James Roskopf

Senior Thesis
Topic: Onlyfans and the capitalization of loneliness

Onlyfans: Innovating Sex Work or Monetizing Loneliness

Thanks to the internet, we live in a more connected world. People can interact with each other on

common interests and can develop deep bonds and friendships straight from the comfort of their

homes. Especially enticing in recent years as a result of the pandemic, we live in a time where

almost anything you can do IRL, ‘in real life’, you can do in the online worlds. Even many kids

and young adults today prefer to spend their free time with friends in an online setting, as

opposed to living life in reality. From face value, this is understandable, the real world can be

quite scary, what with mental health issues and insecurities essentially holding us back; it’s no

wonder having nearly all relationships exist online would be appealing. In this essay, I will be

attempting to critique and explore how loneliness is capitalized on in the realm of the internet,

specifically regarding the pornography industry, and how men in particular are affected by

viewing and why exactly most men enjoy viewing porn. Going over a key principle in the online

world, Rule 34, ‘if it exists there is porn’ in order to describe just how much is out there in terms

of sexually explicit content. As well as, briefly discussing social media, its inception and the

impact it has had on our world, and followed by critiquing the newest and hottest social media

platform, Onlyfans and how pornography addiction has led to a culture of men who no longer

crave in-person romances and would much rather spend a monthly fee to get all the positive

aspects of a relationship and little to none of the negatives.

The Introduction of Social Media:

In the beginning, social media allowed users to easily connect with friends, family, and other

like-minded individuals, they would otherwise never known in real life. Forums, discussion

boards and chatrooms were the primary source of online communication at first, and it was only

with the invention of the smartphone in which allowed online communities from once being only

accessible at home to a more mobile experience. Thanks to platforms like Instagram, Facebook,

Tiktok, and Snapchat does the online experience become integrated with the real world. When

Instagram first launched, it quickly became the most popular for those interested in travel,

entertainment, and any other visually oriented topic—thanks to every phone today being

equipped with a high-quality camera. Today among all social platforms, there are roughly 2.62

billion of those who use them—the number is expected to grow to over 4 billion by 2025, which

means that more than half of the world’s population has some sort of online presence. No two

social media feeds are exactly the same, this is due to how content that each person sees is made

to be tailored to their specific tastes—based on who they follow, types of posts that they like, and

other aspects that put each person into their perfect online world. Which the big issue in that

regard, is these platforms selling people’s personal data in order to target specific ads that one is

more likely to be interested in, based on one’s own data.

The Dark Age of the Internet:

To start this section off, when bringing up the ‘Dark Age’ of the internet, it is meant to refer to

the shift that happened where the online world, from the perspective of Apple, should be a place

where individuality reigned and there was no room for conformity. At some point, that

promotion of individualism shifted to becoming a home for conformity, where everyone had

entered their individualist realms but conformity had been essentially reinstated. Conformity in

social media today is seen on various platforms, Tiktok is just one of them trends on here start
with one creator with millions of followers, then overnight millions of other users have posted

themselves participating in that trend. It would not take to long for other widely used platforms

such as, Youtube and Snapchat to introduce a similar feature to allow for tiktok like videos to,

instead of doing something different we fall into the hole of conformity.

When discussing ‘The Dark Age of the Internet’ it is important to bring up one company in

particular that is truly responsible, that company being Apple. Beginning during the Superbowl

of 1984, a commercial would air depicting a woman shattering what appeared to be a dystopia of

conformity and void of unique and diverse thought. At the time Apple used individualism as its

main advertising method, and eventually would end up shaping the world into the very thing it

was seemingly against in that fateful ‘1984’ commercial. This is brought up here because in

order to show what the internet was for, specifically on forums and chatrooms, people all over

the world sharing ideas and later this would be the groundwork for social media. Later on, as

social media grew and grew, the culture of celebrating individualism transformed into one of

conformity. Social media has really been stripped away from individualism, as there is no longer

much uniqueness to be found everything that has been created has been re-done numerous times,

seen for example on the platform Tiktok. As conforming to the latest trend is what would often

get the most views. The concept of ‘social media as a drug’ has been explored in the 2020

docudrama, The Social Dilemma. Essentially the main points brought up in the film are how

Generation Z is really the first generation to have grown up with an easy access to the online

world as early as elementary school. Teenagers in today’s society really have a great weight of

expectations on their shoulders. Between schoolwork, a part time job if they have one, planning

for their future, and on top of that they have to constantly keep track of their online presences.
For many reasons, mainly that if someone is not constantly thinking of what they’re posting we

have seen time and time again where having ‘the wrong opinion’ on a specific topic can have

dramatic outcomes. The fact is clear that social media allows us to only see what we want and

what the algorithm tells us we want to see based on our past searches brings forth a whole

generation and future generations of teens and young adults who are unable to form their own

opinions. Due to the sheer nature of social media and how simple it really is to surround yourself

in a bubble with only people who share your beliefs, leaving many in our society unable to

handle whenever we meet someone with a different political or religious view.

Managing one’s presence online is important as everything and anything posted online is there

forever so it is crucial that one does not post something that may offend someone, this can be

seen in the rise of ‘cancel culture’. Cancel culture, is very much a modern form of public exile

and/or humiliation and has had a serious impact in the world. Mainly due to the nature of the

internet, that everything that gets posted is there forever. People have been fired from jobs,

gotten into trouble at school. Conformity is seen again here because if someone says something

the ‘wrong way’ or expresses the ‘wrong belief’ that person will get ‘cancelled’ by the majority

and only given a chance for redemption if they change their beliefs or admits they’re wrong.

Now, how exactly does Cancel culture tie into the overall point regarding pornography addiction

and Onlyfans? More on this later, but cancel culture is tied to the #MeToo movement, where

many people are exposing those who have sexually abused or harassed them. Onlyfans allows

subscribers to directly message the model herself, whether it be requesting content or simple

flirting, in the outside world this would clearly be seen as sexual harassment; but because of the

paywall this behavior becomes normalized and accepted as just apart of the job description.
Rule 34: If it exists, there is porn of it:

‘Rule 34’ is included here to bring up not only to what extent pornography exists on the internet

but to begin a critique on OnlyFans. There is so much free pornography on the internet and is

very easy to access any of it, not just on Porn sites too, which will be brought up in the next

passage. The form of pornography, exampled by ‘Rule 34’ is often how most children are

exposed to sexual content; for example, there might be a child who is looking up anything

revolving around their favorite cartoon or movie, it would not be too far out of the question for

that child to stumble upon pornographic fanart because of some platforms labeling something as

child friendly only because of the characters featured. As of 2017, YouTube began cracking

down on content of this nature during what was known as ‘Elsagate’, which essentially had

become known when parents noticed popular children’s characters depicted in inappropriate and

often sexual videos that were shown to their children through auto-play via the YouTube Kids

app. This strange era for YouTube described in a 2017 article from, The London Economic,

states “Today YouTube finally announced that it would deal with the vast proliferation of such

content, perhaps fueled by the sheer amount of pirated children’s character content being

uploaded to YouTube to get channels mega-hits from children’s common global searches. The

platform vowed to flag any such content with an over 18 rating which stops it being

automatically pulled into the YouTube Kids app. In a statement YouTube insisted that less than

.005% of videos viewed on YouTube Kids were removed for being inappropriate over the past

30 days. A statement from YouTube regarding the controversy tells us how they cracked down

on the issue by changing what is and isn’t eligible for monetization, “Earlier this year, we

updated our policies to make content featuring inappropriate use of family entertainment

characters ineligible for monetization,” said Juniper Downs, YouTube director of policy. “The
YouTube team is made up of parents who are committed to improving our apps and getting this

right.” Ben Gelblum, “What is Elsagate? —The disturbing videos masquerading as children’s

favorites on YouTube Kids”, The London Economic, Nov. 11th, 2017, What is Elsagate? - The

disturbing videos masquerading as children’s favourites on YouTube Kids

(thelondoneconomic.com)

The impact of pornography on the internet has become so prevalent that it is important to talk

about what is known of by many people in online communities as the ‘rules of the internet’,

which was created as satire and a type of meta-commentary on online culture, but when you look

at them it is really almost a comedically accurate depiction of the internet. The most commonly

known rule of the internet is known as ‘Rule 34’, or, “If it exits, there is porn”. Then more on the

satire end, there is also ‘Rule 35’ which goes along with number 34’s theme only this rule states,

‘if no porn is found, make it’. For the most part, this Rule 34 is accurate, porn is everywhere

online—from standard porn to lewd and explicit depictions by various communities of popular

cartoon characters. Websites such as DeviantArt have been created for the main purpose as a

more specific variant of Instagram, for only artists and writers to share their work, the other side

of DeviantArt in particular has become widespread as being just one of the major ‘breeding

grounds’ for lewd and pornographic artistic renditions of popular animated characters. Most

commonly the website is home to many lewd renditions of various Japanese anime characters

and furry culture, which is essentially sexual, anthropomorphic depictions of animals. Deviantart

is just one example of a website hosting this type of content, and this content can even be found

on social platforms like Instagram, which gets around the policy of no pornography because it’s

not real—it gets by because it falls under “art”, regardless of blatant sexual imagery. However

though, Deviantart in particular just scratches the surface and there are a lot of other artistic
platforms that are a lot less moderated, and unlike live action pornography, artists that post this

variety of content on these art platforms have the opportunity to be more risqué; unlike live

action, there are now specific sexual niches and fetishes that can be fulfilled and some artists

even take commissions from fans on what they should draw next. Art has undergone a type of

evolution resulting from social media, and due to our culture of individualism, lines are now

being blurred between what is and is not art. ‘Rule 34’ essentially is a commentary on

pornography in the online world, mankind since ancient times has been fascinated and drawn to

sex, and as porn becomes more and more accepted as something that furthers our self-expression

and individualist culture, more importantly that pornography is just another form of art. From

live-action to animation, sexually explicit content is no longer limited to its original form and

only on standard porn websites, porn and the internet have almost become symbiotic with one

and another.

Pornography:

The pornography industry has existed long before the internet, but thanks to the internet sexually

explicit content can now be viewed anywhere, any and all forms can be seen to suit virtually

anyone’s taste. There are not any initial problems with adults viewing this type of content—the

problem arises when you take into account that one can access websites without an account and

completely free of charge. This essentially means that anyone—including young children can

easily access pornographic videos or images, on average the median age for first “discovering”

pornography is 14 but this has been shown to be going lower and lower as the years go by.
Pornographic websites are so widespread on the internet that in a report of the most visited sites,

last updated on September 1st, 2021 of the top 50 websites visited, three of in the top 20 happen

to have been porn websites—Pornhub at seventeen, Xnxx at thirteen, and Xvideos at ten.

(statistics found at similarweb). Website traffic reports only tell so much though, they often leave

out how many users are logging into the site for viewing.

Each year Pornhub shares their stats to show exactly how much traffic they receive daily, down

to the day and even the minute. A lot of these numbers are very eye opening especially when one

takes into consideration that you don’t need an age verified account in order for viewing.

Sobering stats on Pornography viewership directly from Pornhub:

In 2019, Pornhub reported 42 billion site visits—for perspective that is nearly 6 visits per each

person on Earth. Also in 2019, Pornhub reports a total of 6.83 million videos were uploaded. In

2020, Pornhub reported a 24% increase in traffic. Most likely due to most people being confined

to their homes due to the pandemic. About 70% of males and 30% of females are viewing porn.

70+ Million messages sent between Pornhub users 11.5+ Million Video comments; Most

commented words in 2019 include: good, love, like, sexy, and nice.

A bit on these statistics, as Pornhub states in their 2019 post showing their viewership to show

audience perspective on just how much content was posted was “If you started watching 2019’s

new videos in 1850, you would still be watching them today”. At a total of 42 billion site visits,

that total only increased by 24% the following year, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic

which had everyone cooped up in their homes for months and unable to get out to socialize,

which is why many resorted to watching porn. There are decades worth of content posted on just

one website alone. When you consider the rules of the internet, specifically ‘Rule 34’, where
anything and everything has pornographic content made out of it, it can be rather confusing to

consider that many would subscribe to Onlyfans when there is so much free porn out there. More

on that in the next section.

Most searched terms on Pornhub in 2019:

Porn is just a term to describe a wide variety of categories, and with millions of videos uploaded

to just Pornhub alone, and with many more pornography websites out there. Here are the top ten

most search categories on Pornhub as of December 2019:

1. Japanese

2. Hentai (to those unfamiliar with terminology, Hentai refers to hardcore anime porn)

3. Lesbian

4. Milf

5. Korean

6. Asian

7. Step mom

8. Massage

9. Anal

10. Ebony

*2019 is also the first year in which the ‘teen’ search term hasn’t broken the top ten.

Addiction to Porn:
Repeat pornography use over time, can have a serious impact on mental and physical health,

such as but not limited to: anxiety, depression, social anxiety, memory problems, and erectile

disfunction. Previously mentioned, the median age for first being exposed into the world of

online pornography is around fourteen years old and even younger, the first two symptoms as

resulting from pornography addiction, depression and anxiety, it can be hard to quit viewing

because those two conditions alone make it very difficult to have a stable sense of confidence

and unless you get help for it, you will keep falling deeper and deeper into the addiction.

“The average frequency of porn viewing was three-to-four times per week, with an average

session lasting 15-30 minutes. The average age of first porn use was 13, and most had become

regular porn users by 16 or 17. Further, the men as a group reported more positive than negative

effects of pornography consumption on all five aspects of sexuality surveyed” David Ludden

Ph.D., “The Truth about Men and Pornography”, PsychologyToday.com, August 8th, 2018. The

Truth About Men and Pornography | Psychology Today

Being exposed to sexually explicit content at such an early age can be very damaging to the

developing mind, distorting their views of sex as just another activity that doesn’t mean anything

and also as a coping method to escape the loneliness brought on the anxiety and depression. The

result for boys, leads them to be more likely to view women as only objects for sexual pleasure.

Equally harmful for girls, as it can negatively impact their self-esteem and self-image, which in

turn makes them more likely to view themselves as only being valued for their bodies. Leading

to accepting abusive and degrading behaviors during sex as “normal”.

For a majority of single men, it is admittedly difficult to put time aside to go out and try to find a

committed and compatible relationship. Especially in today’s world where through dating apps

like Tinder, which are known to have a considerable number of men to women, it can be
challenging. In the meantime, thanks to pornography being easily accessible, in a matter of

seconds straight from a cell phone, anyone can fulfil their sexual desires with zero commitment

and little to no immediate physical risks—whether it be a sexually transmitted disease or

unwanted pregnancy. Through constant swiping and constantly being rejected on these dating

apps, many men become lonely and eventually develop a desperation for a ‘quick fix’. Viewing

sexually explicit content also creates a surge of dopamine, which is the chemical responsible for

allowing us to feel good after completing a task, due to how good dopamine makes us feel we

desire to keep doing said task. Though this also means huge spikes of dopamine can lead to drug

abuse and addiction—due to this many men will keep practicing addictive behavior with

pornography because he has been constantly rejected and feels the only way that he can be

satisfied is through viewing pornography. A typical male viewer will want to continue watching

porn to fulfil pleasure he feels he cannot achieve on his own, and for many male viewers of this

type of content—many porn videos will be in the form of POV (point-of-view) which gives the

men watching the sense that they are the ones engaging in the sexual acts with the female in the

video. This is an interesting genre of porn because it essentially allows the viewer to become less

like viewer and as if he is actually there, it essentially gives the viewer the intimacy he was

craving, but it is more like a ‘false intimacy’ as it is through a screen and the viewer is not

actually in control. For a more viewer-controlled experience in the online pornography world,

Onlyfans dominates—more on this later. “Contrary to popular belief, the desire that men have

for porn may stem from a craving for closeness, connection and intimacy. “In our culture, we

have a narrow understanding of intimacy as sexual intercourse,” Struthers says. “But it’s bigger

than that. It’s really about people connecting with one another.” In 2011, a British study revealed

that men who view porn crave intimacy and closeness more than nonusers, suggesting that porn
isn’t devoid or an escape from connection, but rather possibly, quite the opposite. In addition,

Struthers says, “people think porn is about sex. It’s not; it’s about intimacy. The guy who can’t

find a girlfriend and starts looking at porn is searching for intimacy.” “The Effects of Pornography

in Modern Society.” TherapyVideos, https://www.therapycable.com/effects-pornography-modern-

society/

One of the main reasons that men watch porn is to fulfill sexual desires without commitment,

without the risk of disease or unwanted pregnancy, and in today’s society where anxiety and

depression resulting from men feeling like they can’t live up to the standards placed on them by

today’s women, watching porn is a quick fix without fears of rejection. After all the majority of

porn sites require no payment to engage in viewing. However, what a website like PornHub

lacks is the connection and intimacy that the viewer desperately is in search for. But when it

comes to the internet and modern culture—people tend to more often than not, when they want

something, they want it now. And the development of anxiety or depression further elevate this

need ‘instant gratification’, for the average male viewer of porn it really is difficult because from

an early age exaggerated depictions of sex found in online pornography are all he knows and,

thus, when he decides to shoot his shot and actually land a real date with a woman the real sex

doesn’t live up to what he’s seen online.

What is OnlyFans and Why subscribe when Porn is free everywhere else on the internet?

As earlier mentioned, that thanks to the ‘rules of the internet’, porn is everywhere, free, and very

easily accessible to anyone; what would be the appeal for someone to want to pay a monthly
subscription fee just to be able to view the same type of explicit content that would otherwise be

available for free anywhere else?

OnlyFans is an online subscription service that is based in London, founded in 2017 by Tim

Stokely. As of now, the website has approximately two million content creators and around one

hundred and thirty million subscribers. For a fee anywhere between five to twenty dollars per

month, the platform offers users a wide variety of content in which they can subscribe to a

particular service offered by a content creator. This is where we can see the original good

intentions of the platform, to offer content creators to make a more sustainable income in which

they can directly interact with fans or students. Some of the types of content on the platform

include, fitness couching, nutrition and meal prep advice, musician’s wanting to create more of a

community by directly sharing with fans, and lastly what OnlyFans has become known for is

models selling sexual content. Overall, though, the point of OnlyFans was to give fans the

chance to support their favorite content creators directly and get bonus incentives for doing so.

Where on Pornhub the viewer is missing out on the intimacy aspect that he was originally

craving in the first place. OnlyFans has the function where subscribers can directly message their

favorite model, talking to her about anything really, requesting specific types of images and

videos, and the girl will flirt back with him. It is really a more involved form of sex work,

without the actual sex the subscriber feels as if he is cared for and loved, it can really be a

confidence booster for him. For the women creating content for the platform, OnlyFans is more

sustainable because it puts more power into the hands of the creator and their own bodies, they

decide what to post and what the price should be. The website takes about 20% of the earnings

but the creator is given more freedom in the specifics of the content posted; essentially making

the creator a type of ‘freelance prostitute’. In a world where online dating has a greater number
of men than women, resulting in many men feeling unable to have the confidence needed to

strike up a conversation with a woman out of fear of rejection, OnlyFans can alleviate some

stresses. Essentially, the male subscriber has found the easiest way to talk to girl, and he knows

that he can rely on the model to aide in fulfilling his desires. He has found his dream long-

distance relationship without that fear of rejection.

The majority of the women selling content on the platform are already influencers who have an

established following on other social media platforms such as, Instagram or Twitch. While

Instagram is free and also because of the platform not allowing nudity; the exclusivity of

OnlyFans is reinforced. Another important aspect of a social media platform like Instagram is

due to the large quantity users following a particular influencer; and subsequently that creator is

likely seeing a massive number of likes, comments, and direct messages, so it is unlikely for said

influencer to respond to a DM (direct message), but with Onlyfans the influencer will respond to

any message regardless of how dull it may be. This is because here the influencer is getting paid

directly by the subscriber, it essentially creates a form of ‘obligated intimacy’ to her; and for him

it feels like real intimacy because comparing this to a dating application like Tinder—in which a

majority of the women he may message will leave him on read, any attention is good enough

regardless of how much money he spends. Many of the women on Onlyfans tend to use their

own interests as a way to attract potential subscribers, the biggest contender here being the gamer

girl. Gaming being primarily the male dominated space it is, makes it quite difficult for the

average guy who is always playing video games to find a real struggle in finding a romantic

partner with whom to share his interest with. He can go on to subscribe to the account and talk to

this girl to his heart’s content about whatever pikes his interest with the lowest stakes possible

due to the paywall. Whereas in real life would be rather difficult to find a girl who would listen
to him, the OnlyFans model loves to talk about it and will happily send him nudes and sexy

videos. So long as he keeps paying that monthly fee, and has found the perfect long-distance

relationship.

OnlyFans in the News

In recent times, the platform has seen some attention in the news both in the United States and

worldwide. This section will give insight into what is being reported on the subject matter to the

public, as news media is how we all get our information.

With the models on OnlyFans primarily being relatively small social media influencers who are

looking for a way to make a more stable income, one controversy came up when former Disney

Channel star, Bella Thorne joined OnlyFans in August of 2020. The controversy was a result of

other models and sex workers claiming that the presence of a major celebrity on the platform

would take money from smaller accounts and into the pockets of an actress who is just cashing in

on the trend. Important to note that Bella Thorne, due to her status and recognition was able to

clear $1 million in her first day posting content to the platform. Another major part people were

upset about is the fact that Bella wouldn’t be posting fully nude images, which is okay when you

consider that it’s the model’s choice on OF on what to post, the problem here arises when it’s

realized that other models would actually deliver any post that a viewer requests—in that regard

people were calling Bella Thorne’s account a scam. As the point of O.F for sexual content is to

post images that would otherwise violate the terms of service on a normal social media platform,

like Instagram.

A recent article from the New York Post discusses a Texas couple who have brought in a total of

$350,000 from just one year of posting on OnlyFans. This article is an example of how OnlyFans

models who are parents can affect the livelihoods of their children. Courtney Ann, 38, and Nick,
41, launched their account titled “Texas Thighs” in 2020. Despite that they are parents of two

teenage daughters aged 13 and 16. Their fortune has come with its share of ‘haters’ claiming

them to be poor role models to their kids. Responses to this situation are just but can be rather

harsh, highlighted in the article describes that some comments the couple has received over

Instagram as saying things like, how their daughters are going to end up as whores like their

mother. Which as long as these parents are educating their kids shouldn’t be the case, but not to

say that their mother’s presence on OnlyFans does not have any negative consequences. For one,

there is no telling who is actually viewing their content, so who’s to say there are none of the

daughter’s school friends who have seen. Just because the couple is making more money in a

month than a single year, how the money is made is going to have an impact. Like showing their

daughter’s that selling their body and revealing yourself to thousands of people is okay as long as

it is for the right price.

Just a few months ago, OnlyFans had announced plans to start banning pornography and sexual

content. This was announcement was met with backlash because the damage and impact the

platform has had on single, lonely men had already been done. Backlash has also come from the

creators as that would mean they would have to start finding a different way to make a living

which can be difficult. Which would be understandably difficult for these creators, they have

literally been making money posting explicit content of themselves, which is on the internet

forever—making it difficult to get a real job that would even come close to paying the same

thing. The plan was overturned by the company because as they put it, “Thank you to everyone

for making your voices heard. We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse

creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change,” tweeted by the

company. “OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all
creators,” the company said. Likely due to wanting to continue allowing people regardless of

what they are posting to be earning a sustainable living, as well as the fact that due to

pornographic content being what OnlyFans has become synonymous with, they would most

definitely have lost thousands if not millions of dollars. To the men who subscribe to the models

on OnlyFans, most of which who are unable to get into a real romantic relationship could feel

some entitlement to these women on the website. This entitlement comes from ‘Incel’ culture, or

‘Involuntary Celibate’, this online subculture consists of men who feel they cannot get a

girlfriend because they do not meet some sort of unwritten requirement that women have for

men. This causes them to engage in unhealthy coping methods and just accept their ‘lack of

female attention’ as something that can never be improved, so when a website like OnlyFans

comes along the Incel gets excited that he can finally have his way without having to change.

Why this is harmful?

Essentially, the women selling content on OnlyFans are profiting and can even be preying upon

of their subscriber’s loneliness and insecurities, taking advantage of these men by selling them

content that would be free anywhere else on the internet. Paying to see and talk to women on

OnlyFans eliminates the need for self-improvement, which men will eventually become

complacent and feel this entitlement toward a woman and subsequently become angry when they

don’t receive the attention they want.

OnlyFans is harmful because rather than going out to meet people and get rejected when efforts

seemingly fail, then going to work on self-improvement, one can skip that process entirely by

paying some money to talk directly to a girl with no anxiety attached because the monetary
aspect essentially dissolves it. It’s a job that many men who use the website often forget, the

women aren’t thinking about pleasing them, they do it for the money. Several subscribers have

even said that they prefer spending their time on OnlyFans as opposed to going out into the real

world. Dropping any chance that one day while on walk or at a bar they could meet their

potential soulmate. Making a real connection with someone takes lots of time and effort, so in a

world where everyone only focuses heavily on the present moment, some people just can’t find

the time to focus on relational goals. Being a porn addict and using OnlyFans to satisfy oneself

can be even more dangerous, the model is essentially taking advantage of them by sending each

subscriber many flirtatious messages and making them feel special, which only feeds into the

entitlement that many men on the website have towards these women. As a result of the 2020

pandemic, many of the men who already have little experience with women just prefer paying

the fee just to be able to have some socialization with women. And it isn’t just the lonely, single

men that are affected by the use of OnlyFans, as the platform teaches girls that all they have to

offer is their bodies, and what makes this whole thing worse is that many of the girls selling

content know this and couldn’t care less about their subscribers who are legitimately suffering.

“The dynamic of pornography and platforms like OnlyFans makes a clear statement: A woman’s

body exists solely to please her sexual partner. This notion is clear when teenage girls, not just

grown women, are expected to perform increasingly degrading and violent sex acts such as anal

sex and choking for the satisfaction of their boyfriends. Sex acts are no longer lovingly given out

of affection and a desire for intimacy, but something to be ordered off a menu.” Nicole Lam,

When Sex Work becomes “Real work” all Women suffer, EvieMagazine, Sept. 25th, 2020, When

Sex Work Becomes "Real Work" All Women Suffer | Evie Magazine
Not just harmful to the male subscribers, it also can damage to the women who are posting

content to the platform. Everything that gets posted online is there forever and with a website

like OnlyFans, being a paid subscription service; there really is no way to prevent subscribers

from screenshotting and using other computer software to pull videos and post else where on the

internet. All of the sudden these women are being seen by more than just subscribers. A simple

google search for “OnlyFans leaks” will take you to numerous links to porn sites of which are

essentially stolen footage from these creator’s accounts, once private and behind a paywall are

now available for free. Women who use OnlyFans make themselves into objects that only exist

for pleasing strangers on the internet and once they establish themselves as such, it will be

difficult to get others around them to view them as anything different. Resulting in OnlyFans

being a rather dehumanizing job, as in a society that seems to have a zero tolerance on sexual

harassment, what with the #metoo movement so prominent; it comes with the job description to

receive a semi-consensual sexual harassment; consensual because of the paywall; and

harassment because the messages subscribers send can be anything, men telling these women

what they want to do to them. The message that OnlyFans and people in support of sex work

now pose to young girls is that all they really need to do to make more money than a man is to

give the men what they want and sell them pictures and let them objectify you, justifying it

because of the paywall; monetizing being dehumanized.

OnlyFans in the eyes of online strangers

It is important, when on topic like this to gain the opinion of average people on the internet, this

will essentially be like ‘taking to the streets to pick a random person to speak to’ to gain their

unfiltered opinion. Which is why Reddit is utilized here, a website for people to get together to
discuss ideas and opinions in a forum-style environment. One thread in particular, asks the

question of “Does Onlyfans capitalize on loneliness?”, this thread doesn’t have many responses,

only ten. However, let us take a look at what some folks have to say based on this direct

question. Restating again that it is important to remember that these responses do not come from

experts, but that is not to say these people can’t say what they think based on what they do

know—this section is to serve as a way to look at what a typical opinion in an online ‘chatroom’

would think.

Response from anonymous user under the name, Drewsel916, states: “OF doesn’t make sex

work safer. Most of these are chicks who are entitled and would not have the "balls" to do what

real sex workers do. Onlyfans capitalizes on guys who have no game and are horny”

Comment on this response by anonymous user, Kellykebab: “Seriously. It doesn't make sex work

safe. It just turns more people into sex workers. Appalling.”

These responses tell us an aspect of how exactly the platform when used for selling pornography

is harmful. Regarding how it is essentially a way for many women and some men to have an

opportunity to become a sex worker but not actually preform the physical act of sexual

intercourse. And at least a lonely guy paying a woman to sleep with him would give him the

physical satisfaction of what he seeks, not to say it’s better but it is more reasonable. Either way

the woman will only sleep with you or send you pictures and flirtatious text messages if you pay

them, the point here is that there is more harm in paying for an Onlyfans subscription. Sure, with

a real prostitute, there’s the risk of disease but that can be healed in a relatively shorter time

frame than the months and even years of anxiety and depression that will make you feel even

more lonely and feel like you need to keep paying a woman to talk to you on Onlyfans. Like
mentioned earlier, most men will prefer to spend an evening on the platform rather than spending

an evening at a bar and finding a genuine connection.

Another response in this thread that can really give a little insight on a much broader issue that

Onlyfans creates, this was posted by anonymous user, Kellykebab, states: “Yes, obviously. It's a

way to further alienate people from each other and to turn as many human social interactions as

possible into financial transactions. The pace of this historic trend is increasing and it's atrocious

for human health and wellbeing. Who do you think that benefits the most? The naive girls

releasing permanent records of their attention-seeking for poverty wages and the sexless

masturbators who purchase this material? Or is it the owners and investors in these companies,

who couldn't care less if none of these people live well-adjusted lives ever again? Most selling

capitalizes on human desperation in some way or another. OnlyFans is just

more obviously exploitive of peoples' weaknesses. The defenses of your friends are

rationalizations. If there were anything genuine to the "goodnight" wishes of these whores, they

wouldn't charge for it. Pretty obvious.”

This comment is important to examine because they are pointing out how selling anything is

capitalizing on someone’s desperation, and that Onlyfans is no different. To the guy who

struggles talking to women, they are desperate for connection and therefore Onlyfans would be

the perfect solution. As discussed earlier, the avid porn watcher lacks closeness and intimacy,

and he watches porn because he struggles with striking up conversations with women so that is

why he turns to online pornography. When he discovers Onlyfans would allow him to have these

feelings of intimacy he is all for it and falls in deeper and rather than self-improving he revels in

the attention from the creator, he has found his perfect “long distance” romance.
this commenter makes a good point that genuine love shouldn’t be paid for and we as humans

often forget to look within our hearts and instead, we claim our minds to overrule the heart.

Onlyfans creators also have 20 percent of their profits taken directly from the company, so in

reality it really isn’t the naïve girls here faults, it is just another example of corporate greed.

Where do we go from here? (Conclusion)

In conclusion, pornography addiction can be detrimental to the mental health of male viewers, and

this has been a result of the expectations placed on men from a young age. How we are almost

forced to have some presence on social media and maintaining that presence by keeping up with

trends and on top of that, managing school and social lives, it is no wonder why mental health

disorders like anxiety and depression have been on the rise in recent years. The development of

these mental disorders could very well have been the reason that many men today struggle with

finding a genuine connection. Pornography is appealing for these men because it’s a quick fix for

their constant fears of rejection, no risk of sexually transmitted disease or unprepared/unwanted

pregnancy. However, using pornography in order to cope with one’s loneliness and the fact that

many are first exposed at a young age, can distort views of sex and even when they get to

experience the real thing, it more often than not fails to live up to the expectations. Onlyfans is a

pseudo-solution to the fears of rejection displayed in many men. By paying the subscription fee the

viewer gains access to all the love and affection he craved and failed to find from just a porn video,

he feels like the model really cares about him and now he finally has that intimacy he has always

wanted.
Now, where do we go from here? I believe that it is necessary to educate these porn addicted men

in a firm, yet comfortable fashion—therapy can be great to let these fears of rejection out in order

to educate them on how to get over them. Confidence is something that many men today lack, and

that lack of confidence has led them to seek out pleasure in a way in which they really don’t need

confidence, since on Onlyfans they are paying for a service. And for the young girls who are being

shown how much money various influencers are making with an Onlyfans page. For the girls, it’s

an argument that has been made countless times, women are more than objects for sex, and it’s

hard to make that claim with many Onlyfans models claiming all they’re doing is taking advantage

of that objectification. When you treat yourself as an object, how can you expect friends or family

to see you as anything more, regardless of how much money you’re making. Not to mention, that

posting content to Onlyfans is damaging to a women’s professional life, say she wants to have a

legitimate career one day, exposure to pornography at a young age can lead to girls seeing

themselves as only useful for their bodies. For boys, it can make them feel entitled to the best

sexual experience and then become angry when the experience doesn’t meet expectations.

Education is key to fix the problems of loneliness that is brought on by rejection. It is also

important in education that time is spent for kids to be encouraged to express themselves in healthy

ways in order to be able to find something they can do for a living in the future. In order to prevent

children from being exposed to pornographic content at younger and younger ages, it should be a

necessity for porn websites to really crack down by only allowing content to be viewed once the

viewer goes through a proper age verification; this would essentially prevent the compulsion to

pornography to take hold.

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