Julie Bindel Julie Bindel

Why is anyone still defending OnlyFans?

(Photo: Getty)

Starting in October, OnlyFans, which has 130 million users, two million contributors and billions in revenue will ban its creators from posting pornographic material on its site, which many sex workers use to sell explicit content. Nude photos and videos will still be permitted provided they are consistent with OnlyFans’ policy, the company has announced.

As soon as the announcement was made, the narrative quickly focused on how unfair and discriminatory this move was, with many saying that the victims of the ban would be ‘sex workers’. The BBC suggested the porn ban would be a ‘“kick in the teeth” for creators’. And one commentator argued, ‘OnlyFans grew off the back of sex workers, who found a safe haven in the platform to charge their fans for access to explicit photos and videos. Unfortunately, there remains a stigma in the world surrounding sex…’

OnlyFans is perceived as a safe, consequence-free way to sell sex and home-grown porn that ‘empowers’ women. But it is anything but. The content remains on the internet forever, and often women are publicly identified which hits them hard in later life. It also has an effect on male consumers: men are literally ordering exploitative sexual scenarios from women in order to fit their violent and abusive fantasies. To think that this can have little or no effect on men in the real world is as stupid as it is irresponsible. With many brothels closing down or going bust during the pandemic, it would be surprising if men with an eye on how to make money from exploiting young women didn’t turn their attention to OnlyFans instead.

Why has selling sex – either from behind a screen or in a hotel room – become so normalised?

But why has selling sex – either from behind a screen or in a hotel room – become so normalised? How did we get to the point where it is seen as regular work? Kim Kelly, author of the forthcoming book, Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labour argues that ‘OnlyFans would be nothing without the sex workers whose labour built it up into a major platform.

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