Onlyfans - good or bad for feminism?

[JustGraduated]

Hi all - I’m new here so not sure if this is the right topic for this forum. Sorry if it isn’t but would love to hear your opinions! Also sorry for how long this is!!!

I recently graduated from uni & one of my housemates (and best friends) had an onlyfans page. It was the cause of disagreement between her and our other housemate (and friend) who is a really strong feminist.

She is stunning and loved doing it, so regularly posted on it & did really well (like insane well). She made enough to cover tuition fees, rent, bills & a whole lot more beside. And don’t get me wrong she works hard on it.

Our other housemate was strongly against it. Saying that it was demeaning her as a female & that she should stop it if she respected herself.

The three of us all get on really well and besides a few little arguments between the two of them it never caused anything serious.

I just want to know what you guys think. Can you be a feminist and on Onlyfans? I often play with the idea of starting my own, especially when I look at my student loan debt and how well my friend did!

@CountZacular I totally agree. It's putting in men's heads the idea that plenty of women are 'more than happy' to participate in degrading shizzle and hence the rest of us that won't go there in relationships are 'not up with the game' - the same goes for hard core porn. There are some women who operate professionally in the sex industry and not below the radar who use it just as another string to their bow- to be honest I'm less bothered by them as anyone can google them anyway than the students, single mums etc who just want to try and make extra/easy cash discreetly without realising the issues it can create further down the line for them and their families and job/relationships . Rightly or wrongly people will judge.

Well is sex work is work then why not? Why not have brothels advertising for girls at the job centre and your benefits cut if you refuse to become a sex worker? Do you think they would apply single sex exemption to those posts? 🤔 I presume the tax man is interested in OF earning?

Well yes, this is what I was saying (and the previous poster). It is surely only a small step from 'sex work is work' to 'refusing to do sex work is refusing to work' and benefits sanctioned. Because you won't suck cock.

They have done and women were threatened with their benefits being cut if they didn't go for the interview/apply for the position.

Fleecing men for money fucks with your head, it destroys your ability to trust and gives you a really warped and unhealthy relationship with money (it made me feel weird and dirty so I would spend it on utter nonsense or even just give it away - I paid for a boy I liked’s MA fees! Just gave him a grand in cash in carrier bag, a desperate attempt to restore some of my self worth).

What an important post. Thank you.

I can't understand why it is even up for debate that objectification and subjugation of women is bad for women, as a class. Even if a minority of women truly choose to do this.

Oh how horrified we are about the statistics of women killed by their own partners, sons and grandsons. How horrified we are by men like Aaron Tate and all the school boys who look up to him. But in the next breath we're telling young people that women can sell their bodies; rent their wombs; accept men in their changing rooms; it's natural for men to use porn; you're just jealous if you query the objectification of women in adverts; you're a buzz kill if you query the sheer amount of rape-as-entertainment on screen.

We're far from eliminating ableism and racism, but thank fuck most intelligent people know that they are detrimental to society. Not so much with misogyny.

*Urgh, Andrew Tate
Apologies anyone called Aaron Tate

Oh look, it’s an AI bot.

Depressing how sex work is becoming a more mainstream suggestion to women

This.

I tend to think "branch of feminism" that thinks sex work is okay or empowering is pseudo feminism and is very like pseudo science everywhere and undermining and odd so many can't see the difference.

It's not what I'd do, or recommend to my daughter but it's not like there's some sort of tick box list or test to pass before you can call yourself a feminist. We don't all believe the same things, I don't believe in outlawing prostitution for example. Not because I don't think it's wrong, but I don't think we should make it a crime unless trafficking can be proved and there's laws for trafficking anyway. But I'm still very much a feminist ( others can disagree but I don't care)

Bad. Hth

Can women not control their own sexuality without having to monetise it?

What’s the use of empowerment of the only power it gives you is the power to give a man an erection? This is MRA thinking internalised. My power comes from getting a man off? Are these the power structures men aspire to? Not really.

True empowerment would be women not needing to sell their bodies to make a living and having a full range of options, financially, emotionally and finding true strength that actually benefits their whole lives.

I don't know OP. I know lots of women on it who have in no way been pressured or coerced and are doing it completely of their own free will and not due to a lack of options. Two are a same sex couple who use it to finance their travels around the world, they're a bit kinky anyway and would be doing what they were doing with or without the cameras rolling. They've made enough to buy several properties and so when the money starts to drop then they can rely on those. Both have good degrees and speak multiple languages, went to good universities.
Another friend left a stressful underpaid job in the NHS to do it professionally. She'll always have her qualification to go back in and so I doubt that she'll end up penniless. For young people without commitments, it's an easy way to make money, you can make the same in half an hour that you would doing a twelve hour backbreaking shift in A&E. Another friend is on 40K and has no financial need to do it, but finds it sexually thrilling and also, I guess, validating.
There is a 'skill' to it too. Frankly it's not all tits, you have to have a USP or get the right sort of market. I'm fat, ugly and lazy so probs wouldn't get many subscribers if I did ever but it's about aiming it around zeitgeist and making the content exciting. Frankly there's a lot of pretty footballers wives types on there, something like a Frida Kahlo costume or someone with a penchant for dipping their tits in hot wax would do much better, and I guess within that lies the problem,

This is a joke, presumably. Note to OP. Jokes should be funny.

Nope, it's not feminist at all to monetize your image as 'wank fodder for men' as a pp so well puts it.

I had a friend who paid her way through Uni working at a strip club, it just seemed like an easy way to make a wedge of cash tbh.

But just because the money is spent on education doesn't make any difference to the ethics of how it's been earnt.

Another friend paid his way through Uni doing nights at a care home and I'd respect your friend if she'd done that. There are always other options to OF!

@Musomama1 arguably care work is still rich men abusing your body, you just earn much much much less.

Practically, does it all sit on some web server internet history for decades to come? I did some stupid things when I was in uni, I'd hate for them all to be recorded and documented to pop up just as I was going for promotion as a 40+ year old

@Diddykong I think the future will be more progressive and it won't matter to employers.

Wtf are you talking about??
People who need care are often neither rich nor men. And providing care is not being abused. That's really fucked up. Unless you think you abused your parents? Or if you've ever been in hospital , you abused the nurses?

@AdamRyan the owners of care homes are nearly always rich men. And they pay you minimum wage to work in physically demanding, highly skilled, heartbreaking jobs. If that's not systemic abuse then I don't know what is.

I think you're optimistic 🤣 especially if you sought employment where safeguarding is a priority. I mean how can you rely on someone who can't even safeguard themselves?

It's very well-documented that, like with all MLMs and pyramid schemes, only an incredibly tiny percentage of OnlyFans accounts are making any real money. It's interesting how many people who know people within that tiny percentage always seem to pop up on these threads.

@MartiniFlan well I did say that in my post. Being pretty or hot isn't enough. The money is in selling something unique.

@Diddykong sorry, how is someone selling images and videos of themselves a safeguarding concern? Presumably if they have capacity and it's legal, there's no concern there. It probably wouldn't be ideal for going into a career in psychiatric inpatient care but I presume most would use a fake name and not put any easily identifiable information on OF and not continue that career at the same time as working in healthcare or social care.