The subscription site is fast becoming the Patreon of porn, where sex workers are the ones in charge
It’s no secret that the British government hates wanking. Not only did the ruling party describe porn as a ‘source of harm’ in its manifesto, it also passed legislation (which will come into effect in April this year) enforcing mandatory age verification on any online content deemed pornographic. Gone are the days of simply ticking a ‘yes’ box – now, it’s likely users will need to provide bank details to get their dirty mitts on the good stuff. Things are no better Stateside either, with Trump’s FCC recently voting to kill net neutrality. This is just one of various recent announcements which threaten to make the Internet a shittier, more commercial, more censored space.
However, censorship breeds creativity. Lots of influencers have already been selling private Snapchat usernames dedicated to the kind of raunchy stuff that would get users banned on increasingly buttoned-up platforms like YouTube and Instagram (again, blame commercial sponsors and ‘monetisation’); elsewhere, Patreon had a reputation for being fairly sex worker-friendly which was recently destroyed by the controversial announcement of a crackdown on XXX content.
Cam sites like Chaturbate and Cam4 are also wildly popular, but they’re always live. An increasingly popular alternative, however, is OnlyFans, which operates a subscription model not unlike Patreon; users can sign up to become ‘fans’ of sex workers and porn creators, paying a regular monthly fee for a slow but steady influx of content. It’s worth noting that it’s a general site – fitness bloggers, wellness gurus and dieticians all share online space with porn stars – and the exact number of users is difficult to track down. Still, despite only launching in 2016, the site has inadvertently become an extremely useful tool for sex workers.
The app links up to Twitter, which displays numerous notifications for new subscribers, user tips and even subscription renewals. “OnlyFans makes itself known,” explains self-described ‘pro-domme’ Mistress Piper. “(The notifications are) almost like bragging – they will even go so far as to show how much a user is tipped.” Piper uses the platform to share live streams, photo sets – “anything I think people should be paying for,” she explains.
One benefit of OnlyFans is its interactivity. Creators can modify subscription fees as they see fit (although Piper points out that this automatically triggers all subscriptions to auto-expire) and fans can pay to private message the stars. Writer and OnlyFans content creator Kevin Symes describes this proximity to the porn-makers as one of the site’s key strengths: “(Creators) are opening up a different side of themselves to people who want to invest their time and money into them.”
Symes was similarly swayed by the notifications, and knew immediately that there was scope to make a side income from explicit selfies he enjoyed taking anyway. “Let’s face it, people aren’t going to subscribe to see my pasta bake recipe,” he jokes. “I’ve got a bubble butt – if people want to pay to see it, more power to them!”
While some creators simply use the site to share cheeky snaps and make some spare cash, professional sex workers can also use the platform to generate more income; sex workers like Australian Jenna Love, who prefaces her response by outlining that, although sex work is legal in her state, broadcasting porn is effectively illegal. “This is going to sound cliché,” she jokes, “but I honestly didn’t start using OnlyFans for the money! I’d love to be in porn, but the market here is small… I find the idea of people masturbating to my pictures and videos a real turn-on.” For Love, the subscriber model offers both a level of privacy and the ability to give fans a candid glimpse into her sex life. She says she wouldn’t have the time to script, film and direct her own porn scenes for one-off sale, so instead films herself with clients and her husband: “I’m able to quickly grab my phone, film myself or myself and others, and then upload the video. It’s certainly more amateur, and there’s absolutely a market for that.”
“When the people appearing in the porn are the ones in charge, and the ones profiting, it’s positive” – Jenna Love
In this sense, OnlyFans provides a modern screenshot of a voyeuristic culture facilitated by social media. We already share what we eat, where we go, and how we live – is it really such a stretch to imagine the exhibitionists among us all sharing how we fuck? Other models have experimented with the idea of “social sex” – MakeLoveNotPorn and Lustery are two stellar examples – and there are alternatives which are explicitly adult-friendly, such as iWantFanClub, but the raw, uncensored element of OnlyFans makes it particularly attractive. Love posts unedited footage from her iPhone alongside dog selfies in order to give subscribers a genuine glimpse into her life, whereas Symes posts selfies and short videos whilst also accepting tips for more explicit requests. In the past, porn stars were desirable because they were perfect; now, it’s their humanity which draws us in.
This is crucial, especially because porn’s history of exploitation and discrimination is well-documented: rape fantasies are still easy to stumble upon with no warning and could trigger an assault victim, whereas bullshit categories like ‘Ebony’ and ‘She-Male’ arguably enable fetishisation and exacerbate sexual discrimination. However, no industry is perfect; structural racism and institutional discrimination run rampant in basically every industry, yet the ongoing moral panic around sex means that porn often gets the most negative press. Here, it’s important to distinguish between autonomous sex workers and exploitative porn-makers. Why should consenting users making money from their body be punished for the crimes of a notoriously toxic industry?
If anything, the existence of sites like OnlyFans should be hailed as a minor victory. “I think, when the people appearing in the porn are the ones in charge, and the ones profiting, it’s positive,” explains Love. “Knowing whether or not that is the case is difficult, but I do think the most successful accounts are the ones with a level of authenticity.” It also allows her to supplement the income she makes as a sex worker: “It’s more of a hobby for me,” she says. “It fulfils my exhibitionist desires and brings in a bit of pocket money, and I’m happy with that.”
Symes echoes this sentiment, even going so far as to claim it could become “an inexpensive way of producing porn – and with regulations on porn becoming tighter, these alternative platforms are becoming a necessity for porn actors.” He’s right – this new, more intimate blueprint for sharing erotic content shatters the fourth wall which, in porn at least, breeds unrealistic beauty standards and often strips away all intimacy for the sake of a good cumshot.
Love also points one final, perhaps unexpected positive: “I do know that, because there are so many sex workers using OnlyFans, a lot of the content shows condom use, which is absolutely a positive. The more we can normalise condoms and see them in porn, the better.”
Sites like OnlyFans allow creators agency over their own orgasm, rooting out exploitative middlemen and funneling profit back into the hands of those whose bodies are on display. It’s porn, but it’s interactive – and if the endless Twitter notifications are anything to go by, plenty of us are more willing to buy into this model and splash out (pun intended) on self-filmed sex.
