PODCAST

OnlyFans is a subscription-based media platform that allows performers to provide content to their followers. Its popularity increased during the pandemic, with the number of viewers rising from 7.5 million to 85 million. OnlyFans creators retain 80% of their earnings, giving them more control compared to the traditional porn industry. However, there are concerns about the exploitation of vulnerable individuals and the potential for predators to target young users. OnlyFans has also faced piracy issues and a stigma surrounding sex work in the US. It is important for parents to be aware of the potential risks and to educate their children about the harmful effects of pornography. Imagine telling a Victorian child that there was a way to view and pay for spicy entertainment anonymously from anywhere and everywhere. Their immediate reaction was most likely to be passed out in fear for their lives, similar to the reaction for many people in today's society. Ever since the rise of internet content subscriptions, a moral panic has exploded for all members of our society today. Hi everyone, I'm Katie, and I'm here with my co-host, Rosie, back for another episode of Sex Busters, where we address certain myths, rumors, and trending topics regarding our world and sex. This week, we have an exclusive episode surrounding a certain uprising, however, you won't have to pay for it like you might on this platform, we promise there's no fee. Today we are going to be diving deep into the new-ish and growing platform that is OnlyFans. First off, what is OnlyFans? Unlike another website operated by the porn industry, OnlyFans is a subscription-based media platform which allows performers to provide content to their followers or fans. Rather than there being a boss in charge of certain channels or actors, those who participate in OnlyFans are their own bosses, receiving the money directly from their subscribers. I feel like this platform became popular during the pandemic when the world seemed to shut down. It's not only were we unable to hug each other, we all experienced some form of loneliness. Yeah, I mean think of all the ways that lives are drastically changed with COVID. Only to list a few, COVID changed the way we hold meetings, making it way more normal to have them online on Zoom, we have a new understanding on mental health and the causes and effects surrounding it, working from home is far more normalized than it used to be, and now doctors can schedule more frequent appointments via video call or telehealth. I for one remember COVID changing my whole routine, the way I completed my assignments and my overall relationships with everyone in my life, and the way I was viewing my relationships, I mean I wasn't even allowed to hug my own friends. Although neither of us are active subscribers of OnlyFans, with the help of our research team, we found some enticing articles that discuss the background of OnlyFans to help you, our listeners, understand how much this well-known platform has changed over the past four years. Today, Rosie and I will take some time addressing the sex panic that has been caused by the uprising in OnlyFans, specifically through the lens of the pandemic and young children, specifically young girls, throughout the U.S. A study from the International Journal of Economic Studies states that COVID-19 affected access to explicit sexual websites, given the confinement and social isolation, it is unsurprising that the number of visits to pornographic websites increased significantly. In 2021, while the world awaited a COVID-19 solution, the number of OnlyFans viewers increased from 7.5 million to 85 million. Wow! What a statistic that is! It makes sense how our social isolation has led to the world finding new ways to connect on the internet. I mean, let's just say that once again, an increase from 7.5 to 85 million viewers! What's even crazier is the way that these people were making connections. By paying a fee made by... but that's besides the point. When was the first time you heard about OnlyFans, Katie? Like everyone else, I was scrolling through my TikTok For You page in the spring of 2020, looking at cooking videos, whipped coffee, and nature cereal, when all of a sudden everyone owned websites for spicy content. Tana Mongeau and Trisha Paytas, in particular, stood out to me the most when they discussed their six-figure profits after only a few months of being on the platform. A recent survey puts the earnings of creators in simpler numbers. OnlyFans allows for their creators to retain 80% of their earnings, which is more than they would be making if they took part in a more standard form of the porn industry. Could you imagine how many people had to have been watching Tana Mongeau for her to profit six figures off of this industry? It's so interesting that this was so easily accessible to our 15-year-old selves. I remember the abrupt turnaround from DIYs to influencers urging their followers to click the link in their bio. Little did we know the rabbit hole that it would lead us to. I mean, think about it. OnlyFans users are using other social media platforms to promote what some may consider erotic content. You don't see anyone promoting PornHub on your TikTok For You page, but you will see some OnlyFans creators talk about their content and promote it. This is one of the many aspects that set it apart from other pornographic websites. What do we really think fueled this new uprising? Was it really COVID? Some form of a feminist movement? Let's get into the background first before anything else. That's a great question, Katie. I'm wondering the same myself. The good news is our wonderful research team took some time to dive deeper for us. In the article titled, In This Industry, You're No Longer Human, the author describes the experiences of those who take part in the porn industry and the experiences they obtain. The article states, Pornographers target marginalized women and girls who are more easily groomed, manipulated, controlled, silenced, and exploited. The woman's vulnerability and lack of bargaining power allow pornographers and porn buyers to breach their personal boundaries. In order to sustain themselves financially over time, many women are forced to produce content more frequently and content that contains greater levels of violence and humiliation. So one could say that OnlyFans could be a way for women specifically to take back the power of their own body and make their own choices? I mean, you could even say that allowing women to be their own producers for their own content gives them back the power that it seems feminists have always been fighting for. Let's look even closer at the article. The author continues, Pornographers defined as those who produce and disseminate pornography for economic gain, that is, pimps, are well aware that young girls are more vulnerable and thus easier to groom, recruit, control, and exploit. Moreover, the younger the woman, the higher the demand for her body. This age hierarchy means that young women's involvement in pornography translates into larger profits for pornographers. Now, with OnlyFans, women and young girls do not need pimps to enter this industry and are very able to control who and what they do and show. Exactly. This is bringing the panic surrounding OnlyFans to the forefront of everyone's brain as it becomes more and more accessible to partake in. I mean, anybody could join this platform. It's all about who chooses to watch it. The stories that these women were discussing in this article also showcased how pornographers would avoid certain legal aspects of the individual, withhold important contracts and information, and give the woman less autonomy over her decisions. With this right to do what they please, a platform like OnlyFans would be virtually far more appealing to workers. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what is making OnlyFans a sex panic in our everyday lives, let's take a look at some important statistics. Katie, read them out. All right, here we go. Participants' mean age was 37 and ranged between 18 and 74. 53.4% identified as male, 45.6% as female, 0.7% as non-binary or gender non-conforming, and 0.2% as transgender. 80.9% identified as heterosexual. 74.4% were white, 15.3% were black or African, 11.8% were Hispanic. The OnlyFans users in our sample were predominantly white and heterosexual. However, there were almost as many females as males, and only about half of the participants, 49.2%, were married. Another important statistic that we should acknowledge is about COVID. A recent study revealed that, quote, mainstream audiences then began regarding OnlyFans as a primarily erotic content platform, and the platform had a 75% increase in our user sign-ups in March and April of 2020. God, COVID really made us go crazy. A scholarly article discusses the business model of sex workers and how OnlyFans has created a new platform for business, commonly characterized by a stigma sex workers have been subjected to and viewed as victims of exploitation in the porn industry. Some are now arguing that OnlyFans is redefining the sex industry as a whole. Interestingly, OnlyFans allows the creators to set the price for their own services. These monthly subscriptions can range from $4.99 to $49.99, granting the fans access to photos, videos, and whatever else the creators choose to post. Although OnlyFans is a subscription-based platform, it still deals with large forms of piracy of content. This just goes to show how there is a large stigma around sex work in the U.S., given people aren't willing to pay for these services, even though they want to view them. A recent article titled, Defend Your Kids, talks about the sex panic surrounding OnlyFans. They state, quote, it's time to sit up and notice, end quote, calling toward all parents with children. The article continues and talks about the correlation between fans and predators. It states, quote, OnlyFans is the perfect place for traffickers and predators to find kids and then solicit sexual content from them, end quote. Exposing children to these platforms is basically setting them up for failure, according to this article. The solution, you may ask, quote, reject pornography and its harmful lives, avoid creating and posting sexual content of themselves or others, and resist the temptation to focus on likes and followers, end quote. They believe that the reason OnlyFans is so attractive to younger generations is because teenagers feel the need to gain a following on social media and give in to the culture around them. Some might even say that the main sex panic surrounding OnlyFans has to do with the, quote, reflection of broader social anxieties about sex and its commodification, end quote, or meaning the way that sex is such an uncomfortable topic to talk about. I mean, it's the reason that you and I and all of our listeners are here today. Rather than viewing sex as some act of crime, it's important that we keep an open conversation around it, hoping to promote safe sex for everyone. However, it is interesting to think about the false narrative that pornography provides for children. Bringing up what you said earlier, I think everyone can attest that the unrealistic standard produced on these types of media is confusing those who watch. I mean, just think about all of these kids watching these unrealistic, fantasized events and expecting it to be the same in the real world. One of the major panics around OnlyFans must be the continuation of these harmful stereotypes. Schools, parents, and even the adults in our lives want us to create meaningful and safe relationships. If teens and adults are watching these videos with an unrealistic lens, it could result in harmful expectations. It's horrifying, really. These false standards do nothing good for children. On the other hand, some are even arguing that OnlyFans may have some positives. Such as sexual improvement and expansion, improvements in sexual performance, expansion of sexual experiences, growth in confidence and self-esteem, improvements in relationships, improved communication, knowledge of partners, boundaries, intimacy, expansion and attraction to different types of people and body image. I think I could argue against every single one, but there are absolutely some people out there that believe OnlyFans is doing more good than harm. I also want to take our attention to a survey that our team found about OnlyFans. Researchers asked, quote, End quote. And on a scale of 1 to 7, 1 meaning they learned nothing new and 7 meaning they learned a lot, the mean was 4.68, implying that OnlyFans has allowed creators and subscribers to learn more about sexual health. Interesting statistic. I wonder how sex educators and teachers would feel about this. The author even continues to say, quote, End quote. So people are learning from this. The majority of people too. And I guess these would be things that wouldn't be included in normal sex education curriculums. Exactly. And so if the majority of people are learning from this, maybe we shouldn't be panicking as much as we are. Yeah, tell that to the parents whose children are paying $50 out of their credit card bills each month to watch these creators. This epidemic is so much bigger than a few people learning about sex, but it's also how it's affecting our children. Between unrealistic standards and expectations and the overall child exploitation that could be occurring, we must keep conversations like this open. When thinking about these panics, it is important to address that OnlyFans is more than just a platform where users and creators can participate in adult content. It demonstrates how connected technology is in our world. Rather than figuring out ways to ban these websites, we must be diligent educators for growing generations. You are so right, Rosie. We have to understand that we can't just ban these web pages because in some way they're always going to be around. In banning this website, another one would just be created a few months later. Our world is always evolving, and we must find ways to grow and adapt to it. We must also learn how we can live with them, essentially finding new ways that society can benefit from them. Well, folks, I think that's all you have to be offered today, closing out this week's episode about OnlyFans and the moral and sex panic surrounding it. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We look forward to chatting next week about comic books and the moral and sex panic surrounding them. Stay safe out there. Bye!