SEX, LOVE, AND ONLYFANS: HOW THE GIG ECONOMY IS

TRANSFORMING ONLINE SEX WORK

_______________

A Thesis

Presented to the

Faculty of

San Diego State University

_______________

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

in

Political Science

_______________

by

Aryana Safaee

Summer 2021
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Copyright © 2021
by
Aryana Safaee
All Rights Reserved
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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to sex workers, and the sex work community at large.
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The world’s oldest profession gets a digital face lift.

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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

Sex, Love, and OnlyFans: How the Gig Economy is Transforming

Online Sex Work
by
Aryana Safaee
Master of Arts in Political Science
San Diego State University, 2021

This thesis is an exploration of the experiences of creators on OnlyFans who identify

as sex workers. Its emphasis is on labor, and how these creators are impacted by unpaid
labor, emotional labor, and the structure of the gig economy. It also pays specific attention to
the unique challenges they face as sex workers that other laborers do not. The ultimate goal is
to understand how creators on the platform are impacted emotionally and monetarily by this
new form of sex work in the digital age. In order to answer this question, I consulted existing
literature in the field, articles that interviewed creators on OnlyFans, and spoke with six
creators myself in qualitative in-depth interviews. My findings show that sex workers
perform a great deal of unpaid and emotional labor, and that the gig economy structure leaves
many of them economically vulnerable.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................x
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1
Overview ..................................................................................................................2
The Structure of this Thesis .....................................................................................3
2 LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................................4
Pornography as a Part of the Sexual Revolution/The Individualist
Approach ..................................................................................................................4
The Anti-Porn Feminist Perspective ........................................................................6
A Critique of Individualistic & Anti-Porn Perspective in the Context of
Labor Relations ........................................................................................................8
Sex and Love Under Late-Stage Capitalism, or The Commodity Fetishism
of Fetishes ..............................................................................................................10
The Gig Economy, and the Illusion of Being Your Own Boss .............................14
Pros ..................................................................................................................14
Cons .................................................................................................................15
Concluding Thoughts on Existing Literature .........................................................16
3 METHODS ..................................................................................................................18
Contributions of This Research .............................................................................18
Sources ...................................................................................................................19
Why OnlyFans .......................................................................................................20
Interviews ...............................................................................................................21
Limitations .............................................................................................................23
4 ONLYFANS OVERVIEW ..........................................................................................24
Pornography and the Internet .................................................................................24
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The History ............................................................................................................28

The Website Itself ..................................................................................................29
The Appeal .............................................................................................................31
Entering the Mainstream ........................................................................................33
A “Social Media” Platform? ..................................................................................36
Pushing Sex Workers Out? ....................................................................................38
5 UNPAID LABOR AND EMOTIONAL LABOR .......................................................42
Defining the Terms ................................................................................................42
Subscriber Interactions...........................................................................................44
Social Stigma .........................................................................................................45
Social Media ..........................................................................................................48
The Payout .............................................................................................................49
Concluding Thoughts .............................................................................................50
6 THE EFFECTS OF THE GIG ECONOMY ON CREATORS ...................................52
Changing Economic Landscape .............................................................................52
Being Your Own Boss ...........................................................................................54
Limits to Autonomy ...............................................................................................55
Expenses ................................................................................................................55
Work-Life Balance.................................................................................................56
Lack of Benefits .....................................................................................................57
Earnings .................................................................................................................58
Finding Subscribers ...............................................................................................59
Piracy .....................................................................................................................60
Lack of Respect for the Profession ........................................................................63
Concluding Thoughts .............................................................................................64
7 THE INTERVIEWS ....................................................................................................65
Introductions ..........................................................................................................65
The Platform ..........................................................................................................66
Earnings .................................................................................................................68
Account Promotion ................................................................................................71
Online Interactions .................................................................................................72
The Sex Work Community ....................................................................................74
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Concluding Thoughts .............................................................................................76

8 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................80
The Future? Deplatforming Sex Workers ..............................................................80
Concluding Thoughts .............................................................................................81
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................83
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my family, friends, my committee, and the Political Science
department at San Diego State University for all their help and support during this process. I’d
also like to thank the creators I interviewed for their openness and incredible insight into the
OnlyFans community.
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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Since late 2019, social media users have likely stumbled upon a post with a person
talking about how they are making thousands of dollars on OnlyFans. For some time, it
became popular for people to jokingly say they will sign up because of how comically
lucrative the platform seems to be. As the website’s popularity grew, it garnered more
mainstream attention and now features a plethora of celebrities and influencers. At the same
time, the mass unemployment resulting from the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2020 led many
jobless people to the platform. But what is OnlyFans? According to the website they are a
social media platform for a wide variety of content, but I theorize that the public would
categorize it differently. Aside from being associated with making lots of money, OnlyFans
is known for one other thing: porn.
Sex work is often referred to as the “oldest profession,” but it, like everything else in
the digital age, has adapted and evolved. The concept of digital sex work itself is not new;
since its inception, the internet has been used to profit off pornography. However, OnlyFans
has shifted the industry by catapulting it into the mainstream and fitting it within the gig
economy model. Users posting content are independent contractors, earning their money
through subscriptions and tips. Some of the users are vocal about being part of the sex
worker community, while others do not identify as sex workers even though they are posting
sexual content. Since the platform is using the gig economy structure for sex work, some of
the problems associated with it reflect many existing issues with labor and negative societal
attitudes surrounding sex work.
Though OnlyFans is associated with sexual content, that is not the website’s public
face. It is marketed as a social media platform in which people can monetize their influence
by having subscribers pay for exclusive content unavailable to them on any other website.
Users who post content on OnlyFans are referred to as “creators”, which is shorthand for
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“content creator”. The term is popular on other social media platforms to describe users who
are making content. Another important term to define for this research is sex work. Sex work
has a broad meaning, but for the purposes of this research it will be applicable to users who
post sexual content on OnlyFans. Sexual content encompasses nude photos and videos
featuring an individual, pair, or group. As previously stated not all creators who post sexual
content identify as sex workers, but they generally will be included in the discussion of sex
work since the way they personally identify generally does not affect the public’s perception
and reaction to the work they are doing.

OVERVIEW
The main research question for this thesis is: How does online sex work function in a
gig economy structure? Interrelated to the first question are two others. First, to what extent
does OnlyFans operate like other gig economy platforms in terms of its effects on workers’
rights and vulnerabilities? Second, in what ways is online sex work treated as “real work”?
To gain an understanding of this topic, I have read interviews with OnlyFans creators and
conducted my own interviews with creators. I am also drawing from existing literature on sex
work, labor, and the gig economy to understand how OnlyFans fits into the broader
socioeconomic context. The theoretical framework is a mixture of feminist labor theory and
Marxism. The main claim of my research is that OnlyFans profits off the exploited labor of
creators and turns a blind eye to the various issues sex workers face by being on their
platform. There are two primary points to support this claim. The first regards emotional
labor and unpaid labor. Creators perform an excessive amount of emotional labor due to their
need to interact with clients, as well as because of the harassment they face both online and
in person for doing sex work. They also perform a great deal of unpaid labor while attracting
and maintaining subscribers through social media engagement. The second point is part of
the gig economy structure itself, which denies creators many of the benefits of traditional
jobs while also shifting onto them the responsibility of earning a livable income by telling
creators they are their own boss. Since these creators are doing digital sex work, they also
face additional challenges other gig workers do not, such as having their content pirated.
Overall, creators assume all the risk and reap some financial rewards while OnlyFans solely
reaps financial rewards.
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THE STRUCTURE OF THIS THESIS

Chapter 2 begins with an overview of existing literature on feminist perspectives of
pornography, the gig economy, and some Marxist pieces on sex work and gender to establish
a clear theoretical framework. Chapter 3 explains the methods used to collect information,
data, how the interviews were conducted, and limitations in this research. Chapter 4 provides
an overview of how pornography has evolved in digital age, and information regarding
OnlyFans itself. It details its history, structure, appeal, and mainstream popularity. The
chapter ends with a dissection of the website’s identification as a social media platform, and
concerns of sex workers that they are being pushed out the platform. Chapter 5 discusses the
terms emotional labor and unpaid labor and puts them in the context of OnlyFans by seeing
how creators exhibit both through their interactions with subscribers, dealing with the social
stigma around sex work, and maintain social media accounts. It concludes with an analysis of
creators’ earnings and whether it is worth it for the average person to have an OnlyFans
account. Chapter 6’s focus is the gig economy. After establishing how the gig economy
emerged and why it and sex work are both sectors in which people turn to, the rest of the
chapter explains how OnlyFans fits into the gig economy and the unique challenges these
creators face as digital sex workers. Chapter 7 is the final analytical chapter, which presents
insights gained through interviews with creators on the platform. The thesis concludes with
reflections on the previous chapters and a brief discussion of how OnlyFans fits into broader
tensions within capitalism.
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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Given the recent emergence of OnlyFans there is not a wide array of academic
research on the topic. However, to gain a general understanding of existing theories on sex
work, gender relationships, and the gig economy, I turned to Marxist and feminist theories on
these subjects. The community of feminist scholars explores a variety of perspectives on
online pornography. Since the Second Wave of feminism, the community has been very
mixed on their conclusions about pornography. Some view it as a path for sexual liberation,
while others view it as incredibly damaging for women due to its roots in patriarchy. A third
perspective looks to analyze sex work within the context of labor rather than gender or sexual
relations. It also considers the adult film industry as being liberating in the sense that it can
be a path for financial independence. As for the Marxist literature, it deals in themes of
alienation, and how capitalism produces patriarchal structures as well as an emphasis on
individual wants. Lastly, the literature on the gig economy primarily describes its general
structure, while also pointing out some major pitfalls.

PORNOGRAPHY AS A PART OF THE SEXUAL

REVOLUTION/THE INDIVIDUALIST APPROACH
Some feminists view pornography as a form of empowerment and sexual liberation.
From their point of view pornography represents “freedom of expression and the freedom of
the individual within the private realm” (Long, 2012, p. 23). Post-modern and queer
feminists share their beliefs, believing that pornography is a form of “sexual expression, and
valorized as a potential site of transgression of normative understandings of sexuality, and
the assertion of sexual minority identities and rights to sexual expression” (Long, 2012, p.
66). Within this theoretical framework pornography is taken out of the negative patriarchal
contexts in which anti-porn feminists view it. By focusing on individual freedom “the power
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relations in the production and consumption of porn” are no longer clear and the past
narratives to associate female sex workers as victims instead makes them “self-made”
women (Ciclitira, 2016, p. 298). From their perspective pornography no longer is a
profession women are forced into by nefarious production studios which seek to exploit
them. Instead, it becomes a tool for women and sexual minorities to overcome a “history of
suppression and shaming of women’s sexuality” and instead embrace their sexuality (Long,
2012, p. 68). An interesting thing to note is that money plays a secondary role from their
point of view. Their emphasis is not necessarily on how women can profit off sexual acts, but
rather how pornography can be used as a way in which they can reclaim their sexuality. A
criticism which they address regards pornography which involves more extreme sexual acts.
Even this does not take away women’s power because they emphasize that these scenes are
fictional, and thus “if S/M or violent pornography follows the S/M and film community’s
norms of safety and respects the personal boundaries set by the participants, it does not
dehumanize or degrade women” (Shrage, 2005, p. 61). In a sense, this perspective likens
pornography to other forms of media which make contain violent or sexual content. Like an
actor being nude or a stunt double in a fight scene, if the participants are consenting to be
there and the scenarios on set are not actually abusive then it is okay. As for the people who
watch pornography, they are also aware that the violence they see on screen is fictional, so
they are not deriving pleasure from the genuine abuse of a woman.
An interesting development which has arisen from this feminist perspective is
pornography that is queer and feminist. Queer and feminist pornographies are types of
productions which use sexual liberation as their basis. In the words of Courtney Trouble, who
runs one of these production studios,
People only apply to work for me if they really want to, which is kind of nice. I’m
never concerned that somebody doesn’t want to do porn but they’re coming to me
because they’re desperate for $2,000. Even then, it’s sex work, so that’s what you
do for $2,000, but there’s a certain amount of ethics from the people creating the
pornography, too, of taking advantage of sex workers. (as cited in Berg, 2017, p.
676)
The financial aspect that Ms. Trouble refers to is the fact that “feminist porn pays so much
less that mainstream— $200–$400 in contrast to $800–$1,000 per scene” (Berg, 2017, p.
676). The logic behind lower payments is to try to prevent women from joining pornography
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due to financial hardships, but instead because they will find the experience genuinely
rewarding. This idea fits into the broader concept of the sexual revolution, because it depicts
pornography’s primary function as a way to sexually liberate women. Any money they
receive from their liberation is like an added bonus, but it is never their primary motivation in
engaging in sex work.
BDSM (an abbreviation for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, and sadism)
performer Bella Vendetta is critical of the pay structure, but from her experience she admits
that ‘there’s a special magic to ‘you guys do whatever you want and we’ll film it’’ (Berg,
2017, p. 680). The creative freedom sex workers have on these sets connects back to the idea
of individualism and using pornography as a way to sexually express themselves. One could
even go as far as to say that pornography can be viewed as a form of art with core themes of
female empowerment and sexual liberation. In addition, porn producers in this field attempt
to create a fun and relaxed attitude on set, while also emphasizing the importance of consent
and making the actors as comfortable as possible (Berg, 2017, pp. 679, 684). The purpose,
again, is to have sex workers feel safe and move away from the exploitation that many
people usually associate pornography. Providing their performers with comfort and security
is also key to them feeling empowered and in control while working. This perspective on
pornography is popular in the mainstream, but there is another school of thought with a much
more negative view on this age-old industry.

THE ANTI-PORN FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

The anti-porn feminist perspective has been prominent since the Second Wave of
feminism. They link pornography to systems of patriarchy and oppression and view its
production and distribution as harmful to women. They believe that “pornography constitutes
the eroticised subordination of women; it sexualises and naturalises male domination and
female subordination [...] pornography does not simply ‘reflect’ a male-dominated society; it
plays a crucial role in perpetuating and maintaining that domination” (Long, 2012, p. 71).
Robin Morgan even goes as far as to say, “pornography is the theory, rape is the practice”
(Long, 2012, p. 19). Catharine A. MacKinnon believes the new online platform in which
most people now view pornography is just as harmful, “and that in whatever form porn
exists, it attacks the equality of women and plays a central role in institutionalizing a
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subhuman, victimized, second-class status for women” (as cited in Ciclitira, 2016, p. 284).
Unsurprisingly, then, this perspective is in direct conflict with the liberal feminist position on
pornography. For Second Wave feminist theorists, pornography cannot be empowering
because it “is a product produced and consumed by men” and women are simply “positioned
as the commodity” (Long, 2012, p. 99). Making women a commodity dehumanizes them,
which then sends a message that abuse towards women is acceptable because they are
reduced to the subhuman status of an object of sexual gratification. They also believe that
feminists who support pornography’s potential for being a tool for sexual liberation fail to
view it in “the context of male violence against women” and “to take into account the
cumulative effect of such images” (Long, 2012, p. 69). This disagreement is rooted in the
different perspectives that these groups have. The individualistic perspective focuses on the
positive experience pornography can have for individual women, while the anti-porn
feminists view it as more of a collective issue where the alleged sexual liberation of one
person negatively impacts a whole gender. The latter holds that, within a society where male
perpetuated violence against women exists, pornography is simply a mode where sexual
violence can be reproduced and distributed for commercial profit. Like with other forms of
gender based sexual violence, pornography continues the pattern of sacrificing women’s
safety and wellbeing for the sake of male gratification and wealth.
Their strong beliefs about the negative effects of pornography extend to women who
participate in it. Andrea Dworkin states that pornography itself is an act of violence, and this
sentiment is echoed by her contemporaries who state that “the production of porn obviously
involves the participation of real women, and the repeated sexual use, abuse and penetration
of their bodies in various ways” (as cited in Long, 2012, p. 73). Even if one is to accept that
even the most violent forms of pornography can be a method of female empowerment, it is
undeniable that these types of extreme sexual acts will take a toll on a performer’s body. If
they do not receive proper rest and medical attention afterwards this could potentially lead to
negative long-term effects. This argument connects with another point of contention with
supporters of pornography who claim that the violence which appears on screen is acceptable
because it is not real. Anti-porn scholars argue that pornography “is a product produced
through specific, material practices” which involves real women performing real acts that
harm their bodies and their minds (Long, 2012, p. 96). Thus, even if the consumer is aware
 8

that they are watching a form of fiction and would not consensually repeat the sexual acts to
that extreme with their own partners, the women involved in the production are having these
sexual acts inflicted onto them. Another critique these feminists have about pornography is
that the industry itself is ripe with force and exploitation. Force involves “drugs, physical
violence or threats of violence, grooming, trafficking and abduction” while exploitation
refers to “manipulation of vulnerabilities such as age, economic vulnerability, a personal
history of abuse, lack of family, friends and social supports” (Long, 2012, p. 84). For these
reasons, they highly question whether women truly choose to be involved in this form of sex
work (Long, 2012, p. 84). Both the anti-porn and individualistic approach to pornography
view it through the lens of broader social structures. A third perspective, however, puts more
emphasis on pornography in the context of labor relations.

A CRITIQUE OF INDIVIDUALISTIC & ANTI-PORN

PERSPECTIVE IN THE CONTEXT OF LABOR RELATIONS
Feminists who view pornography within the context of gender relations are very
critical of the lack of attention individualistic and anti-porn feminists pay to class. They
believe that the former’s fixation on sexuality and the latter’s emphasis on gender “[leave] us
with a paucity of resources for understanding sex work as work” (Berg, 2017, p. 670). A key
idea to note is that these feminists are not primarily concerned with the moral implications of
sex work, but rather how class and economic structures impact sex workers. For this reason,
when they use terms like exploitation, they refer to the exploitation of labor.
This third school of feminist thought is critical of the individualistic feminist
movement because the idea of sexual liberation can easily be coopted by companies to
exploit the labor of sex workers. As previously mentioned, queer and feminist production
studios pay sex workers significantly less to preclude people engaging in sex work just
because they are in a financially precarious situation (Berg, 2017, p. 676). Even if their
intentions are genuine, unpaid labor is still unpaid labor, and it is not fair to the performers to
receive less for more physically intensive scenes. This point is further demonstrated by
performers who “described enjoying anal sex in their private lives [...] but [refuse] to perform
it on screen unless they are compensated appropriately. When performers spoke about feeling
 9

‘exploited’ or ‘taken advantage of,’ it was in reference to being underpaid” (Berg, 2017,
p. 687).
Another big point of emphasis for these production studios is that they create
“authentic pornography”, meaning their performers are experiencing real pleasure while
working. Though this could be seen through the lens of sexual liberation, it also is reflective
of the post-Fordist work ethic which “calls for committed self-identification with work rather
than duty-bound acquiescence to the fact of working to live” (Berg, 2017, p. 670). In other
words, they want to eliminate the line between person and worker. In the context of
pornography, studios want to dismiss the idea that sex workers are workers and instead act as
if they are capturing genuine sexual acts on film. Performer Arabelle Raphael is an open
critic of this, saying that when studios emphasize authenticity it “erases the fact that
performing is labor and not just ‘fun’” (as cited in Berg, 2017, p. 682). Other performers go
as far as to say authenticity has been reduced to another genre of pornography (Berg, 2017).
By removing financial incentives and emphasizing authenticity, queer and feminist
production studios may be inadvertently contributing to the exploitation of their performers’
labor. This problem is ultimately rooted in the fact that individualistic feminists primarily
view pornography as a form of sexual liberation, rather than a profession. Feeling
comfortable with one’s work should not be mutually exclusive with proper compensation,
and it is hard to imagine any other job in which wanting to make sure workers are doing their
jobs “for the right reasons” could be used as an excuse to pay them less. Furthermore, one
could argue that the emphasis on authenticity adds additional qualifications to their job:
simply working is no longer enough; they now need to convince the audience that they are
deriving pleasure from their work. Although the work is framed as being for the sexual
liberation of the performer, ultimately it seems most likely that consumers and the producer
who rakes in the profits from the genre of authentic pornography benefit the most.
Labor-oriented feminists are also critical of anti-porn feminists because they believe
that their perspective does not pay enough attention to the material conditions of sex workers.
Regardless of whether sex work is damaging to individual sex workers or women as a
gender, it is an undeniable fact that many women engaged in sex work for various reasons.
By focusing primarily on the potential physical and mental harm that sex workers face, anti-
porn feminists fail to acknowledge how the trade affects sex workers as laborers. This
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frustration was echoed by Wendy, a black woman in her 40s who is a former sex worker: “In
her view, middle-class white (lesbian) feminists marching in Tottenham against pornography
and rape were no help to her, a black working-class sex worker […] Wendy ran away from
an institution as a teenager and became a sex worker to survive” (as cited in Ciclitira, 2016,
p. 294). The concern of how the anti-porn feminists could affect sex workers was echoed by
Ann, an Asian woman in her 20s. Despite being concerned about the exploitation of women
in pornography, she also stated that she “[doesn’t] think it should be completely censored,
because it will only, you know just be driven underground, won’t it, with all those cheap
companies anyway, and that would probably lead to more people being exploited” (Ciclitira,
2016, p. 295).
It should be noted that there is overlap between the anti-porn feminist perspective and
the labor feminist perspective. For example, anti-porn feminists acknowledge and are
concerned by the fact that many women enter sex work because they lack other employment
opportunities (Long, 2012, p. 82). The key differentiator is that ultimately anti-porn feminists
view pornography as a form of exploitation, while labor feminists view it as a form of work.
This difference in perspective ultimately informs their perspectives on how to help sex
workers. Martha C. Nussbaum believes that certain feminists need to “stop treating
‘prostitution in isolation from the other realities of working life of which it is a part’ and
instead concentrate on enhancing ‘the economic autonomy and personal dignity’ of women
who perform this work” (as cited in Shrage, 2005, p. 62). One way in which their economic
independence and pride can be better protected is by providing performers with legal rights
and resources “that enable women in the industry to defend their rights as workers” (Shrage,
2005, p. 58). These positions bring us to one more school of thought on pornography. While
labor feminists focus on the work aspects, and individualistic and anti-porn feminists
emphasize the patriarchy, Marxist theory combines the two by demonstrating how economic
structures perpetuate the oppression of women.

SEX AND LOVE UNDER LATE-STAGE CAPITALISM, OR

THE COMMODITY FETISHISM OF FETISHES
Given the fact that there was no pornography industry at the time in which many
classical Marxist theorists were writing, the literature in this section will focus primarily on
 11

prostitution and love, and what these two things look like in bourgeois society. For the
purposes of this literature review, their views on prostitution and its effects will be applied
more broadly to sex work.
Marxists view prostitution through the lens of economics and male patriarchal
systems that negatively impact women. Leon Trotsky (1936) defines prostitution as “the
extreme degradation of woman in the interests of men who can pay for it.” The term
degradation is not a moral judgement of the work itself since Marxists find all labor under
capitalism to be exploitative and degrading. What makes prostitution more extremely
degrading then? It could be referring to the fact that in addition to selling their labor,
prostitutes are also selling their physical body. In other words, they are also the products. The
psychological effects of being transformed into a commodity are much more intense than a
worker who is alienated from their labor. When describing what drives women to prostitution
he points to “Inadequate wages, want, the necessity to ‘get a little something for a dress, for
shoes’” (Trotsky, 1936). From his perspective sex work has a gendered dimension to it, with
men being the primary consumers of female bodies and women engaging in sex work out of
financial need. This also complicates how consensual sex work is if women are entering the
profession out of financial need. Even though this piece was written almost a century ago, the
concerns over people entering sex work out of financial desperation is still relevant today.
The thesis will cover how many creators joined OnlyFans because they lost their jobs during
the Coronavirus Pandemic, while others joined because they are part of marginalized groups
who have difficulty finding other sources of income due to discrimination.
Alexandra Kollontai (1923) focuses more on how capitalism dehumanizes women by
reducing them to outlets for men’s sexual desires. She states that:
the healthy sexual instinct has been turned by [...] capitalism, into unhealthy
carnality. The sexual act has become an aim in itself - just another way of
obtaining pleasure, through lust sharpened with excess and through distorted,
harmful titillations of the flesh [...] a man approaches any woman, though he feels
no sexual need for her in particular, with the aim of gaining his sexual satisfaction
and pleasure through her. Prostitution is the organised expression of this distortion
of the sex drive. (Kollontai, 1923)
From her perspective, capitalism has a warped sexuality, and it is manifesting in an unhealthy
form. Sex workers feel the brunt of this shift, as they are the ones who are reduced to being a
sexual object a man can buy to satisfy their urges. The sex worker thus is denied their
 12

personhood and instead exists only as an object consumers use to derive pleasure from. She
also believes that many men seek out sex workers to fill sexual urges that they cannot fulfill
with a partner or spouse, because low wages make it difficult for them financially to provide
for a long-term romantic partner (Kollontai, 1977). Sex workers then become an outlet for
men to briefly escape the alienating effects capitalism has on genuine human connection.
Men experience the illusion of intimacy, but it is all a farce, because for the sex worker the
interaction is purely based in financial incentives. Like many feminist theorists, she also
views sex work as one side of broader patriarchal issues in which women are denied their
humanity.
Kollontai perceives the “sexual crises” to be rooted in two key concepts: the idea that
one must possess their partner, and inequality between the sexes. The concept of possession
is an extension of the bourgeois state of mind with “its introverted individualistic family
based entirely on private property, has carefully cultivated the idea that one partner should
completely “possess” the other”. The possession is not simply of the partner’s body, but of
their “whole spiritual and emotional world”. She also states that the desire to possess
someone completely is because of “the eternally present threat of loneliness” (Kollontai,
1977). From her perspective the desire to possess someone is not exclusive to any gender but,
historically speaking, men have been the ones who have been able to effectively claim
ownership of their partners. This is reflected in the way women traditionally take their
husband’s last name after marriage, indicating she (and any children they may have) belong
to him. The idea that women are their husband’s property also has been used to justify
physical and sexual abuse in the past as well.
When speaking of inequality, Kollontai (1977) is referring to “the unequal value of
their physical and emotional experience” and the concept of “double morality.” Double
morality refers to the fact that “the same action will be regarded differently according to
whether it was the action of a man or a woman.” This concept is present in feminist
literature, particularly in regard to how certain behaviors are valorized when men exhibit
them but demonized if a woman expresses them. Another problem which plagues women is
that they are not seen as their own independent being; “Bourgeois society cannot see a
woman as an independent person separate from her family unit and outside the isolated circle
of domestic obligations and virtues” (Kollontai, 1977). As a result, women are viewed “not
 13

as a personality with individual qualities and failings irrespective of her physical and
emotional experience, but only as an appendage of a man [...] the husband or the lover,”
(Kollontai, 1977). It is easy to apply this concept to Kollontai’s previous statements on
possession. Women become objects of their partners, devoid of any autonomy and denied an
existence outside of the men with whom they are romantically involved.
Though Kollontai focuses primarily on gendered relations in her writings, her
perspective is still relevant for this thesis because of her emphasis on the idea that one can
purchase intimacy, and how people are dehumanized for the sexual gratification of others.
These ideas are relevant to sex work, because when sex workers are viewed as sexual objects
rather than people it can lead to harassment. Furthermore, the thesis will demonstrate how the
economic aspect of online sex work can lead to some subscribers feeling as if they are
entitled to these workers’ time and intimacy.
The last Marxist concept which is relevant to my topic is commodity fetishism. It ties
in nicely with the work of Kollontai because the concept can be expanded into the concept of
how capitalism affects intimate relationships and sex work. According to Karl Marx (1887),
commodity fetishism is the transformation of social relationships “existing not between
[people], but between the products of their labour.” As a result, commodities “have
absolutely no connection with their physical properties and with the material relations arising
therefrom.” Instead, objects are endowed with a special meaning based on this social
relationship and “appear as independent beings endowed with life, and entering into relation
both with one another and the human race” (Marx, 1887, pp. 47-48). Objects are a
combination of material made with human labor, but under capitalism that concept is lost.
Items instead are mystified, appearing to exist as their own entities separate from the parts
and labor which created them. This leads to two problems. The first is that the laborer is
alienated from their product, and the second is that laborers reap the least of the benefits from
their work despite contributing the most to it. In the context of sex work, commodity
fetishism takes a unique form since the concepts of love and intimacy themselves become
commodities since many people are paying for a “personal connection” with sex workers.
Through online sex work, this extends to subscribers wanting to form a deeper connection
with creators through messages and in some cases, even wanting to meet in person. This has
 14

the potential of some consumers to pretend as if the connection between them and the sex
worker is genuine, even though creators are doing this purely as their job.

THE GIG ECONOMY, AND THE ILLUSION OF BEING YOUR

OWN BOSS
Up until this point the literature has focused on the conditions under which a person
may join sex work, dehumanization, and how capitalism blurs the lines between work and
intimacy. These ideas alone are not sufficient to explain the labor dynamics in online sex
work, so there must also be a discussion of the gig economy structure under which OnlyFans
creators operate.
The gig economy is a form of a “capital–labour relationship between a worker and a
digital platform, that mediates workers’ supply and consumer or professional demand for the
completion of a small task or ‘gig’ and operates at once as a market intermediary and a
‘shadow employer’ (Gandini, 2018, p. 1040). Workers are independent contractors, who
make a living by selling their labor to consumers. Many people think of apps like Uber or
Postmates when they think of gig economy work, but it is actually a very broad field. Many
people engage in gig work that they can do at home, like transcriptions and editing and/or
writing. As of 2017, 55 million people in the United States were gig workers, which is 34
percent of Americans in the workforce (International Labour Organization, n.d.). Like any
job there are pros and cons, but in the gig economy many of its positives relate to its
negatives.

Pros
One of the major benefits of gig economy work is that employees get to select where
they work (Wood et al., 2018, p. 60). Drivers, for example, can pick certain locations to work
in while those who work in computer-based fields can work anywhere with an internet
connection. For many people in the latter category, they chose to work from home. Being
able to work from home is great for people who previously had to commute or use public
transportation to get to work (Wood et al., 2018, p. 66). Another positive is that employees
have more control over what work they do (Wood et al., 2018, p. 65). If there is a task that
they do not feel comfortable performing or if they see a client with a low rating, they have
the choice to not work for them. In non-gig economy work employees do not have this
 15

luxury and must deal with whatever job they are assigned. From this autonomy workers have
“the freedom to connect with multiple clients from diverse industries, sectors and countries”,
variety in their tasks, and are able “to carry out work they were unfamiliar with and provided
access to experiences that they would not otherwise have been able to realise” (Wood et al.,
2018, p. 65). The last major benefit from gig economy work is that they generally have
flexibility regarding aspects like their hours or which days they want to work if there is
enough demand for their particular job (Wood et al., 2018, p. 67). Again, this flexibility is
not something most other workers get to experience because their days and hours are decided
by their managers. From this description alone, it seems as if gig workers really are their own
boss. However, while they do not have a boss in a traditional sense, there are many ways in
which they are restricted.

Cons
The benefit of having autonomy has some drawbacks. Being left to one’s own devices
also means that “economic risks and responsibility for skill development [has been shifted]
on to workers, as firms are no longer willing to provide security and training for their
workforces” (Wood et al., 2018, p. 59). Workers must teach themselves skills or come into
the job already having them, because the company has no incentive. If an employee does
their job incorrectly, their ratings will tank, and they can be replaced by someone who can do
the work better. Furthermore, since each employee works in isolation, they cannot even
consult their fellow workers for advice.
The isolation from other workers has other drawbacks. Psychologically, gig economy
workers lose out on the social aspect of work which has negative impacts on people’s mental
health (Wood et al., 2018, p. 66). It could be argued that certain apps like ride-sharing
services do have in person interactions, and that employees also get to interact with their
clients. However, these are hierarchical, temporary, and transactional interactions which are
not conductive from long-term bonds an employee could usually make with their coworkers.
Another glaring issue is that gig workers' inability to communicate with each other also
reduces their ability to unionize (Gandini, 2018, p. 1051). By isolating workers, it becomes
difficult for them to address issues like their rates and lack of benefits. Fellow employees are
not comrades, and instead are purely competition for tasks. There are also limits to a
 16

worker’s autonomy. Hypothetically they can choose when they want, but this freedom is not
practical unless there are an abundance of tasks available (Wood et al., 2018, p. 67). For
example, an Uber driver may want to work on the weekdays and during the day, but if most
people need rides on the weekend or at night then they will have to work during those times
in order to make a living. Even the pace one works may be influenced by a desire to be faster
than other employees on the app in order to be more desirable for clients (Wood et al., 2018,
p. 66).
Another issue with the gig economy is unpaid emotional labor. All people in the
service industry experience this because they have to be kind and respectful to even the most
difficult customers. However, this phenomenon is heightened in gig economy work because
of the ratings system. Since “a bad aggregate rating [...] results in her/him being prevented to
work,” gig economy workers must make additional efforts to keep their clients happy
(Gandini, 2018, p. 1051). The pressure to maintain a high rating may also lead workers to
endure unpleasant behaviors from clients for the sake of not having their rating go down as
well. Connected with this issue is the broader point that in the gig economy, the client
assumes the informal position of one’s boss. In a study done by gig workers, “80% of
respondents [reported] that the pace of their work was determined by direct demands from
clients” (Wood et al., 2018, p. 66). In addition, while the worker can pick which tasks they
would like to perform, the task itself and when it is expected to be completed is determined
by the client. Rather than having one boss then, gig economy workers have a rotating list of
employers whose happiness with their work determines whether they will be able to get more
jobs because of the rating system. For all the reasons listed above, gig economy workers do
not have the level of independence and flexibility that many people claim they do.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON EXISTING LITERATURE

Viewing pornography through the context of labor is the most effective way of
supporting sex workers because it puts the most emphasis on sex work as a form of labor.
This chapter demonstrated that while the Individualistic and Anti-Porn perspective do focus
on important social and gender dynamics, the reality is that many sex workers focus simply
on getting paid. The labor perspective is particularly relevant to survival sex workers because
it focuses on their material conditions and the broader systems that have left them financially
 17

vulnerable. For this reason, the bulk of the thesis will be analyzing OnlyFans through the
perspective of feminist theories on labor. It will also acknowledge how societal views on
gender and sexuality often invalidate sex work as a profession, which in turn leads to further
exploitation and abuse. Another aspect of OnlyFans which will be considered is how it fits
into the gig economy structure, which benefits sex workers in some ways when compared to
previous platforms they have utilized. However, this study finds a prevalence of unpaid labor
and a lack of true autonomy. Lastly, a Marxist feminist perspective will be used to explain
why OnlyFans is appealing to sex workers and consumers, and how sex workers on the
website are turned into commodities.
 18

CHAPTER 3

METHODS

How does online sex work function in a gig economy structure? To answer this main
research question, I am examining the website OnlyFans, which is a subscription-based
platform where sex workers (“creators”) post, market, and sell access to their own images of
themselves. I am approaching this research as an outsider to the OnlyFans community and
the broader community of sex workers. The website itself can be accessed without a
subscription, and its terms of service detail many of its policies. However, I have learned
about more specific information on creator’s experiences on the platform through social
media, interviews from online publications, and qualitative interviews of my own. Through
these materials, I analyze how gig economy sex work online affects sex workers’ safety,
earnings, and autonomy over their bodies and work.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS RESEARCH

Sex workers are generally disregarded in public discourse, in academia, and in
political science. This disregard is a problem because sex workers face both violence and
economic insecurity. The lack of support from people outside the sex worker community has
forced these people to primarily be their own advocates, without the support of analysts,
scholars, or politicians. Whether they have been unintentionally ignored or purposefully
spurned, it is important to correct the silence on the issues sex workers face.
Another reason why research into this form of online sex work is important is because
online sex workers have increasingly less access to websites on which they can safely operate
since the passing of FOSTA-SESTA in 2018. The acronym is short for Stop Enabling Sex
Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act
(FOSTA). The law was designed to combat sex trafficking, but in its passing, it also makes
“website publishers [...] responsible if third parties are found to be posting ads for
 19

prostitution — including consensual sex work — on their platforms” (Romano, 2018). This
has led to a lot of frustration among sex workers, who have now lost access to websites
which helped them “do their work both safely and independently” (Arnold, 2018). Adult
performer Lorelei Lee articulated this issue in more detail;
This bill claims to target human trafficking, but does so by creating new penalties
for online platforms that are overwhelmingly used by consensual, adult sex
workers to screen clients, to share “bad date lists,” to work indoors, and to
otherwise communicate with each other about ways to stay alive [...] In 2006, my
friend Sequoia was stabbed and killed by a client while working alone and
outdoors. (as cited in Arnold, 2018)
OnlyFans is not comparable to the websites used by sex workers before the passing of
FOSTA-SESTA because it is not designed for prostitution, but it has been an alternative for
many sex workers since FOSTA-SESTA became law.
OnlyFans has also seen recent growth for other reasons. A halt in adult film
productions due to the coronavirus has prompted many adult film actors to join OnlyFans.
Unemployment related to the virus has also led to many people who have never participated
in sex work before to create accounts in order to make a living. For this reason, the passing of
the FOSTA-SESTA and the context of the coronavirus pandemic makes research into this
topic even more timely and pertinent.

SOURCES
To analyze this issue, I consulted a mix of academic literature, articles, and interviews
with sex workers that each provide various insights into OnlyFans as a site, online sex work,
and gig economies. For information more directly related to gig economy forms of online sex
work, pop culture articles have proved to be very useful because they highlight the
phenomenon of OnlyFans, how the pandemic has spiked its popularity, and perspectives
from creators on the website. For my analysis I selected articles that were either framed
around the experiences of creators in long-form interviews or featured interviews to support
their discussion of OnlyFans. From these articles, I was able to pull direct quotes so the
voices of creators were not lost. Some articles I chose spoke about OnlyFans more generally,
but those were only used in sections describing the platform itself rather than creators’
experiences on it. The analysis includes every article I found that included interviews with
 20

OnlyFans creators (21 total), and only excludes articles that repeated information about the
general structure of the platform.
Though useful, the online interviews were not alone sufficient for several reasons. As
an outsider to the community I am researching, there are aspects of the website and its
functions that I was unaware of. Furthermore, existing interviews available online are
generally not anonymous (possibly because creators agreed to do the interviews to promote
their accounts), so there may be an incentive to depict their work or OnlyFans in a certain
light in fear that their status as an independent contractor on the website may be affected if
they speak negatively about it on a public platform. For these reasons, I also conducted some
of my own interviews with creators and will describe more about my interview methodology
in a moment.

WHY ONLYFANS
OnlyFans is not the only website on the internet that puts online sex work in the gig
economy structure. Other websites include IsMyGirl, TipSnaps, and QRush. There are also
some apps and websites which were not originally designed for this kind of sex work but are
used by sex workers like private Snapchats and Patreon. However, I have selected OnlyFans
because it is the most popular platform of the ones that have been mentioned. The website
has garnered a lot of mainstream attention, especially among young people. It is often
discussed on apps like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. Many OnlyFans creators even have
social media accounts for the purpose of promoting their OnlyFans. The website gained
notoriety in the pop culture world as well. In the song “Savage”, Beyoncé references the
website by name and many mainstream celebrities like Cardi B, Tyler Posey, and Bella
Thorne have publicized their own accounts, as well. The influx of celebrities and influencers
joining the website has led to some controversy, with some sex workers feeling as if they are
being pushed off the platform as the website seems to be favoring celebrities, reality tv stars,
and influencers. Bella Thorne in particular sparked outrage due to a series of policy changes
which occurred after people who subscribed to her account were led to believe that she
would be posting nude photos, only for her to clarify after earning over a million dollars that
there would be no nudity on her account. What followed was subscribers demanding refunds,
and OnlyFans instituting massive policy changes which increased the payout period to 30
 21

days, as well as put a cap on tipping and post prices. Previously, there was no maximum for
either. Though OnlyFans denies the policy change was because of the Bella Thorne incident,
many creators on the platform find it difficult to believe there was no connection (Kircher,
2020). This anecdote alone demonstrates how OnlyFans is a popular platform for sex
workers while also being dismissive of their needs.

INTERVIEWS
I conducted six recorded interviews with OnlyFans creators, all recruited through
Twitter, although I also used the social media platforms TikTok and Instagram for
recruitment. Recruitment for this project posed some challenges. I was looking to speak with
creators eighteen and older who had been on the platform for at least three months to assure
they had spent a significant amount of time on OnlyFans. In addition to posting a video and
photo flyer advertising the project, I also messaged over a hundred people through Twitter
messages.
No creators responded to my flyers. On Twitter I do not have a large following, and
on TikTok where I do have a more significant presence, the video flyer I posted was likely
shadowbanned by the website. I believe this happened because -- despite my following and
the post being flooded with interaction by my mutuals -- the views were significantly lower
than my other videos, suggesting that it was not shown to my followers. I attempted to
remedy this by referring to OnlyFans as “O*F*” but that was not enough to bypass the
algorithm which hides content about OnlyFans. As for Instagram, I was posting among my
followers which primarily comprises my family and friends, making the reach of the post
limited.
Thankfully, I was successful through direct outreach over Twitter. I found the
creators by searching Twitter hashtags related to OnlyFans like “#OnlyFans” and “OF”, as
well as Twitter accounts made exclusively for creators to promote their OnlyFans accounts.
These accounts included posts that encouraged creators to reply to the main tweet as a way of
free promotion. When I messaged creators, I initially introduced myself as a graduate student
looking to interview OnlyFans creators for my thesis. If they responded, I offered more in
detail about the project and how the interviews would be conducted.
 22

Initially, I had ten prospective interviews, but four creators chose to drop out of the
project (one because of technical issues, while the other three ended contact during the
scheduling process). Other creators I spoke with ultimately declined interviewing with me for
a variety of reasons. Some did not have Zoom, and others ended contact during the
explanation of the project. I cannot be certain, but I am under the impression that they were
not comfortable with being recorded. As for the people who did not respond at all, there
could be a variety of reasons. One that an interviewee brought up is that my message to her
was sent to her spam folder. This was likely due to my Twitter being inactive for a year and
then abruptly used to message many people. On average, I messaged ten people a day to
avoid being viewed as a spam bot by Twitter. Other creators may have seen my message but
chose not to respond because they were not interested. There was no monetary payment for
participating, so I was relying on the kindness of strangers volunteering their time to speak
with me.
After explaining the project, I arranged to speak with the creators for about 30-50
minutes over Zoom. For their privacy, each creator was given a pseudonym prior to the
beginning of the interview. My interview guide included the following questions:
What about OnlyFans was appealing for you to join?
Are there aspects about OnlyFans that you don’t like?
If you could change one thing about OnlyFans, what would it be?
How do you promote your OnlyFans account?
Have you ever had an uncomfortable interaction with a subscriber?
Have you engaged in any similar work on a different platform?
Do you identify as a sex worker?
How long have you had an account on OnlyFans?
What is your average monthly earnings on the platform?
What is your age?
During the interviews, additional questions or observations came up organically. Once the
interviews were completed, the recording was stored in the Cloud through my San Diego
State University account for at most 48 hours until the transcriptions were completed. To
minimize permanent records with any personal identifiers, I edited each transcript
immediately and then deleted the Zoom recordings, such that the written transcription with
the pseudonym remained the only record of the interaction.
There are strengths and weaknesses in my interview sample. The main weakness is
that with only six interviewees I cannot make universal claims based on the interviews alone,
 23

especially when considering the gender imbalance. Of the people I spoke with, four
identified as women, one identified as a man, and one identified as nonbinary. The main
strength of the sample is that I was able to have private, in-depth conversations with each
creator. The insights may not be universal, but they are useful anecdotal evidence due to how
rich they are in detail. The limited interviews I personally conducted were also offset by the
25 interviews with creators I used in my analysis from books and online publications. Those
interviews were done voluntarily so the sample still is not universal, but the parallels between
those interviews and my own show promising signs that the evidence collected is reflective
of the experiences of some creators on the platform. The last benefit of having my own
interviews is that I did not have access to the full transcriptions of secondhand ones I read.
My interviewees also knew their name and account would not be public unlike the online
publications, which potentially allowed them to speak more freely about their dissatisfaction
with certain aspects of the platform.

LIMITATIONS
There are several additional limitations with this research. As has been established, I
am approaching this subject as an outsider, a position that can create two potential problems.
The first is that there could be aspects of this topic that I am completely unaware of due to
my lack of direct involvement in the community, possibly leading me to present an
incomplete story about online gig economy sex work. Though interviews help address this
issue, the sex workers I interviewed may not have been entirely trustful of me as an academic
or may have been disinclined to fully disclose their true opinions. There is also a chance of
recruitment bias since I relied on voluntary participation in my interviews. Furthermore, the
people I spoke with are creators who have easily accessible social media accounts; it is
possible that creators I could not reach through Twitter would have differed in some
substantial way. Finally, the censorship of discussing OnlyFans on social media also limited
my outreach significantly. However, my hope is that incorporating the voices of some sex
workers will still offer insight and seldom-heard perspectives.
 24

CHAPTER 4

ONLYFANS OVERVIEW

Before analyzing the labor dynamics of OnlyFans, it is important to develop an

understanding of OnlyFans as a platform and where it fits in the broader discussion of online
pornography. The first section will explain the history of internet pornography, the problems
encountered by the porn industry, and the ethical concerns associated with the emergence of
websites which allow users to reupload pornography. The following sections will discuss
how OnlyFans was developed and how the website works. It will then transition into an
exploration of what about the website is appealing for consumers, and why the website
became popular in the mainstream. This chapter will end by critiquing the platform’s
identification as social media, and then address the concerns of sex workers who fear
OnlyFans will gradually phase out adult content.

PORNOGRAPHY AND THE INTERNET

The internet was born in 1969, but it was not until the early 1990s that the first
website was created (Press, 2015). Soon after there was a quick attempt to use this new
technology to share pornography, and interestingly enough they incorporated a similar
structure to OnlyFans. Sex.com launched in 1996 and was ran by Jordan Levinson and
Stephen Cohen. They made their money from the website through “ads that ‘popped up’ in
front of webpages, and [...] upselling visitors to actually shelling out money for
subscriptions” (Kushner, 2019). In 1995, a young stripper named Danni Ashe created a
model more like OnlyFans. Initially, she created a website titled Danni’s Hard Drive for her
own images but then transitioned into hiring models and posting their “pictures, audio
interviews, and videos” (Kushner, 2019). Subscribers were charged $15 a month for access to
the website, and Ashe began making 2.5 million dollars a year from it (Kushner, 2019).
 25

Ashe’s success proved the old adage “sex sells” was alive and well in the internet age, which
prompted others to find ways to profit off of it.
All industries evolve along with new technology, and the porn industry was no
different. Soon, production companies began to utilize the internet as well, but problems
arose. One major obstacle was the 2008 recession. “Lynn Comella, a professor of gender and
sexuality studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas” describes how in “2008, 2009,
2010, large porn studios started to just close up shop. That was one of the big shifts, [that
marked] the diminishment of the power and maybe status of traditional porn studios in the
industry” (Steadman, 2020b). Part of the reason the recession hit the industry so hard was
because piracy had already begun to tank their revenue from DVD sales (Steadman, 2020b).
Americans who were alive in the early 2000s are likely familiar with the infamous “Piracy.
It's a crime” advertisement campaign produced by the Federation Against Copyright Theft
and the Motion Picture Association in 2004 which starts with the line “You Wouldn't Steal a
Car.” In modern times, this relic is often featured in memes for its overly dramatic tone and
outdated graphics but the message they were sending is clear: downloading content online is
theft. Despite the intense font and music choices used in their campaign, many people are
ambivalent about piracy in the present day because the internet makes pirating content very
accessible. Big production companies are generally able to thrive despite the loss of revenue
from piracy, but for independent artists and smaller studios, piracy can have serious
consequences for their businesses.
The porn industry was hit particularly hard by piracy, and their predicament was
made even more dire by the emergence of “Tube” websites for pornography. Like YouTube,
these websites were places where users could upload content. They quickly became a place
where users would upload pirated pornography content, meaning that these websites would
make money off hosting stolen content while the original production studio and actors did
not receive a dime. Meanwhile Fabian Thymann, whose company MindGeek gained control
of a conglomerate of these websites in 2012, earned $150 million dollars in the process. Porn
piracy had a direct impact on performers, who saw their rates slashed dramatically for scenes.
For example, performers “who used to make $1,500 an hour now get $500” (Lord, 2019b).
The music and film industry face the issue of piracy as well, but unlike them “porn studios
didn’t have the same amount of financial backing or political connections to threaten
 26

MindGeek out of business so were not able to take action in 2012” (Lord, 2019b). Given the
difficulties that the studios have had combatting piracy, it should be no surprise that sex
workers have even less luck due to the costly legal process involved in filing DMCA
takedowns (Schultz, 2018). Another aspect to consider in the struggle to combat piracy is the
public stigma around porn and sex work in general. Many people look down on the industry,
and even those who consume pornography have a nonchalant attitude towards the actual
performers in the videos they watch. Columnist Annie Lord (2019b) puts it best when she
says “Porn stars don’t make as much money as they used to, and that’s a direct result of a
cultural expectation that porn should be free. Having work stolen means they have to work
harder to make less.” Without support from the consumers or the public, the industry was out
of luck.
Another major issue which has a more direct impact on the performers is how these
websites can immortalize their image. For example, a performer named Lucy described how
over the years hundreds of hours of material had been stolen and posted on websites like
PornHub (Lord, 2019b). Perhaps the most infamous story is that of Mia Khalifa. Khalifa was
an adult performer for 3 months, and ended her career early in 2015 (Steinberg, 2016).
Despite this, as of 2019 she was “ranked No. 2 among actor searches, with an eye-popping
784 million views alone” on PornHub (Horton, 2019). Like other performers, she did not
receive a cent in residuals. Jason Urgo, “the chief executive of Social Blade, a third-party
analytics site for YouTube” estimates that if she had been compensated by PornHub “a
portion of advertising revenue per view similar to YouTube, the videos could have generated
about $501,000” (Horton, 2019). As a result of her brief career, she is often recognized and
approached in public. She even received death threats from the terrorist group ISIS for her
work due to her Lebanese background (Horton, 2019). Even now as I tried to search for
information about her for my writing, the first nine links on Google when you search her
name are re-uploaded videos of her on various websites. In both the case of Lucy and Mia,
content they made to be viewed by a small audience behind a paywall is now being spread
for free on easily accessible websites. Khalifa especially could not have anticipated that her
brief time in the industry would make her a figure known all over the world. These videos
were uploaded without their consent, but the work they engaged in was consensual. Sadly,
this cannot be said for every person whose video ends up on these websites.
 27

Websites like PornHub are infamous for hosting videos involving illegal or dubious
activities. People have been discussing the dark side of porn websites for many years now,
but New York Times' journalist Nicholas Kristof’s (2020) exposé “The Children of Pornhub”
is what brought the most public attention to this horrendous issue. Kristof (2020) explains
how the website “monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women
showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic
bags. A search for “girls under18” (no space) or “14yo” leads in each case to more than
100,000 videos. Most aren’t of children being assaulted, but too many are.” The article
highlighted the story of several victims who had their videos published on PornHub. One of
those women was Cali, who was forced by her adoptive family to appear in pornographic
videos at the age of 9: “I may never be able to get away from this [...] I may be 40 with eight
kids, and people are still masturbating to my photos [...] You type ‘Young Asian’ and you
can probably find me” (Kristof, 2020). Other more dubious activity has been reported as
well, such as PornHub hosting a film of “22 women who were deceived and coerced by
Michael Pratt, owner of GirlsDoPorn, into performing sex acts” (Mickelwait, 2020). Even
when videos are taken down, the website’s download feature makes it easy for the video to
be re-uploaded again either on its own platform or others. Furthermore, though MindGreek
would not directly comment on the number of moderators they employ across all their
platforms, one of its employees stated they had about 80. Given the fact that “1.36 million
new hours of video uploaded a year to Pornhub” alone, this cannot be enough to properly vet
the content. Furthermore, a former employee stated that ‘The goal for a content moderator is
to let as much content as possible go through,’ because of the executives’ desire to maximize
revenue” (Kristof, 2020).
Kristof’s article came out on December 4th, 2020, and the backlash the company
received as a result likely prompted PornHub’s policy change. According to the website, they
“banned unverified uploaders from posting new content, eliminated downloads” and
“suspended all previously uploaded content that was not created by content partners or
members of the Model Program.” At the end of their post, the website bitterly noted that they
feel as if they are being “targeted not because of our policies and how we compare to our
peers, but because we are an adult content platform” (PornHub, 2020). Prior to the policy
change the website hosted 13.5 million videos, and this number dropped to 2.9 million by
 28

December 15th, 2020 (Osborne, 2020). Though this is an important step, it is too soon to say
how effective these policy changes will be. Furthermore, the damage to many people has
already been done and the proliferation of their images and videos may continue. Afterall,
PornHub is only one of many websites with this problem. Given the ethical concerns
associated with these “tube sites,” it seems as if the market was primed for an alternative
where consumers could consume pornography that they knew was both consensual and
properly compensated the sex workers involved. This is where OnlyFans steps in.

THE HISTORY
OnlyFans is an English based company founded by Tim Stokely in 2016. The
inspiration for the company came from Stokely’s previous endeavor, GlamWorship, which
was a website he created in 2011 which catered to customers with a financial domination
fetish (which involves a “submissive” giving money, gifts, or financial control to a
“dominant”). When customers began making specific video requests, Stokely came up with
the idea to create “a site where fans could request videos and pornographers could satisfy
their admirers’ specific fetishes” (Shaw, 2020). From there, Stokely created two websites:
Custom4U and 121with. 121with was not a website for sex workers, but rather “a
marketplace where tradespeople [...] could sell their expertise via an audio or video call”
(Shaw, 2020). The commonality between the two websites, however, was the “creator-fan”
relationship that would become an integral part of OnlyFans. When Stokley created
OnlyFans, he partnered with Leonid Radvinsky, “a Chicago-based Internet entrepreneur with
a background in adult entertainment and direct marketing” (Shaw, 2020). Together, the pair
worked together to shape the website as a sort of monetized social media platform. Stokely
described the concept as “a platform that works like these social platforms already out there
but with a key difference being the payment button” (as cited in Shaw, 2020). Unlike
GlamWorship or Custom4U, Stokely did not envision the website as being exclusively for
sex work. Rather, he viewed it as a way in which people with social media followings could
profit off their followers by posting exclusive content onto his website. Still, the website is
mostly associated with people creating nude or risqué content for their followers. Many
creators who have not engaged in sex work prior or who may not even identify as sex
workers advertise their account as a place for people to access “adult” posts they would
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otherwise not see on other social media platforms. The next section will explain how the
structure of the website is a hybrid of social media and gig economy platforms.

THE WEBSITE ITSELF

On the surface OnlyFans is structured like many other gig economy platforms.
Creators are independent contractors who post content on the website, and OnlyFans receives
a cut. The current breakdown in revenue is 80% for creators, and 20% for the website and its
processing fees. This ratio is standard for other gig economy jobs like Lyft and Uber, which
also take 20% of the earnings as well (Lamberti, 2020). Aside from following the guidelines
in the terms of service regarding what kind of content is allowed on the platform, creators are
essentially left to their own devices. This hands-off approach is more substantial in
comparison to other gig economy models and does come with a major drawback that can be
illustrated using a simple example. A contractor for a company like DoorDash does have
flexibility regarding their hours and the general locations they would like to deliver in, but
the platform will give them order requests to fulfil. In other words, the responsibility is not
on the delivery driver to find their own customers. On OnlyFans that is not the case. After
creating an account, the website has a suggestions page which recommends 24 accounts.
While the page can be refreshed to show more, this is hardly an effective way to promote the
one million creators on the platform (Shaw, 2020). For that reason, the burden of attracting
customers falls on the creators. This is why it is not uncommon for creators to already have
established presences on other social media platforms that they use to promote their
OnlyFans account. Having a social media following does not guarantee subscribers in the
same way that being able to pick a customer to deliver food does though, so in this sense
OnlyFans creators have a unique challenge not typically found in other gig economy work.
OnlyFans markets itself as a social media platform people can monetize. This is
reflected in its format which is very similar to other social media platforms, including both a
feed with posts from everyone a user is subscribed to and the ability to look through photos,
videos, and archives of specific creators in a three posts per row style. The only significant
difference is that most profiles are not free to view; a person must pay to view them through
a subscription fee. Furthermore, certain posts can be behind a paywall as well, and the direct
messages themselves are prompted to be sent with a tip to get a priority response. Some
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creators do not respond to messages without tips either, making it clear that every aspect of
social media which is free on other platforms is meant to be monetized on OnlyFans. There is
nothing intrinsic about the website that makes it for sex work, the same way as cam sites or
other platforms used by sex workers. Why, then, is it so popular with them? One major
reason is their policies on nudity. Almost all other social media platforms like Instagram
place restrictions on nudity since people under the age of 18 are allowed to create accounts.
Since OnlyFans is a platform exclusively for adults, underage posting is not a concern for
them, and nudity is allowed. This site gives sex workers an easy and accessible way to
monetize their image. The other appeals fall in line with other gig economy jobs: they get to
pick their own hours and where they want to work. However, sex workers also get to decide
how they want to work since they dictate their own content. This means they get to decide
their level of nudity, if they want to perform with other people, and what sexual actions they
are comfortable doing.
To make an account initially, a person only needs an email address. This, however,
does not get you far. A person cannot even view free content without first submitting their
credit card information, which poses a barrier for people under the age of 18 to create
accounts. They then prompt users to tick a box “to confirm that you are at least 18 years old
and the age of majority in your place of residence.” After that, users are free to subscribe to
accounts, leave tips, purchase special pay-per-view posts, and even send messages. It is
plausible for a person under 18 years old to acquire a credit card from an adult in their life,
but the purchases are explicitly marked OnlyFans unlike some other adult websites which
purposefully chose something more subtle to appear on credit card statements. A vigilant
adult then, would likely see the purchase on their statement and get to the bottom regarding
why it got charged.
For those wanting to be creators, there are additional hurdles to assure no minors are
posting content on the platform. After a person confirms their country of origin, they are
brought to a page where they are required to submit their legal name and address. In addition,
a person must provide a photo of an identification document (passport, ID card, or driver’s
license) and a photo of them holding the same identification document. From there, a person
must wait for their information to be verified before they can begin posting.
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When looking at the basic structure of the website, there are direct parallels between
it and some of the first pornography websites like Danni’s Hard Drive and Sex.com in the
sense that it utilizes a subscription-based model for people to gain access to images and
videos of specific people. There are also other modern-day competitors which have a similar
model as well. Since the structure itself is not unique, why has OnlyFans grown in such an
immense way? For consumers, the platform offers something most pornography does not: a
personal connection.

THE APPEAL
Despite the many ethical and moral conundrums associated with porn piracy, a vast
majority of people still pirate it. In a survey among British adults 60% of consumers admitted
to pirating content (Spangler, 2018). The survey did not include pornography as a type of
content, but based on the popularity of websites like PornHub, it is fair to assume that most
people who watch pornography choose to pirate it as well. And yet, OnlyFans is an
incredibly profitable company who has grown substantially over the past year. Information
regarding their earnings is not public, but estimates have been made using tax information
and the number of users on the platform. It is estimated that as of 2020 the company makes
54 million to 62 million dollars in profits and has an estimated valuation between 810 million
and 936 million dollars. This is significant growth from 2018, when it was estimated that the
company made 5.5 million dollars in revenue (Hollands, 2020). Clearly, people are paying
for OnlyFans subscriptions. The question is why would people do so when there is an infinite
amount of content available to pirate free of charge? Based on the damning critique of
pornography in the digital age in the previous section one may assume it has something to do
with wanting adult performers to be properly compensated for their labor, or perhaps to have
the assurance that the content one is watching was produced by a legal adult and posted with
their consent. While these factors may be appealing to some consumers, the most common
answer regarding the popularity of OnlyFans, however, is a lot more complex.
In interviews with creators on the platform, they repeatedly state that people find
OnlyFans appealing because they felt as if they had a personal connection with the people on
the platform. Dannii Harwood, an adult creator who had worked on Stokely's previous
websites put it simply: “You can get porn for free [...] Guys don’t want to pay for that. They
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want the opportunity to get to know somebody they’ve seen in a magazine or on social
media. I’m like their online girlfriend” (as cited in Bernstein, 2019). This appears to be the
case for female subscribers as well. Matthew Camp, a male model explains how people
“want more intimate experiences. They want a boyfriend experience. They want to fantasize
about someone that they want to have sex with and not feel disgusted by it” (as cited in
Bernstein, 2019). Interestingly, both Harwood and Camp bring up the fact that their
subscribers feel as if they are linked to them romantically even though they are engaging in a
transactional relationship. This all is by design. As mentioned in the first section, the
precursors to OnlyFans were both platforms which eliminated the barrier between consumer
and creator. Whether it be getting advice on plumbing or requesting a personalized video,
both Custom4U and 121with made it easier for creators and consumers to interact with each
other. Through these platforms, the company’s CEO reported that he gained “a much better
understanding of how creator-fan relationships worked” (Shaw, 2020).
OnlyFans replicated this model, and the feeling of connection is exemplified by the
fact that many creators have public social media platforms as well. By subscribing to a
creator’s OnlyFans, consumers feel as if they are gaining access to more personal aspects of
the lives of people they follow that others do not. For example, OnlyFans creator Adeline
Berry describes how she'd include small details about her life when posting: “I’d type
descriptions of my day or what I was doing, show what book I was currently reading with my
exposed breasts in shot for example” (McMahon, 2019). Even though these seem like
mundane aspects of a person’s life, these little factoids become infinitely more fascinating if
they come from someone a consumer admires.
Dr. Paul Anthony Ryan, a sociology lecturer in Maynooth University, elaborates on
this phenomenon further by explaining how “It’s about this level of presumed intimacy and
assumed interaction. People don’t want to watch anonymous people having sex. They want
to see people they follow online and who they admire” (as cited in McMahon, 2019). He
speculates that this desire for a more intimate experience with pornography is stronger
among the generations who grew up with the internet (McMahon, 2019). Many millennials
and members of Gen Z grew up having easy access to pornography. For some, its
accessibility makes traditional pornography less interesting since it is what they are used to.
The dullness, combined with influencer culture makes OnlyFans an intriguing alternative for
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those who are not interested in traditional pornography. Rather than cycling through various
videos and genres, people can watch pornography or view images of someone they feel as if
they have a deeper connection with. The authenticity of this connection, and the potential
problematic aspects will be explored more in the analysis portion. Why the platform appeals
to people has been established, but this alone does not explain its popularity. After all, even
many people who are not subscribed to creators are familiar with the platform. This is
because of two reasons: the large migration of people onto OnlyFans due to the Coronavirus
Pandemic, and the influx of celebrity creators.

ENTERING THE MAINSTREAM

OnlyFans had previously been a popular subject on various social media platforms.
Its real boost, however, occurred because of the coronavirus pandemic. Since the start of the
pandemic, many types of sex work no longer became feasible since it requires close
interaction in person. This shift applied to many types of sex work, such as prostitution,
stripping, or adult film acting. Many sex workers are also not eligible for public assistance
like unemployment due to their field of work. For some, OnlyFans became a profitable
alternative to the sex work they had previously been doing. For example, British adult film
star Michelle Thorne reported making between £1,000 to £2,000 more a month on OnlyFans
than she had been doing studio work.
People who have previously not done sex work are also migrating to the platform. A
spokesperson for OnlyFans reported that in February and March, 140,000 new creators
joined the platform; “This is more than five times the amount of creator sign-ups than during
the same period in 2019” (Lee, 2020). A portion of the new creators are migrating to the
platform because of income insecurity. The pandemic has led to many people losing their
jobs, and in countries like the United States where relief aid is scarce, people are forced to
find alternative ways to make money. Some turn to OnlyFans, since technically all a person
really needs to start is a camera, computer, and an internet connection. Another positive of
the platform is that the work can be done at home, which is a major benefit during the
pandemic for people who want to limit in-person contact as much as possible. Huffington
Post journalist Jesselyn Cook (2020) interviewed mothers who had created accounts during
the pandemic, and they detailed their feelings about the platform:
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Some said they now enjoy doing it and find it to be an empowering path back to
financial security and independence. Others said they turned to online sex work in
a state of desperation, as a last-resort means of survival. All described OnlyFans
as a lifeline amid a global catastrophe in which they feel like their government has
abandoned them.
The platform also became popular for college students struggling to make ends meet. A 20
year old nursing student named Clara bluntly stated why she turned to the platform: “At the
end of the day, nobody is paying my rent for me, nobody’s gonna pay my car insurance, my
phone bill, my cat food [...] So I have to do it. And it’s been so helpful” (Steadman, 2020c).
Kate Zen, a sex work rights advocate, describes why people joining OnlyFans should not be
surprising: “For a lot of the people ... sex work is not necessarily their only occupation, or the
main occupation even, it’s this emergency source of informal income that they can get when
they’re in a bind” (Steadman, 2020c). The platform is not just populated by people searching
for alternative forms of income during the pandemic though. OnlyFans is also gaining
notoriety among celebrities hoping to cash in on their influence.
In April of 2020, Beyoncé rapped the lyrics “Hips TikTok when I dance, On that
Demon Time, she might start a OnlyFans” (Megan Thee Stallion & Beyoncé, 2020). Though
Beyoncé’s lyrics solidified the website’s spot in pop culture, she does not have an account.
To some people’s surprise though, celebrities from a variety of industries are flocking to
OnlyFans. Many of them are utilizing the platform as a source of additional income, but there
are many creators on the platform who are not happy with the change. One of the most
infamous examples of this is Bella Thorne. Thorne is an actress most well known for her
time on the Disney channel but she has remained in the public eye as a young adult as well
through social media and other television projects. After making her account, Thorne became
“the first creator to make $1 million in a single day” and went on to make “$2 million on the
platform in less than a week” (Dickson, 2020b). At this point, Thorne was already receiving
backlash from other creators on the platform for a reason that relates to the broader issue of
celebrities joining: oversaturation of the market (Dickson, 2020b). With celebrities joining
the platform, their name recognition instantly catapults them to the top creator spots and
draws attention away from other creators. Furthermore, though the website is public for all
adults it is frustrating for sex workers to see celebrities join the platform when they have
 35

other ways of monetizing themselves. Sex workers on the other hand, have more limited
options.
The backlash against Thorne intensified, however, following a policy change on the
website. On Twitter, Thorne later clarified that she would not be posting nude photos or
videos of herself. However, she had already charged subscribers $200 for a pay-per-view
photo and a leaked conversation between her and a subscriber shows her implying it would
be in the nude. The photo turned out to be her in lingerie, which prompted many subscribers
to file for refunds since they felt as if they had been misled (Kircher, 2020). Following the
incident, “the site capped pay-per-view rates at $50 per photo or video, and tips can’t exceed
$100” (Zoledziowski, 2020b). In conjunction with this policy change, they also extended the
pay-out period which increases the amount of time it takes for creators to transfer funds into
their accounts (Zoledziowski, 2020b). Though OnlyFans states that there is no connection
between these policy shifts and Thorne joining, many creators on the platform find it difficult
to believe given the timing. From their perspective, their income is now being hampered
because of the actions of a celebrity who did not need to use the platform in the first place.
While Thorne will continue to have other opportunities to make money, many sex workers
do not have the same luxury.
Furthermore, it should be noted that, despite the incident, Thorne’s account is still
active. One must consider the possibility that she and other celebrities using the platform
may be getting special treatment due to their celebrity status. For example, adult creator Allie
Awesome described how her account was permanently deactivated for a customer
demanding a chargeback. OnlyFans was unresponsive to her request to have her account
reinstated until she contacted the president of the Adult Performers Actors’ Guild and began
publicly tweeting about her situation. After sharing her story, she received messages from
dozens of adult performers claiming that OnlyFans deactivated their accounts for the same
reason (Dickson, 2020a). This claim that celebrities are receiving special treatment is
speculation since OnlyFans has not been public about the amount of money that was
refunded in the Bella Thorne incident, but one can assume that there were more chargebacks
relating to her multimillion-dollar debut on the platform compared to lesser-known adult
creators on the platform. For this reason, it is hard not to conclude that celebrities are being
given more leeway despite violating the same policies. The double standard may be related to
 36

OnlyFans’ emphasis on being a social media platform, and their attempt to rebrand
themselves as a place for celebrities and influencers rather than sex workers.

A “SOCIAL MEDIA” PLATFORM?

Despite often being called the oldest profession in the world, sex work remains a
taboo topic. Many people look down on it and the people who enter it as a profession, and
some will go as far as to dismiss it as a job entirely. Due to the stigma around sex work, there
were not many large, mainstream companies in this field until OnlyFans came about. The
website, however, seems wary to label themselves as a company which profits off of sex
work. The website does not deny that sex workers use their platform, but they advertise
themselves as a social media platform where influencers can monetize their content for fans
willing to pay a premium. Their Twitter biography emphasizes that they are “revolutionizing
creator and fan relationships” and when a person views their banner, they are greeted with a
collage of reality television stars, famous drag queens, musicians, actors. Allie Awesome, an
adult creator on the platform, describes the website’s choice to exclude the mention of sexual
content from their marketing: “In their advertising, they focus on chefs, for example, or yoga
instructors [...] They never have, say, a porn star” (Dickson, 2020a). From the way the
platform markets themselves a person would assume it was a website for celebrities to make
an extra buck off their fans, but when the average person is asked what OnlyFans is for, they
give a very clear and concise answer: porn. This is not a case of mistaken identity or the
general public being misinformed; OnlyFans built its fortune on sex workers. Its reputation is
reflected in the fact that TikTok censors, removes, and hides videos which mention OnlyFans
since it is considered to be adult content.
Now that the website is garnering more mainstream attention, more celebrities and
influencers are joining, and some of them are not posting adult content. It is however
important to emphasize that many of them are. Even if they are not sex workers or
identifying as such, many of the more mainstream creators have a following because they are
posting sexual content. Granted, it may not be as explicit as what some sex workers are
posting but it is adult content nonetheless. Even influencers who post safe-for-work content
use the website’s reputation as an adult platform to entice their followers by being vaguely
suggestive regarding the content they are posting (Aonso, 2020). To return to the Bella
 37

Thorne example, it is highly unlikely that she would have made millions within her first
week on the website if she had not told people she would be posting nude photographs. If
people are subscribing even to the accounts of mainstream celebrities for adult content, it
seems strange that the website is advertising themselves as if they are a normal social media
platform.
Even though the website is choosing to advertise themselves vaguely as a social
media platform, there are a few key differences which set it apart from other social media
platforms. The most notable is the monetary aspect. Most social media websites make their
money off advertisements, not directly from the accounts themselves. Furthermore, unless
someone chooses to private their account, people can view them for free. Another layer that
is left out of the way OnlyFans markets themselves is the fact that they are a website
explicitly for adult customers to subscribe to adult creators. Other social media platforms like
Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok only require a minimum age of 13 years old to create an
account. Similarly, Patreon, which is another website in which fans can monetarily support
creators through subscription tiers, does allow minors to be creators or subscribe to accounts
if they have written permission from a parent or guardian. Social media then, even in
monetizable forms, is generally open to teenagers. The last major difference is that nudity is
allowed on their platform. Though nudity can be found on other social media platforms like
Twitter, there are generally restrictions regarding its levels. For example, it is common for
websites to ban female nipples or genitalia. OnlyFans’ nudity policy, combined with the
monetization of content and age restriction makes it difficult to understand why OnlyFans
insists on being considered a social media platform, when it is so different from its
contemporaries.
It is also important to recall the origins of this site. As previously mentioned, CEO
Tim Stokely was inspired to make OnlyFans from his previous endeavors: GlamWorship and
Custom4U, both of which were for sex work. Again, although OnlyFans is not explicitly for
sex work in the same way as his previous work, it is difficult to believe that Stokely did not
envision it being used for sex work due to his history and the website’s nudity policies. In
recent months, some creators fear that the nudity policies which helped put the website on the
map may eventually become more restrictive or possibly even go away altogether.
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PUSHING SEX WORKERS OUT?

Recently, there are signs that sex workers may be pushed off the platform despite
being integral to its success. Since OnlyFans does not publicly state which types of creators
bring in the most revenue, this claim cannot be proven. However, aside from the public’s
association with OnlyFans as a website for pornography there are some notable ways in
which sex workers have grown the platform. One example is the referral system. It is not
unheard of for gig economy platforms to give referral bonuses, but OnlyFans was unique
because instead of receiving a one-time fee, the creator who referred another received 5% of
the other person’s income for their entire time on the platform. The 5% cut came from
OnlyFans’ 20%, so new creators were not losing income through the referral program.
Recruiting new creators became a major incentive among sex workers, some of whom made
thousands by referring people to the website. Adult creator Arron Lowe describes how
intricate the referral process was among the sex worker community and agents; it involved
“courting new creators and investing in them to get their careers going, by organizing
professional photo shoots, hiring people to manage their content, paying for flights and hotels
and boosting their OnlyFans profiles” (as cited in Cole, 2020b). He went on to say that “The
referral system is the only reason OnlyFans became a household name and, without it, there
wouldn't be an OnlyFans” (as cited in Cole, 2020b).
Much to the dismay of many sex workers, the website changed their referral policy in
May 2020 (Cole, 2020b), likely because the website’s newfound popularity since the start of
the coronavirus pandemic no longer requires OnlyFans to forfeit 5% of their income to gain
new creators. Now, creators will only receive their 5% referral bonus for the other creator’s
first year on the platform or until the new creator makes 1 million dollars. The new policy
also caps the amount of money a referrer can make at 50,000 dollars. Those who previously
referred people will only receive their 5% bonus for one more year following the policy
change. Lowe feels as if the policy change is yet another instance of sex workers being taken
advantage of (Cole, 2020b).
Lowe’s sentiments about OnlyFans not valuing the contributions made by sex
workers is echoed by other members of the community as well. Many feel disheartened by
the way that the website choses to portray itself versus why it is actually popular. Adult film
 39

actress Siri Dahl, who is one of the websites top earners, describes the difference very
plainly:
The platform was pretty much built by sex workers, popularized by sex workers,
yet OnlyFans has never truly openly acknowledged that this platform is serving
mostly sex workers and their fans [...] If you look at their corporate materials,
they all continue to present this image of safe-for-work-ness — that’s not even
what it’s known for. It’s this weird disconnect. (Maglio, 2020)
Despite many creators and the general public seemingly being on the same page
regarding their belief that the website is primarily for people to purchase adult content,
OnlyFans continues to try to present itself differently. By doing so, they have attracted many
big names on the platform like DJ Khaled and Real Housewives of New York City star Sonja
Morgan, who are not posting adult content. Dominatrix Mrs. Hell describes how the influx of
non-sex workers has changed the dynamics of the platform: “The top content creators on
there are no longer sex workers but celebrities/YouTubers”. Hell went on to say that she
worries the influx of celebrities and influencers will ultimately harm the income of sex
workers (Dickson, 2020a). Her concern is valid, considering that a combination of an
oversaturated market and the website’s promotion of mainstream celebrities will make it
even more difficult for smaller creators to get attention. One could imagine a scenario where
creators may cut their rates to stay competitive with other creators.
Another sign that sex workers may be gradually removed from the platform is
OnlyFans’ choice to advertise itself as a “safe-for-work” platform for celebrities. Some sex
workers report incidents of their accounts being deleted despite them not violating the
website’s terms and service. Rolling Stone magazine received emails from creators who had
their accounts deleted, and they reported that the “accounts are ‘typically being deleted due
to suspicious/fraudulent activity’ without specifying the activity in question” (Dickson,
2020a). After being informed of their account being removed, they are told by the website
that it is an automatic process they are not able to override. Alana Evans, the president of the
Adult Performers Actors’ Guild, has been in contact with over a hundred sex workers who
have lost their accounts in this way and expressed her belief that complaints from creators are
not being taken seriously by the company. Other sex workers reported having their accounts
deleted or being locked out of the accounts before being able to transfer their balances to
their bank accounts. Another issue with having accounts terminated is that many creators do
 40

not backup their content, so once their account is erased then all their work is gone as well.
Even if they could find another platform to migrate to, they would have to start from scratch
(Dickson, 2020a).
The suspension or removal of accounts is particularly difficult during the pandemic,
because many sex workers rely on OnlyFans as their only source of income. For example,
Noelle Flayer is a stripper who joined the platform because the shutdowns made it impossible
for her to work (Dickson, 2020a). For people like her, having their accounts removed, even
for a brief amount of time, can have severe economic consequences. There are instances
where accounts are reinstated after a creator petitions the website, but by the time that occurs
the damage has already been done. Dominatrix Katharina Amara detailed how even though
she was able to get her account back, she had lost all her subscribers as a result of her initial
termination. In response to the controversy around sex workers having their accounts
removed, OnlyFans stated that their “ progressive policies towards content creation enables
the success of adult content creators without discrimination. That is not going to change”
(Dickson, 2020a).
The question then arises: if OnlyFans has made their fortune off adult content, why
would they want to change their business structure? Would they not lose money by pivoting
from pornography to “safe-for work” content of celebrities and influencers? Some speculate
that it has to do with FOSTA-SESTA. OnlyFans does not allow creators to advertise escort
services, but the law does generally put restrictions on adult content (Dickson, 2020a). The
law was signed into law in April of 2018, two years after the website’s founding. In the year
that the law was passed, it is estimated that OnlyFans’ revenue amounted to 5.5 million
dollars, which is significantly less than their 2020 estimated revenue of 62 million dollars
(Hollands, 2020). In 2018 the website was not as well known, so it is unlikely that many
politicians were aware of it. As the company continues to grow, however, the more it will be
under government scrutiny. To avoid being targeted by FOSTA-SESTA, they may be
inclined to rebrand themselves as a website for celebrities and influencers and to no longer be
associated with sex work.
This would not be the first time a website changed their content because of FOSTA-
SESTA. Tumblr is a blogging website where people share a variety of content, ranging from
fandom discourse to political activism and, until late 2018, porn. It should be noted that at the
 41

time, the website came under fire for certain users posting child pornography. Tumblr did
remove that content and chose to go a step further by severely restricting nudity on the
platform. This is likely because under FOSTA-SESTA websites can “be held criminally and
civilly liable for the actions of their users” (Martineau, 2020). The ban was detrimental to sex
workers, who used Tumblr to “promote their paid content on other sites, interact with fellow
sex workers, and screen clients”. Following the policy change many sex workers (and non-
sex workers) chose to leave the website entirely since their content would be heavily
restricted (Martineau, 2020). The situations are not entirely comparable since Tumblr did
have the incident with child pornography prior to their policy change.
Patreon, however, has a much more similar model to OnlyFans and also restricted
their adult content over time. Their first major restrictions occurred prior to FOSTA-SESTA
in 2017, when they removed content depicting “bestiality, incest, sexual depiction of minors,
and suggestive sexual violence” (Cole, 2018). The next wave of restrictions came in mid-
2018, and the website explicitly cited the desire to be more agreeable to their payment
partners. Journalist Samantha Cole (2018) speculates “the pressure to turn sex workers away
comes from major banking networks.” Both changes resulted in many sex workers having to
leave the platform or being removed entirely (Cole, 2018). One could see how OnlyFans may
look at how other websites which feature adult content have been fined, faced pressure from
payment partners, or in more extreme cases removed entirely, and start to get concerned.
They went from being a small platform used primarily by sex workers to being a billion-
dollar company with some of the biggest names in entertainment on it. From a business
standpoint, it would be much safer to try to gradually weed out adult content and advertise
themselves as a place for fans to see extra content of their favorite celebrities. Whether this is
actually their intention or not is speculation at this point. However, by observing the way
they are advertising themselves and listening to the experiences of sex workers on the
platform, it does seem plausible that this may be the direction the website is going.
 42

CHAPTER 5

UNPAID LABOR AND EMOTIONAL LABOR

Creators on OnlyFans perform emotional labor and do a considerable amount of

unpaid work as well. Before explaining how these concepts are applicable to creators, the
first section will define these terms in the context of this research. The following two sections
will explain the emotional labor performed by creators when they are interacting with
subscribers, and as they deal with online and in-person backlash due to their affiliation with
sex work. The next section will explain the immense amount of unpaid labor involved in
maintaining a social media account. The chapter will conclude with an analysis of the
average earnings on OnlyFans, examining whether it is worth it for the average creator to
have an account when considering the large amount of emotional labor and unpaid work they
put into it.

DEFINING THE TERMS

Unpaid labor is a term used in Marxist literature on surplus value theory. It refers to
the “the difference between the value that living labor creates in production and value paid
by the capitalist to the worker in the form of wages” (Vygodsky, n.d.). In simpler terms,
workers produce two types of labor: paid and unpaid. The paid labor refers to the amount of
labor they are compensated for. The unpaid or surplus labor is any additional labor that a
worker is required to do for their job that they are not paid for. Marxists consider this a form
of exploitation since the capitalist class makes its profit off of underpaying the working class.
A very simplistic demonstration of this concept is how a factory worker who earns 10 cents
per pencil they create, and the company sells it for 1 dollar. After deducting the material and
transportation cost, the profit margin is the surplus value that is stripped from the laborer.
Since then, the term has evolved to encompass other forms of unpaid labor that goes beyond
the waged labor relationship. One of the most common is unpaid care work, which tends to
 43

affect women more than men. According to the OECD, “women across different regions,
socio-economic classes and cultures spend an important part of their day on meeting the
expectations of their domestic and reproductive roles [...] in addition to their paid activities,”
(Ferrant et al., 2014, p. 1). Even though this work is crucial to the wellbeing of others, it is
rarely viewed as work and women are expected to do it for free. According to their research,
the more unpaid care work women do the less likely they are to be unemployed. They also
noted that it can lead to women working in part-time jobs or jobs below their skill level as
well because of how much time and energy they have available (Ferrant et al., 2014, pp. 5-6).
Though Trotsky’s (1936) work predates the concept of unpaid care work, in his piece
“Thermidor in the Family” he acknowledges the burden women are placed under due to the
family structure. He advocates for services to limit the domestic responsibilities of women,
since he believes that in current society a “mother can successfully fulfill a social function
only on condition that she has in her service a white slave: nurse, servant, cook” (Trotsky,
1936).
Emotional labor is a term originated by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in her
book, The Managed Heart (1979) (Beck, 2018). Though the term has evolved to encompass
a broader set of ideas, it originally referred to the “managing one’s own emotions that was
required by certain professions” (Beck, 2018). For Hochschild, this involves the worker
experiencing some sort of stress, anxiety, or other emotional disturbance because of their job
(Beck, 2018). This ultimately leaves the worker feeling unhappy and alienated. Another
important point for Hochschild is that emotional labor is not exclusive to any gender, and the
goal should not be to distribute the feelings of alienation equally among genders, but rather to
address the issue itself (Beck, 2018). It should be noted however, that studies show that
women are more likely to perform emotional labor than men. A study done by the United
Nations found that women do an estimated 2.6 times more emotional labor than men (Scotti,
2018). Gemma Hartley, a journalist and author who writes about emotional labor describes
how this disparity negatively impacts women in their personal and professional lives:
at home and at work, women are expected to shoulder the bulk of this labor.
Women who are performing all of the ‘worry work’ at home are likely stretching
their mental capacity to the limit, which can hold them back from doing their best
work. In the workplace, the expectation for women to cushion their responses,
manage the emotions of their peers and make their workplace ‘pleasant’ can hold
 44

them back from doing the work that will help them get ahead. (as cited in
Wilding, 2018)
On OnlyFans, the distinction between paid and unpaid labor manifests in a very clear-cut
way. Conversely, the issue of emotional labor is much more complex and can take a
particularly ugly form because it is in the context of sex work.

SUBSCRIBER INTERACTIONS
OnlyFans creators perform a significant amount of emotional labor while interacting
with their subscribers. It is an unspoken rule that workers in the service industry perform two
jobs simultaneously: their actual job and keeping customers happy. In Western culture
especially, good customer service is expected even when clients are acting cruel or
unreasonable. Workers are forced to perform hospitality and tolerate verbal abuse, which can
take a toll on a worker’s emotional wellbeing. Psychology researcher Dr. David Wagner
explains that “In some countries there are no norms around faking positive displays [...] but
the norm in the U.S. tends to be service with a smile” (as cited in Almendrala, 2014). In his
research, he found that when workers are forced to perform positivity it negatively impacts
aspects of their health, like their sleep. Another psychologist, Dr. Doug Pugh, feels as if
service workers should be compensated for this labor and that “Good managers let
employees know when it is OK to break character and drop the positive demeanor” (as cited
in Almendrala, 2014). Customer service is a form of emotional labor from which sex workers
are not exempt, even on OnlyFans. It takes a different form since the interactions are
completely online, but creators on the platform report putting in a lot of effort to make their
subscribers feel as if they have a personal connection to them. Creator Dannii Harwood
explained how she knows the birthdays, names of children and pets, and “even when to call
after a surgical procedure” for her regular customers (as cited in Bernstein, 2019).
Other times, creators have to take on a more supportive role for their subscribers. For
example, creator Taylor Stephens described how since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic
she received an uptick in subscribers who wanted to engage in conversation and guessed that
it is because people are seeking comfort during challenging times. She went on to say that
she felt as if she and her fellow creators are like “online naked therapists” (Zoledziowski,
2020a). Creating the illusion of a close connection is emotionally taxing, especially
 45

considering how many subscribers some of these creators have. For example, creator Tommy
Rose describes feeling uncomfortable opening up about her personal life: “if you're a paying
customer, you pay to see my content; that's what you're there for. You're not there to get to
know me. My job is to know you. Signing up and getting to talk to me is just a plus” (Lord,
2019a).
Not wanting to open up to strangers is a natural reaction for many people, but
subscribers on OnlyFans seem to expect creators to reveal more intimate details about their
personal lives. Some of them are paying partially to bond with creators and in some
instances, they do not respect a creator’s boundaries. This can manifest in online harassment
and, in more extreme instances, in in-person harassment which will be discussed in more
detail later in this chapter. In a qualitative study done on male online sex workers by Dr. Paul
Anthony Ryan (2019), interviewees reported being “subject to abuse on Instagram when they
refused or ceased to interact with fans or when they were asked to pay for content.” One of
the more extreme instances resulted in a “fan” breaking into one of the participant’s hotel
rooms after he declined to meet with him in person (Ryan, 2019, pp. 113-114). These
examples demonstrate how OnlyFans creators perform a great deal of emotional labor when
interacting with their subscribers, and also face inappropriate behavior.

SOCIAL STIGMA
The other aspect of emotional labor that OnlyFans creators experience is the stress
they feel from the societal stigma against sex work. Previous forms of sex work did not
require laborers to be as public as they need to be to have an OnlyFans account. Strippers,
prostitutes, and escorts all work in person and if they did work through a website prior to the
passing of FOSTA-SESTA, a person had to seek the website out. Similarly, even though
some adult film stars do have public social media, it is not a requirement since many of them
work through studios. OnlyFans creators do not have the choice; if they want to have an
account, they must have some sort of public social media where they can promote it.
Otherwise, it will be virtually impossible to have any subscribers. For many sex workers who
have experience in the industry, they understand the risk of their occupation being public
knowledge and are willing to accept the consequences of that in their personal and
professional lives. In a town hall to educate people considering doing pornography, adult
 46

actress Asa Akira bluntly described the realities of being in the industry: “People will find
out [...] Your best friends and your worst enemies will all eventually find out that you’ve
done porn” (Steadman, 2020a).
For many who are entering the field for the first time through OnlyFans, the potential
hazards associated with the profession are not as apparent. Even though the website's
reputation as a place where people “sell their nudes,” much of society is still incredibly
judgmental of people who create any form of sexual content for profit. One incident that
demonstrates this point involved Kirsten Vaughn, a 24 year old Ford mechanic who became
an OnlyFans creator. Her coworkers discovered Vaughn’s account after she advertised it on
her Instagram, and they then began harassing her and watching her videos at work. When she
complained to management about the situation, she was fired. In audio recordings provided
by Vaughn, her managers expressed concern that her presence on the website could harm
their businesses’ reputation (Steadman, 2020a). Another incident involved Crystal Jackson, a
woman whose popular OnlyFans account was discovered by a group of mothers in her
community. Because of Jackson’s account, they wanted her children removed from the local
Catholic elementary school they attended. The group “sent anonymous envelopes including
her explicit content to the diocese and school principal” and as a result, she and her three
children are now banned from the school (Perlman, 2021). In an email she was told that
“Your apparent quest for high profile controversy in support of your adult website is in direct
conflict with what we hope to impart to our students” (Perlman, 2021). Jackson expressed
concern that because of the incident, she will be unable to find another Catholic school that
will accept her children (Perlman, 2021). In both instances, these women’s accounts directly
impacted their personal and professional lives. They were the subject of harassment and,
instead of the people who were targeting them being reprimanded, they were the ones
punished because of the stigma around sex work. For people like Vaughn and Jackson who
likely were not aware of the consequences of people in their personal circles finding their
accounts, the fallout leaves them feeling vulnerable, stressed, and even betrayed.
It should be noted that even for sex workers who know people in their personal lives
will become aware of their profession, online harassment still is emotionally taxing. No one
wants to be harassed and, by extension, have their family members harassed as well, but this
is an inherent part of the platform since social media engagement is a crucial component to
 47

maintaining an OnlyFans account. Unlike other people who face online harassment,
privatizing their social media or disabling comments may have a negative impact on their
income. They do have the option of blocking the people harassing them, but they still will see
their messages and comments in the process of doing so. Furthermore, the people harassing
them can also easily make alternative accounts and target them again if they are determined.
Generally, it is stressful for a person when they are a victim to online harassment, but sex
workers face additional challenges because of the social stigma around their work. Some
people who are against sex work are unsympathetic to their struggles, and even tell them they
are deserving of the harassment they receive due to the nature of their work. The constant
negativity is a difficult emotional burden to bear, and some sex workers begin to internalize
it. In the same study done by Dr. Paul Anthony Ryan (2019) three of the participants believed
they contributed to their own harassment, reflecting the “victim blaming culture so prevalent
in the wider sex industry” (p. 113).
Despite profiting off sexual content, OnlyFans provides no emotional and
psychological support for the people who are creating the content. Creators face the backlash
alone and cannot rely on the company to help them. One could argue that the platform is not
obligated to assist creators since the harassment occurs outside their website, but ethical
concerns remain. The website advertises itself as a social media platform where creators can
monetize themselves. Simultaneously, they benefit from the website’s raunchy reputation in
popular culture and the many adult creators on the platform. They reap the financial rewards
of hosting adult content without giving attention to the unique challenges these creators face.
After all, most people do not receive death and rape threats simply because of their line of
work (Friedman, 2021). They also are not obligated to inform new users of the potential risks
of making adult content, since that is technically not the purpose of their platform. This has
the potential to leave non-sex workers, or those who enter sex work for the first time through
OnlyFans, in a particularly vulnerable position since they may be less aware of the backlash
they might face. In addition to emotional labor, creators also perform a significant amount of
unpaid work to maintain their accounts.
 48

SOCIAL MEDIA
The biggest form of unpaid labor that is common on OnlyFans is the creators’ use of
social media. It is difficult to have an OnlyFans account without having a social media
presence and Tim Stoakley, the company’s CEO, even describes it as being integral for
people’s success on the platform: “Similar to the way that Uber enabled anyone to monetise
their own car, OnlyFans allows anyone to monetize their own content and following. Uber is
a bolt-on to your car, just as OnlyFans is a bolt-on to your existing social media” (as cited in
Lord, 2019a). For this reason, creators on the platform typically have a social media account
in which they promote their account. It can take the form of their own personal Instagram
account where their followers consist primarily of friends and acquaintances, or other public
social media platforms like Twitter or TikTok where they have a following. On the surface it
may seem as if creators are not putting too much time into their social media, but it is likely a
second job. Creators need to craft an appealing persona and develop an aesthetic to entice
people to want to subscribe to their accounts. They also need to thread a fine line between
safe-for-work and non-safe-for-work content since nudity is restricted on many social media
platforms. If they post something deemed too risqué, they run the risk of having their social
media account terminated, which leaves them with no way to promote their OnlyFans
account. Creators have to put all this work into social media because -- unlike other gig
economy platforms which assign their workers tasks or give them tasks to choose from --
OnlyFans creators have to put a great deal of effort into finding their own clients. The
process of finding and maintaining subscribers takes up a lot of time, with some sex workers
saying they spend 21 hours a week on average to maintain their accounts. During this time,
they upload their own content, check other users’ content, and interact with fans (Ryan, 2019,
p. 108). There is no compensation for this work, but it is an unofficial requirement in order to
be successful.
Being on social media involves emotional labor. People do not show their true selves
on social media; they are curating a specific image of how they would like others to see
them. For the average person, their social media persona exists to impress old high school
classmates, but it is different for OnlyFans creators, because they are commodifying
themselves to appeal to potential subscribers. One sex worker explained how “his photos
communicate a persona to potential clients that doesn’t reflect his own desires and intimate
 49

needs” (Ryan, 2019, p. 68). Someone like me may spend thirty minutes on an online persona
as they decide which selfie to post to private Instagram accounts. Creators, on the other hand,
must live in their personas for hours a day on public platforms, posting daily content and
interacting with fans. Once they are done with that, they then have to continue living their
second identity as they create content for OnlyFans. One can imagine how exhausting it must
be for creators to perform an idealized version of themselves, especially when their income is
dependent on how appealing that version of themselves is to strangers on the internet.
It should be noted that OnlyFans directly benefits from the social media prerequisite.
When a person promotes their own account, they are driving traffic to the website as well.
Whether it is intentional or not, OnlyFans has created a system where they get free promotion
whenever an employee advertises their account. This free promotion is the way a majority of
people became familiar with the platform prior to its explosion into the pop culture scene in
early 2020. The creator does not receive any additional money for bringing new users to the
website, since the referral bonus is limited to a creator referring another creator to join the
platform, not a subscriber.

THE PAYOUT
It is clear that OnlyFans creators perform a lot of unpaid labor, which manifests both
physically and emotionally. But what about the labor they are being paid for? In other words,
do their earnings from the platform compensate them appropriately for the additional work
imposed upon them? It is difficult to say because individuals have their own measurement of
what their labor is worth, but there is data which suggests that the average earnings for
creators is much less than the public thinks they are.
OnlyFans has not officially released any information regarding the income of
creators, but data is available from Thomas Hollands, who used programs to scrape the
website. Hollands initially asked OnlyFans directly for their data but they declined his
request. For this reason, there are some caveats to his findings. The first is that these are the
earnings for all people who create content on the platform, not just adult content creators. It
also should be noted that data on tipping was not collected, but it is reasonable to assume that
creators earning $136 per month income are not being boosted significantly by tips. It is
more likely that the top creators are the ones who are receiving and benefiting most from the
 50

tipping system. Another limitation is that not all creators publicly disclose the amount of
subscribers they had, so Hollands estimated using the amount of likes and comments on their
pages. In his opinion, this has led to an underestimation of subscribers: “Jem Wolfe has over
12,000 fans, but this number isn’t publicly available on her page. In contrast, she only has
6920 likes per post” (Hollands, 2020). The last drawback of this data is that some creators
had more than one subscription price (many creators give discounts for people who pay for
several months in advance), so he aired on the side of caution and used the website’s
minimum $4.99 subscription fee for these creators.
All that being said, Hollands’ (2020) data shows that the top creators make roughly
$100,000 a month while the median monthly income for creators is $180. A further
breakdown shows that the top 10% of accounts make 73% of the money and 1% of accounts
make 33% of the money. This leaves the remaining 90% of creators with 27% of all the
money earned on the website. The author went on to say that the “median take-home revenue
is $136 per month”, which is the equivalent of a person working nine hours per month at a
rate of 15 dollars (Hollands, 2020).
This data is consistent with the story of two women who joined OnlyFans during the
Coronavirus pandemic. Savannah Benavidez, a mother in her 20s, has earned $64,000
between the period of July 2020 to January 2021 (Friedman, 2021). Benavidez says she has
earned more on OnlyFans than any other job she has had. On the other end of the spectrum,
Lexi Eixenberger who made her account in November 2020 has only made $500 dollars
since January 2021 (Friedman, 2021). Looking at the data, it seems as if,
for every person like Ms. Benavidez, who is able to use OnlyFans as her primary
source of income, there are dozens more, like Ms. Eixenberger, who hope for a
windfall and end up with little more than a few hundred dollars and worries that
the photos will hinder their ability to get a job in the future. (Friedman, 2021)
The available data and anecdotes like these suggest that the time and effort creators invest
into maintaining their accounts, in addition to the emotional labor they exert, is not
proportional to the earnings they are receiving.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
This chapter has detailed the amount of unpaid and emotional labors creators perform
on OnlyFans. Interacting with subscribers requires a great deal of emotional labor, since
 51

subscribers expect creators to maintain the illusion that there is a genuine, caring relationship
between them. This expectation, combined with the in person and online harassment some
creators experience, can lead to the work being emotionally taxing. Unpaid labor takes its
biggest form in social media promotion, due to the fact that creators need to promote their
accounts in order to gain subscribers and because OnlyFans directly benefits from the free
advertising for their platforms. Lastly, the data provided by Hollands (2020) suggests that
there is a disconnect between the earnings the public assumes creators make, and the
earnings they actually generate from the platform. Now that these issues have been
discussed, it is important to turn to the gig economy structure of OnlyFans to fully
understand creators’ experiences as laborers.
 52

CHAPTER 6

THE EFFECTS OF THE GIG ECONOMY ON

CREATORS

Chapter 4 detailed OnlyFans’ structure, and how it is less like a social media site than
a gig economy platform. The creators on the website are independent contractors using
OnlyFans to provide subscribers with paid content and in exchange for using their platform,
OnlyFans gets a cut. While the basic structure aligns closely with the gig economy structure,
there are also some major differences between it and other gig economy businesses. The
findings in this chapter indicate that the gig economy structure of the website and its
differences from other gig platforms affect creators’ autonomy, earnings, work-life balance,
and financial security. This chapter will begin with a brief summation of how the gig
economy emerged, and why more people turn to sex work (and more specifically platforms
like OnlyFans) to make a living. The next section will discuss how OnlyFans is structured
like other gig economy jobs and explore how that affects creators positively and negatively.
The latter sections will detail how it is different from other gig work. The design of website
and the fact that many creators are sex workers drastically shape their experiences.

CHANGING ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE

Like other gig economy workers, many people join OnlyFans because other jobs are
not available. Gig economy work is often discussed without the broader historical and
economic context from which it arose. There are three key moments in recent history which
shaped the world’s modern economic conditions: the decline of the industrial sector in the
1970s, the 1990s dot-com boom, and the 2008 financial crisis. In conjunction, these three
periods have led to an increased investment in technology and less job security for workers
(Srnicek, 2016, pp. 44-45). As a result, a large portion of the workforce which previously
would have held jobs in manufacturing have now begun to turn to digital platforms to earn a
 53

living. These economic changes coincided with shifts in government policy, which “boosted
organizational freedom at the expense of employees’ rights and protections” (Esbenshade &
Shifrin, 2019, p. 195). In order words, businesses are given more flexibility due to
deregulation, and that negatively impacts workers. An example of this is how in 1978
Congress established “a ‘safe harbor’ rule that allowed businesses to classify workers as
[independent contractors] for tax purposes if there was equal treatment for all similar
workers, consistent reporting, and a reasonable basis for the classification” (Esbenshade &
Shifrin, 2019, p. 195).
Historically for many people (especially women), sex work has also been a field they
turn to when they lack other financial options. In a meeting with a Scottish government
minister several people explained why they entered prostitution:
A single mother with several children explained that she got into sex work to
support her family; another woman said that, as an undocumented migrant, sex
work was one of the few jobs available to her; a third explained that when she
came out as trans and started her transition, she lost her mainstream job. A man
talked about the homophobia he had experienced in other workplaces. (Mac &
Smith, 2018)
All four of these people become sex workers in order to make money, and two of them
specifically stated that they were unable to find “mainstream jobs” due to aspects of their
identity. OnlyFans, the platform which has managed to bring the world’s oldest profession
into the digital age with the gig economy, attracts a similar crowd of people who either need
work or are unable to get work in other fields. Adeline Berry, a transgender woman and drag
artist who is a creator on OnlyFans, explained why others in her community may be attracted
to the platform: “If you are transgender and in a country where nobody will hire you, it’s a
job you can do without having to worry about the police arresting you or seizing your funds
or deporting you” (as cited in McMahon, 2019). More recently, the coronavirus pandemic
has also prompted many people to join the platform. Sex workers like Rapahel and Harper,
who worked in person, no longer could do so because of the pandemic needed a new source
of income. Many non-sex workers needed to find a new way to make money as well, since
29.4 million Americans were unemployed three months into the coronavirus pandemic,
which began in mid-March 2020. During this period, “OnlyFans has seen a 75% month on
month increase in signups since March and April, with an average of 200,000 users signing
 54

up every day” (López, 2020). The global nature of the pandemic has led to many people in
other countries turning to OnlyFans for income, as well. A British creator going by the name
Mark explains that he could not find any work after being fired from his job. He went on to
say that “It was through necessity, I needed an income. It wasn't because I wanted to just get
naked or post pictures of myself” (as cited in Jones, 2020). Generally, many people are
turning to the gig economy because they lack alternative employment options, and the
platforms they use can use people’s desperation to their benefit. Overall, gig economy work
has well-known benefits as well as liabilities. The following sections will discuss each in
turn.

BEING YOUR OWN BOSS

One of the major appeals of the gig economy is that workers are told that they can be
their own boss. The laborer decides which clients they serve, what hours they work, and
where they want to work; the combination of these three factors determines how much
money they make. Autonomy over one’s own labor is a luxury that sex workers do not
always get. Prostitutes, escorts, and strippers typically have a boss or work for a corporation.
The same is applicable in the adult film world where actors have contracts with particular
studios. By contrast, through OnlyFans sex workers become the whole production team,
acting as the writer, producer, director, costumer, and star. Many creators choose to post solo
content, which eliminates the risk of them being sexually assaulted or pressured by an
outside party to perform sexual actions they are not truly comfortable with. Even creators
who choose to post content with other sex workers have a lot more freedom since they can
decide who they work with or how many people they work with, rather than being randomly
assigned a partner by their agency or boss. Creators also have full control over the type of
sexual acts they want to perform and the level of nudity they are comfortable with. The other
benefits are applicable as well since creators can do their work in any location and can
choose when and how active they want to be on the platform. All that being said, OnlyFans
creators are also subject to the many negatives associated with gig work.
 55

LIMITS TO AUTONOMY
Even though gig work is often presented as a way for people to gain more autonomy
over their work life, there are many societal and business factors which can drastically alter
their ability to work. A prime example is the influx of celebrities and influencers that has
greatly increased the number of creators on the platform. As discussed in an earlier chapter,
there has also been an increase in new people performing sex work because of pandemic-era
unemployment. The addition of these two groups has increased competition and makes it
harder for creators to stand out. A creator going by the name Lexi expressed that the influx of
new users has also led to customers wanting lower rates (Jones, 2020). These shifts mean that
creators, by no fault of their own, may need to take an income cut in order to remain
competitive. It is not hard to imagine other ways in which this oversaturation could affect
creators negatively. Some might feel pressured to lower their fees to remain competitive,
while others may feel the need to change their content in order to stand out more. The need to
make content more appealing might push them to perform certain sexual acts or levels of
nudity that they otherwise would not have been willing to do. It is true that they technically
would not be forced by any particular person, but the need to make a living may lead to
people crossing personal boundaries they previously did not want to cross. Another example
has to do with the website itself. Since creators are using OnlyFans, they must play by their
rules. When the website makes policy changes, like the cap on tips or altering the referral
program, creators can do nothing about it if they want to remain on the platform. Similarly, if
the website does decide to put an end to adult content at some point, creators who post sexual
content will have no recourse. These examples demonstrate that creators are only as free as
the website allows them to be; at any moment OnlyFans can decide that there is not a place
for them on their platform anymore.

EXPENSES
Creators also have expenses that are not reimbursed by the company but are required
for their work. Independent contractors often require certain tools to complete their work, the
most common being the internet and some sort of device to access it. Gig workers in the
delivery or transportation business have additional costs in the form of car maintenance. Like
other gig economy workers, OnlyFans creators need an internet connection and computer,
 56

but they may run into other expenses to create their content. Creators who cater to specific
fetishes may need certain props, and many invest in film and audio equipment in order to
produce higher quality content. The costs run even higher when creators collaborate with
others. British creator Alessa Savage gave a glimpse into what goes into a production
involving herself and two others: “I spent money on travel, renting the location, hiring film
cameras, photographers, lingerie, hair, nails, we had to get STI tested, which costs 400 quid a
pop” (Lord, 2019b). At times, the investments creators make significantly reduce their
profits. Creator Tommy Rose reported earning £1,500 a month from OnlyFans. Of that
money, one third was invested in “buying lingerie, paying camera operators, [and] getting
hairdressers” (Lord, 2019b). In certain months, Rose reported her earnings dipping to around
£500 because of all her expenses (Lord, 2019b). Not every creator is spending as much
money as Savage or Rose are, but it is important to be aware of the investments creators are
making in hopes they will be successful on the platform, especially when considering the
wide range of total earnings discussed in the previous section.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE
For gig laborers who work primarily from home like OnlyFans creators, it is difficult
to find a work-life balance because there is no clear distinction between their work and
leisure time. Workers being able to set their own hours is often heralded as one of the
benefits of gig work, but the lack of time constraints can also have its drawbacks. In an
industry where people are told the amount of money, they make is dependent on the amount
of work they are willing to put in, there is this constant pressure to be working, and any
leisure time can be interpreted as a waste of money. In an interview, creator Tommy Rose
struggled to recall the last time she had a day off and reported that she works 12 hours a day,
seven days a week. She went on to explain why she felt the need to work so often: “I always
feel like I can be doing better [...] and I always feel like, because the industry I'm in is so
fast-paced, if I stopped doing something, someone will take my place” (Lord, 2019a). This
interview took place in 2019 and Rose was already describing concerns that she could be
replaced. Since the website’s boom in 2020 one can only imagine how competitive OnlyFans
is now, and the amount of pressure creators must experience to keep their subscribers
engaged.
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The time commitment for creators is further complicated by social media. Creator
Dannii Harwood says she responds to around 100 direct messages a day, and states that
people being on their phones frequently is not uncommon: “Everyone’s always chatting to
friends on social media and taking selfies, or whatever. I'm just monetizing that” (as cited in
Lord, 2019a). The monetization aspect is the distinction and shows how for OnlyFans
creators even leisure activities become work obligations. Even if a creator is not filming
videos or taking photos, they likely always have their phone with them, like most people do
nowadays. The phone, however, is a connection to their work which further blurs the lines
between work and what is supposed to be their time off.
Another reason the work-life balance is difficult is that there is no physical distinction
between work and leisure space when creators work primarily from their home. In a study on
the pros and cons of working remotely, people listed their biggest struggle as “Unplugging
from work” (Molla, 2019). This makes sense on a psychological level because the physical
space a laborer occupies is the same regardless of whether they are working or not. This issue
becomes exacerbated for gig workers like OnlyFans creators since they also set their own
hours. It is easy to see how a creator could feel as if they are in limbo, and never really have
a clear time where their work is over. The inability to clock out is not the only thing creators
miss out when they are compared to workers outside of the gig economy.

LACK OF BENEFITS
OnlyFans, like other gig economy platforms, is able to take advantage of the
precarious positions of workers by denying them the benefits of traditional jobs. A person is
classified as an independent contractor “if the payer has the right to control or direct only the
result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done” (Internal Revenue
Service, 2020). Most gig economy workers, including creators on OnlyFans, are independent
contractors. Laws regarding employees and independent contractors vary from state to state,
but how a laborer is classified by their employer generally affects how they are treated. For
example, in California employees are entitled to overtime pay, meal breaks, rest breaks, and
minimum wage. Employers are also obligated to ensure their employees have safe working
conditions, provide workers compensation, pay unemployment, and allow them to take
medical or family leave. Independent contractors are entitled to none of these things, and are
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required to pay for their health insurance, purchase whatever equipment needed to complete
the work, and pay their own federal and state taxes. Independent contractors also “may not
benefit from California's extensive anti-discrimination laws” as well (Sirmabekian Law Firm,
2021). Other drawbacks to their status as independent contractors are that they are not
entitled to the minimum wage and paid sick leave (Esbenshade & Shifrin, 2019, p. 193). For
creators who rely on OnlyFans as their sole source of income, they are responsible for
finding their own medical insurance and investing in their future since they will not be able
to rely on social safety nets. Even those who have day jobs risk losing the job and benefits if
their management does not approve of them having an account.
Another benefit found in traditional jobs that is denied to gig economy workers is the
sense of community in a workplace. It is built into gig economy platforms that creators are
isolated from each other and may potentially view their fellow workers as competition. What
Chapter 7 will demonstrate is that despite this, sex workers on OnlyFans do have a strong
online community and often work together to promote each other’s accounts. While this is
good, ultimately their status as independent contractors makes it impossible for creators to
properly unionize and advocate for better treatment from the website as a collective.
Changing a laborer’s status from employee to independent contractor has historically been a
tactic used by companies to weaken unions. For example, in the 1970s following a Yellow
Cab strike in San Diego which led to their original holding company declaring bankruptcy,
the new owners “reopened with a regime of mostly ICs and only a small contingent of
employees” (Esbenshade & Shifrin, 2019, p. 197). Thus, even though adult content creators
do have a strong bond, what they can do is limited because they are classified as independent
contractors.

EARNINGS
The last drawback of the gig economy is the earnings. As previously mentioned, gig
workers are not entitled to minimum wage and are often told that their earnings are
determined by how much work they are willing to put in. However, studies of the average
earnings of gig economy workers show that many do not earn a livable wage. One analysis of
gig earnings was done by looking at tens of thousands of loan applicants who worked on gig
platforms like DoorDash, Lyft, TaskRabbit, and AirBnB over the course of 2 years. The
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earnings varied among platforms, but on average it was determined that “84% of all gig
economy workers make less than $500 per month” (Yates, 2020). This finding aligns with
the data provided by Hollands in Chapter 5, since the average OnlyFans creators’ income
from the website is well below $500. The low-income gig workers earn on these platforms is
often dismissed by people who say that “many workers engage in gig work on only a part-
time basis, to supplement other income” (Steward, 2020). As evidenced by how many people
turned to OnlyFans due to unemployment during the pandemic however, gig work is
becoming the primary source of income for many people, so its low earnings and lack of
benefits for workers should be a point of concern.
Overall, although the gig economy is often presented to laborers as an alternative to
traditional 9 to 5 jobs, they are still subject to many of the same issues others experience due
to capitalism. In a way, one could argue that gig economy workers are impacted more
negatively than traditional workers because the “be your own boss” mentality shifts the
responsibility of success onto the worker when many aspects of their earnings are completely
out of their control. In these ways, OnlyFans work shares commonalities with other gig
economy work. However, it differs in other ways, and creators on the platform face many
additional challenges that other gig workers do not.

FINDING SUBSCRIBERS
Online interview accounts of OnlyFans creators suggest that earning money is more
difficult than for gig workers on other platforms. Typically, gig workers are either assigned
clients by the platform they work on or are provided a list of clients they can pick from.
OnlyFans is different because creators are responsible for finding their own customers.
People with substantial preexisting social media presences may be able to convince their
followers to subscribe to their OnlyFans, but for those who do not, the task of gaining
subscribers is much more challenging. Elle Morocco, who was laid off due to the
Coronavirus Pandemic, joined the website in November. With no social media prior to
making her account, she encourages each person who likes or comments on her photos to
subscribe to her account. She describes it as “a full-time job on top of your full-time job
looking for work,” and says that despite spending eight hours a day “creating, posting and
promoting her content” she only made 250 dollars during her two months on the website
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(Friedman, 2021). This account demonstrates that even if a creator puts in a lot of effort into
attracting customers, they are not guaranteed customers or income. Another level of
uncertainty is centered around the fact that people can unsubscribe to a creator's account.
Earning a subscriber does not guarantee they will continue paying for a creator’s content
forever, and the ability to retain subscribers becomes increasingly challenging when
considering how oversaturated the market is. Creator Tommy Rose reported that she would
likely lose ten subscribers if she did not post for a week (Lord, 2019a). Rose’s anecdote
demonstrates how earnings on the platform are not stable, and how creators may feel
pressure to be very active to avoid losing subscribers.
These factors make earnings from OnlyFans less consistent than other platforms.
There are people who are very successful and make headline news for the thousands of
dollars they make on OnlyFans, but they are the minority. With 90% of creators splitting
27% of all the money earned on the website, and the average person making $136 per month
through their subscriptions, a majority of people are not earning a significant amount of
money (Hollands, 2020). The extreme disparity in earnings is also unusual for other gig
economy platforms. As with any job, some people will earn more than others, but since other
gig work is based around tasks there is a limit to how much money someone can earn since
workers cannot perform an endless amount of them. By contrast, OnlyFans is subscription
based so workers have the potential to attract many subscribers. Without large pre-existing
platforms, however, most workers do not have the potential to do so. This is where the
website’s reputation and portrayal online becomes concerning. Many people join OnlyFans
thinking it is very easy to earn money on the platform, when most people make less than
minimum wage. The economic returns are very small, and for most people not even worth it
due to the societal stigma around sex work. If people in their personal and professional lives
find their accounts, it has the potential to be very damaging, and they will have little to show
for it economically.

PIRACY
OnlyFans creators run the risk of having their content stolen, which directly impacts
their livelihood. It was previously discussed that the piracy of pornography has led to
massive issues for adult actors, particularly regarding their pay rates being cut.
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Unfortunately, this problem also persists on OnlyFans. In a blog post, the website explicitly
states that it is against their terms for people to redistribute content that is not their own, and
if a creator sees that their content was pirated, they can contact the website to help have it
removed. Furthermore, the website has implemented preventive measures into the website
itself to discourage piracy. For example, by default they put watermarks on their creators’
content (Mascetti, 2019). They have an incentive to provide these services because having
their creators’ content pirated hurts them financially. If people can access the content for free,
the platform loses the cut they usually get from subscriptions. Despite their efforts, piracy is
still an issue. In February, “several new websites and forums [...] appeared, claiming to host
leaked content from OnlyFans” (Cole, 2020a). One of these websites had 300GB worth of
content from 120 creators. The website denied that there was a breach in their system, but
regardless of how it happened, creators had their content stolen from them and reposted for
free (Cole, 2020a). The content is stolen through a scraper tool, which “downloads whatever
videos and photos a user has access to” (Cole & Cox, 2020). This gives a single subscriber
the power to quickly download and reupload a creator’s content.
Some may wonder why someone who is paying for the content would be motivated to
do this. After all, if they are willing to pay for content themselves, why are they sharing it
with others for free? For some, their motivation seems to be rooted in a desire to harass and
dox models (Cole & Cox, 2020). The term dox refers to when a person’s private information
is spread online without their consent. Sadly, many people who look down on sex workers
dox them by spreading their images to family, friends, and even employers in an effort to
humiliate them and harm them in their professional lives. Another motivation, however, is
financial. On private messaging platforms like Discord, people are charging others to gain
access to the pirated content. They are able to do so by offering lower rates than the creators.
An example of rates from one Discord user are “one account for $7, five accounts for $25, or
10 accounts for $50” for access to all the content on a creator’s page (Cole & Cox, 2020).
One person involved in scraping even said that certain adult websites pay for pirated content,
and then claim that the content is theirs on their platforms (Cole & Cox, 2020). Even though
OnlyFans provides resources for creators who have their content stolen, this system of piracy
makes it difficult for them to file a takedown notice because they likely are unaware that their
content has been reposted on a different website. Similarly, for content being traded on
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servers like Discord, it seems nearly impossible for creators to receive any recourse because
it is an exchange between individuals not using a public platform.
Gig workers on other platforms do not have this issue because their product cannot be
stolen in the same way. No one can steal an Uber driver’s ride or a TaskRabbit employee’s
labor. Even other gig workers who create content do not experience this issue because they
are creating work for a specific client. If the end product is somehow stolen, the transaction
for the worker ends once the product is handed over and the client is the only one who really
suffers from having it stolen. For OnlyFans creators, however, stolen content equates to less
subscribers and tips, and that directly lowers their income.
Stolen content becomes even more damaging when considering the investments made
to create it. For example, the anecdote in the previous section where Alessa Savage reported
spending a large amount of money on a video involving her and two other creators was
reposted on PornHub without her permission. When she became aware of the situation, she
explained that she chose not to report it because “Even if Pornhub took it down, there’s
nothing you can do to stop the user re-uploading, you can’t steal that content back off them”
(Lord, 2019b). What Savage describes is the crux of the problem with piracy. Once the
content has been leaked, it is impossible to stop copies from being made and spread onto
other platforms or saved onto a person’s private hard drive. The piracy issue is reminiscent of
the problems faced by porn studios in the past, and the entertainment industry as a whole.
The main difference between pirating OnlyFans content versus a movie, however, is that a
creator on OnlyFans suffers more directly than a film studio. Film studios are big
corporations which can sustain the potential losses from piracy, as evident by the fact that
they are still around despite decades of piracy. A creator on OnlyFans does not have the same
security. For someone like Savage who may have invested thousands of dollars of her own
money into creating a single video, having people pirate it rather than pay her subscription
fee may eventually make it impossible for her to produce content if it happens frequently
enough. An analogy apt to demonstrate this point would be the following; instead of robbing
a bank itself, a thief demands money from the bank teller’s own wallet. Rather than stealing
from a corporation, people who pirate OnlyFans content are targeting individuals instead
who are less able to deal with the consequences of the theft. Another difference between
creators and studios is that while people generally pirate content because they cannot afford it
 63

or do not want to pay, people also pirate OnlyFans content because they do not respect the
people who make it.

LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE PROFESSION

OnlyFans creators suffer from people not considering their work as real work. Some
people may look down on certain gig workers since they are in the service labor industry, but
the class-based snobbery from others would not go as far as to dismiss the fact that they are
doing work. The same cannot be said about OnlyFans creators. When discussing sex work,
many people have negative views of it. People seem to think it is easy and requires little
effort. Sex workers on OnlyFans suffer from these assumptions as well, especially since the
website has garnered a reputation of being a place where people make thousands of dollars a
month just by selling nude selfies of themselves. In reality, many creators put a lot of money
into creating their content and have to do a great deal of unpaid labor outside the platform in
order to attract subscribers. In addition to not being aware of the immense amount of work it
takes to manage an account people are also dismissive of people using the platform because
it is a form of sex work.
A combination of these factors results in some cruel behavior towards these creators.
As previously mentioned, many are harassed online and, for some, the persecution follows
them in person when their family, friends, and employers are contacted by these people to
embarrass them or cause trouble in their professional lives. The devaluation of sex work is
also used to justify pirating the content of creators. Kat Revenga, the vice president of a
platform like OnlyFans explains the issue: “There’s a social bias against sex workers that’s
made this more permissable [...] Those stealing the content feel that it’s their right to take it,
that the creators deserve the violation by virtue of the work they do” (as cited in Cole & Cox,
2020). In an interview with people who utilize the scraping technology used to pirate content,
their responses about how it affects creators ranged from apathy to spite. One expressed that
since the technology exists, the creators can only try to get DMCA protection for their
content. A different person critiques creators for joining the adult entertainment industry:
Before you decide to put your face on the adult side of the internet where your
main audience is lonely men, you’ll need to consider the fact that people are
actively scraping your content to build a database of faces so they can cross-
reference images on other social media sites. (Cole & Cox, 2020)
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The commonality between both these statements is that they both blame the creators, rather
than the people stealing their content. These comments belie some hypocrisy among people
who pirate OnlyFans content: while they clearly enjoy the content enough to go to the trouble
of stealing it, they refuse to support the creators whose hard work goes into making it.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
In conclusion, Chapter 6 finds that the gig economy structure of OnlyFans hurts
creators in a range of ways. They share the struggles of other gig workers who are denied
worker protection, cannot unionize, and struggle to find leisure time. They also fall victim to
“hustle culture” since they are told they are their own boss, even though factors outside their
control like policy changes affect their earnings. There are also additional factors that hurt
these creators, such as piracy, the social stigma around sex work, and their need to find their
own customers. Up until this point, the analysis has been derived from online interviews. The
following chapter has a more nuanced discussion of the themes found in Chapters 3-6 based
on long-form interviews I conducted with creators.
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CHAPTER 7

THE INTERVIEWS

As touched upon in Chapter 3, part of my methods involved conducting interviews

with OnlyFans creators. After contacting more than a hundred individuals by Twitter, I spoke
with a total of six creators of different genders, ages, and time spent on the platform. The
goal of these interviews was to gain a better understanding of how sex workers are affected
by this new type of online in a gig economy structure in a more detailed way, since the
interviews I read online were not necessarily focused on labor and did not offer
confidentiality. Throughout my interviews, creators were able to express in detail the amount
of work they do both on the platform and outside of it, and how they are directly affected by
OnlyFans’ policies. The findings of Chapter 7 will demonstrate that even though the creators
differed in their individual characteristics, they shared some common experiences on
OnlyFans, and outside the platform. Most of these findings are present in my previous
chapters, but the words of these creators greatly enhance the analysis through these personal
anecdotes.

INTRODUCTIONS
Before detailing the insights from the interviews, let me briefly introduce each creator
I interviewed. I asked each creator their age, time on the platform, and if they identified as a
sex worker. In addition to that information, some offered more details about their life such as
their day jobs and if they are in the top percentage of creators on the platform (this is
information OnlyFans provides to them that many creators use while advertising their
account).
Kaz is an 18-year-old college student who has been on the platform for 7 months.
They are nonbinary, identify as a sex worker, and are in the top 7% of creators.
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Polly is 30 years old and has a day job. When I spoke with her, she was entering
her 3rd month on the platform. She identifies as a sex worker and is in the top 7%
of creators.
Mimi is 23 years old and has been on the platform for 3.5 months. She doesn’t
know if she’d consider herself a sex worker because she is new and thinks other
types of sex workers (like escorts or adult actors) may not consider her a part of
the community.
Ruby is 23 years old and is a content creator on other websites like Twitch. She
has had an account for 11 months, and does not identify as a sex worker because
she only posts lewd content, and has no nudity or sexual acts on her page.
Marsha is a 30-year-old graduate student who has been on the platform for 9
months. She does identify as a sex worker and is in the top 4% of creators.
Alesky is 23 years old and has a day job. He has been on the platform for 11
months and does identify as a sex worker.
The rest of this chapter will be divided thematically into common topics brought up during
the interviews.

THE PLATFORM
The creators I interviewed mentioned a variety of reasons they had joined the
OnlyFans platform. Polly described it as being part of her journey for sexual empowerment,
while Mimi thought it was safer than other forms of sex work like stripping or escorting. All
six creators mentioned that the platform was well-known and an accessible entry point for
sex work. This makes sense considering the few requirements needed to create an account.
There was even more variety in the aspects of OnlyFans that they said they disliked.
Mimi and Ruby had minimal complaints, with Mimi disliking $20 minimum for payouts and
Ruby wishing people were not able to send photos through the messaging feature. On the
other hand, Polly and Marsha had similar concerns. Both mentioned that the website itself
can be glitchy, and when those issues arise it can directly impact their earnings: “The website
can just crash for a couple hours so if people do try to tip you, pay you, that time is lost”
(Polly). Polly also felt as if the website is making minimal effort to address these issues and
compared the situation to other businesses:
It's like any shitty business owner at a restaurant or like a landlord. If they can get
away with just putting duct tape over something, then they would. They’re not
going to go out of their way to actually fix something because why would they
lose their margin money wise? It all comes down to the same kind of mental
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mindset of a business owner that doesn't really care about you until they're forced
to.
Marsha also had issues with the lack of a search feature and what kind of creators the
platform chooses to promote on their featured section. It is difficult to find creators since
there is no search bar, and their featured section only includes a handful of creators. Marsha
noted that the featured creators are “never sex workers ever, or very rarely. It seems like
OnlyFans is down to make money off of us, but they're not down to promote us in return
which is hard, but not surprising in the least, truthfully”. Given the lack of promotion,
creators must promote outside OnlyFans since there is no easy way for accounts to be
discovered within the website itself.
Alesky had more specific complaints due to the type of content he creates: “With
their most recent round of regulations they have basically banned whole broad categories of
content.” He went on to explain that he recently had 20 posts removed and was warned that
he could have his account deleted in 24 hours if he did not address additional posts they had
under review. He also described the policy changes as vague: “in general the language is so
ambiguous and their content restrictions that it's like ‘well I don't even know what is okay to
post because they could just deplatform me at any time!’.” Alesky’s concerns align with the
fears of creators in Chapter 4, regarding the possible removal of sex workers on the platform.
Restrictions targeted specifically towards adult content could act as an informal way of
pushing out sex workers.
In Chapter 4 it was discussed how policies like the new caps on earnings, the removal
of the referral system, and deactivating accounts due to charge backs were negatively
affecting sex workers. The online interviews also touched upon these themes. However,
when I spoke with the interviewees, they not only agreed about the policies hurting sex
workers, but they also added that these changes tended to impact sex workers more than
other types of creators on the platform. Ruby, for example, said that restrictions on both
OnlyFans and Patreon did not hurt her since she is not doing nude content. For other creators,
though, the policy changes do cause a lot of trouble. Polly described how the limits on
tipping severely cut how much sex workers earn: “For the first time in [sex workers’ lives
they] had like $10,000 coming in because there wasn't a cap on anything, and then [Bella
Thorne] fucks it up.” Marsha also mentioned that while she did not make money off referrals,
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she knows a lot of creators were impacted negatively by the recent cap on the bonuses.
Alesky explained that the website extending their cashout period to 14 days hurts survival
sex workers the most, since they often need money quickly to cover the basic necessities like
food.
There are other policy changes beyond the monetary ones that hurt sex workers more
than other types of creators. For example, the content restrictions targeted certain fetishes
like piss play and insertion pornography. Alesky mentioned that the frustrating part about
these changes is the vague language: “in general the language is so ambiguous in their
content restrictions that it's like, ‘well I don't even know what is okay to post because they
could just deplatform me at any time’ so that's more what the issue is.” His concern circles
back to the concern over sex workers possibly being removed from OnlyFans over time. By
keeping the language ambiguous creators may not even know they are violating the terms of
service and can have their content deleted, or in the worst possible situation, their account
can be removed entirely.
Another policy change that hurts sex workers is disallowing the use of links. Marsha
explained that it is common for sex workers to promote other members of their community
on their own pages to help each other gain new subscribers, but with the new policy they
have had to change their approach. She ended her thought by saying “it just feels like
[OnlyFans is] trying to push us out in many ways.” Only the website knows if they are
purposefully pursuing policies that negatively impact sex workers, but regardless of their
intention, the impact on these creators is very real. OnlyFans may say they support their sex
worker creators, but their actions do not show it.

EARNINGS
Chapter 5 discussed how earning money on OnlyFans requires a lot of emotional
labor and unpaid labor. It also analyzed the data provided by Thomas Hollands, who
illuminated that OnlyFans is not as lucrative as the general public thinks it is for the majority
of their creators. The creators I interviewed greatly enhanced my understanding of earnings
on the platform by not only discussing how much they make, but also how their income can
be unstable, the time spent making and promoting their content, and misconceptions people
have about how it is easy to make money on OnlyFans.
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There was a range of earnings among the people I interviewed. Ruby made the most,
averaging about £3,000- £4,000 a month (she is based in England) and Mimi, one of the
newer creators, was making $5 a month. Alesky made about $400-500 a month, and the rest
of the creators fell around the lower to mid $1,000 range. Overall, the earnings seem to
correspond with the wealth disparity on the platform in Hollands’ data from Chapter 5, with
even some creators ranked above the top 10% making under $2,000/month.
Marsha realized what being in the “top percentage” of creators really meant after
becoming a top creator herself:
I'm kind of like ‘if I’m in the top 4% and I'm only making $1,100 what do I have
to be making to be in the top 0.5% or something like that, you know? And you
can see it too because when people start promoting and they add their percentage
you get an idea of how much money they're actually making. They'll be like ‘oh
top 20%’ it's like, all right well you're making five times less than what I'm
making.
She went on to say that in her dating life many men assume she is rich because of her
OnlyFans, and Mimi also mentioned high earnings as being a misconception about
OnlyFans: “People think they're going to get rich quick. There's so much content out there
and you really have to try and set yourself apart.” Despite OnlyFans reputation in popular
culture, most creators are not earning enough to fully cover their expenses, and many do it as
a form of additional income rather than their primary source.
A common theme in the interviews regarding income is that there are many factors
which can lead it to fluctuate. For example, Kaz said that they tend to lose between 10-20
subscribers during lockdowns. Ruby mentioned how she tends to gain subscribers during
promotional sales and lose them when the sale ends. From Marsha’s perspective, OnlyFans
earnings are seasonal and often pick up during holidays like Christmas or Valentine’s Day,
and then dip after those big spending periods. Overall, these patterns can make OnlyFans
financially unstable as many reasons for fluctuation are completely out of a creators’ control.
The topic of pricing and sales came up too and while some of the creators mentioned
in passing that they do promotions, Polly was firmly against it. “I've never put my stuff on
sale. I don't, my subscription price is $9.99 [...] I don't have these sales, like $3 OnlyFans,
because I feel like the subscribers that you're recruiting are going to be low caliber. They're
not going to want to give me more money and we're here to make money.” She went on to
 70

say that the higher price point is a good way to filter out bad customers, and that she credits
the good experience she has had with her subscribers to the fact that they are willing to pay a
higher price in order to view her content. She believes that they respect sex workers more
because of it. Earlier in the interview Polly also discussed oversaturation, and how that has
impacted pricing: “Girls out of financial desperation are having really low subscription prices
[...] and they're bearing it all [...] I'm not going to judge them for it but [...] it's hard to tell
them if they show everything for like $5, why would you make more money?” The low
pricing really puts things into perspective regarding the median income for creators being
$180 (Hollands, 2020). Assuming these creators are making their money only off of
subscriptions and not tips, anyone charging $5 would have to recruit 36 subscribers just to
make $180, which is not an easy task for people without an existing social media presence.
Creators also went into detail about the time spent making content. Most of the
creators I spoke with said they post on their OnlyFans accounts daily and noted that it is a big
part of their lives. Ruby explained that while promotion and content creation does not take up
her whole day, it is still a time commitment: “I post every single day. I don't have days off
and I haven't had a day off since I started. I also post 13 photos a day. That's a lot for one
person to do.” Polly shared similar sentiments regarding the need to constantly be active in
order to do well on the platform:
There isn't financial security with OnlyFans. You kind of have to keep hustling to
keep that flow going, because when you get subscribers you also lose subscribers
just as quickly. Every month it's constant until you have high enough numbers,
until you have a good baseline, but it is a constant hustle.
When discussing the misconception about earnings on the platform, Alesky heavily
emphasized the time commitment. He explained that to be successful a person really needs to
spend a lot of time building their social media presence, and that he spends more time
promoting than making content. From his perspective, the large payouts only come easily to
those with established social media presences or who are already big names in the sex work
industry. The work needed to have a successful account can be exhausting, which is why
many creators quit after the three-month mark, according to Marsha. She described how in
her third month, the amount of work she was putting into her account became difficult for her
to maintain: “Like any job even if [...] you're your own boss if you put too much into it, it
becomes taxing.” This corresponds with society’s current emphasis on “hustle culture,” and
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the idea that any unproductive moment is money lost. This mentality becomes particularly
taxing for gig workers because, as Marsha says, they’re technically their own boss. Her
sentiment ties back to the claims made in Chapter 6 regarding the difficulties other gig
workers have with maintaining a work-life balance; when a person is their own boss there is
even more pressure to work since the platforms they use act as if their own efforts are the
only thing in the way between them and profits. Combine that with the fact that a lot of their
work revolves around social media promotion and subscriber interaction: it is difficult to
draw the line between work and leisure.

ACCOUNT PROMOTION
To have a successful OnlyFans account, creators must promote on various social
media platforms. Overall, their general experiences seem to coincide with the comments
made by other creators in previous chapters regarding how big of a time commitment
promotion can be, but they gave additional insights into how they are affected by censorship
on websites they promote on. Across the board, Twitter was the most popular platform for
promotion, in terms of pulling in the most subscribers and for their lax policies on adult
content. Other places of promotion included Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok, but these places
could be challenging due to censorship. All creators described how they had to get creative to
maintain a presence on these platforms and not be removed or shadowbanned (a term which
refers to when a creator can post, but the algorithm buries the content from being seen widely
across on the platform). Ruby stated that on TikTok “You can’t even mention OnlyFans
without them taking videos down anymore.” Kaz also faced challenges on TikTok, and had
to abandon an account that had 93,000 followers after being banned from going Live on the
platform. Kaz also mentioned not being able to put their OnlyFans account on their Linktree
(a website that allows people to post links on other platforms they’re active on) in their
TikTok bio because it’ll be flagged by the app.
Creators faced problems on other platforms too. Mimi explained how there are photos
that she can post on Twitter but that will be removed on Instagram for either nudity or for
containing marijuana usage. Marsha also discussed that on some subreddits dedicated for
nude photos, people are barred from promoting their OnlyFans as well: “Anything that would
 72

lead to a financial transaction you would get banned to retain the authenticity of the
subreddit, which is stupid.”
Some creators even experience censorship on Twitter. Kaz described how there is
even censorship in Twitter group chats used by creators: “whenever they send their posts to
the group chat you put “c u” the letters just let them know that you saw it, and that you
interacted with it in some way. Now Twitter is doing this thing where if they see that in a
group chat, they'll start shadowbanning you.” Again, since their livelihood is dependent on
their ability to gain subscribers, being social media savvy is important.
The fact that these creators are able to promote their content even when they are
actively targeted by many platforms because they are in sex work is a testament to their
resilience and patience. Marsha said she feels as if many new creators are not aware of how
tedious the process is until they begin promoting themselves: “a lot of creators will create
one[account], think they're going to make tons of money, realize promoting is an absolute
bore, you know? Like not boring but like it's grunt work. Like you're literally doing it every
day, you have to be and some people just aren't cut out for it.”

ONLINE INTERACTIONS
We discussed interactions with both subscribers and people online who found their
promotion accounts as well. Creators generally spoke very positively of the interactions they
had with their subscribers, but there are instances where they have received messages that are
uncomfortable.
One common theme was subscribers trying to push past their boundaries. For
instance, Kaz explained how they once got a request to make a video in “little girl”
underwear, and then send that underwear to a customer: “Obviously some guys do buy
underwear, but I was not okay with the fact that he wanted specifically little girls’
underwear.” Polly also described a subscriber who solicited her for prostitution who she
ultimately contacted OnlyFans about to have removed because of his rude and aggressive
approach.
The boundary pushing was common for OnlyFans as well. Even though Ruby
explicitly states that she does not do nude content, she said that “I will get DMs of ‘oh I’ll
pay you this much money if you give me one nude,’ but all you need to do is read my bio [...]
 73

like you could give me all the money in the world, but I wouldn't do.” On Reddit, Marsha
told the story of how she got a request for necrophilia content:
[it] made me extremely uncomfortable because they did not have any tact going
about requesting this and it was not from somebody that was subscribed to me, it
was not from someone I had an established connection with. You could tell that
they were just messaging a bunch of creators asking for this request and not really
respecting how it might make someone feel to know that you would like to see
them dead as a way to be aroused.
Aside from these requests, creators also face a lot of harassment and belittling. The
general consensus was that in order to be a creator a person must have thick skin, and many
of them said the comments generally do not affect them. Polly described the toleration as a
sort of prerequisite for sex work: “unfortunately, with sex work there's a little bit of bullshit
that you got to put up with. The thing is how much bullshit are you willing to put up with.”
Some creators shared specific examples of the types of messages they receive online.
On Reddit, Marsha received messages like “how's your relationship with your father” or
“nobody wants to pay to see that” and was threatened by a TikTok user who said they would
hunt her down and assault her. Ruby said that she felt as if TikTok was where she received
the most hate: “[They say] I'm a slut, I'm a whore. Last time I checked I didn't sleep with
anyone else other than my partner since getting OnlyFans, so I don't know what they’re
talking about.” Alesky’s negative experiences partly come from his gender identity: “I've had
a lot of interactions that aren't even specifically related to the sex work but related to the fact
that I'm a trans sex worker. On the other side of that client interaction, I end up getting
people who misgender me.” For Kaz, it was some in their personal life who caused them
more grief than people online: “a lot of people that have known me since I was a kid and
know who I am started treating me differently, they started treating me less like a person and
more of a sexual object.” They went on to describe an anecdote:
One of my boyfriend's friends started sending around some of my stuff to a few
people that they knew. Not to insult me but to insult my boyfriend, which is on a
whole other level. Again, it kind of falls into how people treated me after I started
doing OnlyFans. The fact that he just saw me as something that he could just use
as a way to get back at one of his friends, just to make fun of was very
dehumanizing and insulting to me.
In general, the dehumanization of these creators seems to be a common trend. This point was
touched upon in Chapter 5 regarding how this form of sex work can be emotionally taxing,
 74

and the creators interviewed confirmed the experiences of harassment and dehumanization
through their nuanced stories about the different forms it can take.
Creators also reported being frustrated or annoyed with people contacting them over
social media in an attempt to get free interactions or content. Mimi described getting
messages where men would say they want to spoil her but have no intention of subscribing
and just want to waste her time. Polly has very firm boundaries with customers who act like
this:
You are frustrated that the only way that I get to interact with you is by you
paying me money? Yes, that’s literally in the fine print. There's no like ‘Oh, I
have a crush on you’. No, give me money or go away. I'm okay with being that
cutthroat because I refuse. The stakes are very high here.
This kind of behavior corresponds with the broader trend of the work done by sex workers
not being valued as real work, leading to some people to feel as if creators are obligated to
give them their time and effort without properly compensating them.
On a similar note, piracy was a big concern for these creators as well. Many of them
brought up that they are aware their content can be stolen or reposted and have seemingly
accepted the risk as being unavoidable. Kaz even mentioned a friend of theirs who not only
had her content stolen, but also had a person create a fake Instagram and OnlyFans with her
content to make money off it. As mentioned in the previous chapter, while piracy is a general
problem in society, it does hurt these creators more financially since they are individuals and
not studios. For some creators, piracy can also be stressful from an emotional standpoint
since not all their family and friends know they create adult content: “Obviously you
constantly have the fear that people are taking your content and spreading it, and that's kind
of emotionally taxing because for me. I don't want everyone else to see me in that way”
(Ruby). For people like Ruby, the emotional costs of having her content stolen may be higher
than the financial ones.

THE SEX WORK COMMUNITY

Contrary to what one might expect, given the gig economy structure that isolates
workers, almost every creator spoke positively about the online networks they have formed
with other sex workers. Many of them are active in groups on platforms like Twitter, Reddit,
and TikTok, where they primarily discuss ways to work together to promote each other's
 75

content. For example, Mimi described how a sex worker suggested they give each other free
subscriptions so they could like each other’s content. Kaz described a similar strategy with
sex workers sending each other their posts over a Twitter group chat and interacting with it
collectively. Some of the strategies are more intricate, with Marsha explaining how she is
involved in calendar groups where each day of the month a creator gets a free promotion on
all the other creators’ pages.
There are, however, certain topics that do not get discussed in these forums. For
example, Marsha explained how the amount of money and number of subscribers creators
have is almost never brought up:
I mean you'll ask each other questions like ‘Hey what would you charge for this?’
or like you're excited because you got like $100 tip or something you know it's in
that way, but you're never like “Hey how much are you making?” because it's just
a little faux pas. So, I think that you know a lot of ways, no one really knows
where the needle is or what they should be aspiring to [...] you don't know what
you should expect as a realistic return on your investment of your time, money,
and energy.
The secretive attitude around income can be challenging for creators, especially considering
the reputation OnlyFans has for being an easy way to make a lot of money. Because of this
misconception, one could speculate that some creators may feel inadequate with their
earnings, and thus less inclined to be honest about them out of embarrassment even if their
earnings are typical for the platform.
A topic that was not really explained in detail elsewhere in the thesis but was
discussed during my interviews was what sex workers thought about creators who create
sexual content without identifying as sex workers. I asked specifically about this, thinking it
was important since the recent influx of celebrities and influencers on the platform
mentioned in Chapter 3 seems to be blurring the lines of sex work. Of the four creators who
identified as sex workers, the opinion was split in the middle. Half of them felt as if they
were reaping the benefits without helping the community:
It is definitely very annoying because it makes sex work something for people to
profit off of without actually doing it or participating in it, or advocating for safe
places for sex workers, and it just once again like makes us a butt of a big joke.
(Kaz)
If I’m going to participate in an industry where I'm monetizing sex, that makes me
a sex worker, and if I'm not willing to stand in solidarity with them, then I'm no
 76

better than Bella Thorne honestly [...] I don't think it's right for people to sort of
culture vulture and cosplay in this industry if they aren't willing to own it.
(Marsha)
From Polly’s perspective, these sorts of creators may feel some shame about being
sex workers:
They're probably not really coming to terms with what they're doing, probably for
many reasons. I mean there's no hate right? Maybe you don't really want to admit
that you're doing that, maybe you’re a little ashamed by it.
She went onto describe an anecdote with a creator she knows who she does not believe
would identify as a sex worker:
Even though she is showing more than I'm showing, I don't think she would
because to her there's still like a shameful connection to it, which I don't blame
her for but I don't care what you say, it's still sex work.
Alesky shared Polly’s sentiments,
I was a little resistant to the idea of calling myself a sex worker but at the end of
the day, I mean yeah, you're selling porn. There's no shame in being a sex worker
it's the oldest profession in the world but a lot of people don't really want to like
acknowledge the fact that they're engaging in something that is taboo.
Overall, these creators point out how having other creators who perform sex work
without identifying as such is damaging to both the individual and the community at large.
On an individual level, by not identifying as a sex worker some of these creators may
experience shame regarding their work and likely are not as involved in sex work
communities which could potentially benefit them psychologically and financially. As for the
community as a whole, having creators doing sex work without identifying as sex workers
decreases the amount of people who are willing to fight and advocate for better treatment on
platforms like OnlyFans.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The responses of the creators aligned closely with the analysis chapters of my thesis.
The themes of emotional labor, unpaid labor, and the gig economy naturally arose and
fleshed out nuances of the issues discussed in online interviews. Based on their responses, it
is clear that harassment against sex workers online has been normalized since all creators
described it as being unavoidable. Furthermore, while they did express that they generally do
 77

not let negative comments affect them, many of them still mentioned specific instances that
were particularly uncomfortable or hurtful.
The interviewees lent particular insight into what types of unpaid labor goes into their
accounts, with the most extensive type being account promotion. The amount of work they
described putting into their social media does suggest that creators seemingly have two jobs:
one is to promote themselves on various platforms, and the other is to create content and
interact with subscribers on OnlyFans. Since the people I spoke with do not fall under the
category of influencer or celebrity, grinding on social media does seem like an important
aspect of the job for the average creator. As for the gig economy, it seems as if many creators
do struggle with work-life balance at times, as they described their work as a constant hustle.
Their earnings also appear to correspond with the data provided in Chapter 6, showing that,
despite popular belief, OnlyFans is not a platform where every creator makes tens of
thousands a month. For most of the creators I spoke with, OnlyFans primarily served as an
additional source of income rather than their primary source. My interviews also confirmed
the widespread concern with piracy and how it can lead to a loss of income or affect them
emotionally if their images are leaked to people in their personal lives.
There are additional insights I gained which were not present in the interviews I had
read online. For example, I learned about how skilled these creators are with social media
and the ways in which they work around algorithms to avoid having their content buried. I
also became more aware of how as a community, sex workers try to help each other succeed,
despite the ways the platform isolates them and pits them against each other as competitors. I
do not believe either of these topics were discussed in the online interviews because the focus
of those articles was not the sex work community as a whole. The creators I spoke with also
went into detail about the tricky issue of internet censorship on mainstream platforms. For
creators interviewed for online publications (who were not anonymous), they may be
concerned that speaking critically about social media platforms may get them in trouble, and
potentially cut them off from promoting their content. The topic of earnings was also
scarcely discussed online, and when it was, it most often referenced the small percentage of
creators who make large amounts of money. It is possible that earnings are not discussed in a
way that is more representative of reality because that is less exciting for the average person
 78

to read, or because online publications are reaching out to more popular creators on the
platform.
There are some parallels between themes in academic literature and the content of
these interviews. Though I did not ask directly about theories, some creators’ attitudes and
experiences did reflect them to an extent. Unsurprisingly, none of the creators held the anti-
porn feminist view, but there was a mix of the sexual revolution and feminist labor theory.
Some of them like Polly and Marsha did view their work as sexually empowering, but
ultimately all creators viewed OnlyFans primarily as an income source and expressed
frustration when people online did not treat it as a proper job. Furthermore, these creators
tended to be very cognizant of the fact that the labor of sex workers is often exploited for the
benefit of others (primarily OnlyFans). Some of their thoughts also parallel the work of
Kollontai mentioned in Chapter 2. Though her focus was on how women are dehumanized
and become an outlet for male sexual desires, this idea can be extended to sex workers of all
genders since subscribers are paying them to be sexually gratified. The sense some creators
had of being dehumanized as sexual objects, and the ownership people online feel over their
time and attention, reflects these sentiments. Rather than being viewed as a person, they are
turned into a series of sexual images and videos with the sole purpose of pleasing
subscribers. The payment for their image and time makes some subscribers feel as if they
have purchased the creator themselves, rather than viewing their content as a product sex
workers have produced for consumers.
Something in my interviews that goes against arguments in existing literatures is the
prominent online community for sex workers that became apparent in the stories of those I
interviewed. One of the critiques against the gig economy was that it typically isolates
workers from each other, which creates feelings of solitude and makes it difficult to unionize.
The fact that most creators I interviewed do participate in online groups with other creators is
promising. Though the focus of these groups is more on promotion and venting than political
action, there is potential for these groups to possibly work together to demand better
conditions on OnlyFans and mobilize politically as well. Those who identify as sex workers
have a community within which they could mobilize for sex workers’ rights more broadly.
The online groups could also potentially join the larger fight for labor rights and better
conditions for gig workers. The latter, however, is dependent on to what extent these creators
 79

identify as gig workers, something I did not ask. In general, since a strong sense of
community already exists among online sex workers, there are possibilities for mobilization;
time will tell whether they can be a force for change.
Overall, the interviews were helping towards achieving my ultimate goal of
understanding how sex workers are affected by this new type of online in a gig economy
structure. Since my interviews centered on labor and the challenges creators faced, the
interviewees were able to express in detail the work they do on OnlyFans and social media,
and how they are affected by OnlyFans’ policy changes. Although the creators generally
spoke about the platform positively, they still had frustrations with certain aspects of the
website. The interviews also gave me insight into how the gig economy structure of
OnlyFans does push many creators into participating in “hustle culture” and investing a lot of
time into the platform even though their financial success is not guaranteed.
 80

CHAPTER 8

CONCLUSION

This thesis has examined how the gig economy platform OnlyFans impacts sex
worker creators who earn income on that site. It has found that OnlyFans profits off the
exploited labor of creators and is inattentive to the challenges and hardships sex workers face
on their site. Creators assume the financial and social risk of entering sex work, while
OnlyFans becomes a billion-dollar company off their efforts. The policy changes they pursue
consistently hurt sex workers more than other creators, and they do little to provide sex
workers with psychological support or financial security. They also profit from the amount of
unpaid labor involved in creators’ use of social media to promote their OnlyFans.
This thesis also expands on existing literatures on labor by exploring this new form of
online sex work. It emphasized the ways in which creators’ labor is exploited either by the
website or through piracy, while also explaining how creators are dehumanized by some
consumers who view them as a sexual object deserving their abuse, ire, and harassment. It
also built off existing literature on the gig economy, and how OnlyFans creators suffer from
many of the same pitfalls such as the limits to their independence and lack of benefits.

THE FUTURE? DEPLATFORMING SEX WORKERS

Chapter 4 discussed the possibility of adult content being gradually removed from the
platform. As of 2021, this has not happened yet, but the passing of FOSTA-SESTA and the
reports of sex workers having their accounts removed without cause certainly make it a
possibility. If this does occur, sex workers are right to feel frustrated since it was their labor,
which took the form of creating content, promoting the website, and referring other creators
which built the platform. If sex workers are ultimately removed from the platform, it will be
upsetting, but not surprising. Many corporations do not view their employees as people, but
rather a source of labor to exploit; when they are no longer useful for that purpose, they have
 81

no qualms replacing them. This is especially true in the context of OnlyFans, which now has
an ever-growing base of creators. With over a million creators as of December 2020, it is
easy for the website to not value the experiences of their laborers since they are disposable on
an individual level (Shaw, 2020). The sex worker community in particular may be seen as
disposable in the future if the site’s pivot towards celebrities proves to be more profitable.
They may ultimately decide that is not worth the hassle of dealing with the government or
banking institutions who both are becoming increasingly critical of online platforms
associated with sex work.
While the general treatment of laborers is nothing new, it would be particularly
devasting for sex workers to lose this platform simply because, since the passing of FOSTA-
SESTA, there are simply not many websites where they can operate. It is true that there are
platforms like OnlyFans, but creators would have to build their subscribers from the
beginning, and there is no guarantee that their subscribers from OnlyFans would follow them
onto a new platform, especially since none of them have the mainstream reputation OnlyFans
has. The lack of options for sex workers also gives OnlyFans an immense amount of leverage
over them. With few alternatives that are as viable and popular, many of them have no choice
but to accept the abrupt policy changes which have historically worked against them. It also
makes it more difficult for them to advocate for beneficial changes on the platform since
their ability to work on the website is already in jeopardy and they may fear that complaining
will lead to their official removal.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Overall, OnlyFans is a difficult platform to analyze because it is a microcosm for
many broader issues. From a labor perspective, there are many ways in which the platform
takes advantage of its creators and ultimately gets away with not providing them with a safe
and stable work environment. Creators do not receive the minimal protections other
employees are entitled to, and also face harassment in person and online for their line of
work. Another important takeaway from this analysis is that there needs to be a societal
discussion regarding the lack of job opportunities for many women, members of the LGBT+
community, people of color, and poor people. How consensual sex work is should be
questioned for those who enter it because they have no other options. The exploitation of
 82

these creators is not a problem exclusive to OnlyFans, and instead exists within the system of
capitalism and the particularly exploitative nature of the gig economy. True liberation from
labor exploitation for these creators would require a restructuring of capitalism as a whole, as
well as the deconstruction of systemic discrimination which pushes some people to sex work
out of financial desperation. Attitudes towards sex work must also evolve. The
dehumanization of sex workers has normalized harassment against them and the piracy of
their content. None of these large-scale changes can happen overnight.
All that being said, there are some changes OnlyFans can make to at the very least
improve the conditions of sex workers on their platform. The most substantial of them should
be the acknowledgment of how crucial the sex work community has been in their financial
success. They should listen to their needs and not create policies that actively work against
them. As mentioned in Chapter 5, OnlyFans should also be more attentive to the
psychological wellbeing and safety of their creators since they bear the brunt of the societal
stigma around sex work. They could provide psychological resources and legal aid if online
harassment translates to real life stalking or abuse. Healthcare, retirement, and social security
should be considered for their creators as well. These recommendations are the bare
minimum of what is owed to sex workers for their contributions on their platform.
Lastly, given OnlyFans’ recent spike in popularity, there are many new, internet-
savvy members of the community that have the potential to fight for real change. The sex
work community predates OnlyFans, but because the platform puts online sex work into the
gig economy, creators occupy the dual identity as both sex worker and gig worker. If this
community is able to mobilize, they could change the current political and economic
landscape for sex workers and gig workers.
 83

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