truly understand risk. When you're older you know what selling your vulnerability does to your soul. When you're 18, you do not understand this.

I'm uncomfortable with the "empowering" narrative as I'm old enough to remember Jordan, Jodie Marsh, Kerry Katina etc being hailed as powerful, successful business women for nude modelling, then gradually falling apart.

Do I think it's the fact that their agents took a cut that caused them problems (OF logic) or is there something deep seated about selling your body and basing your self esteem and sense of success entirely on how much men want to sleep with you?

@loveinthe90s I name changed recently, not for this specific post, it is allowed. I also haven't claimed to not know the issue with it, I've asked if there was something wrong with the exact situation I highlighted in my OP. Posters have responded with lots of answers that I'm going to read through when I'm home from work. I'm literally trying to learn, what's your problem 😂