Young Women View OnlyFans as Cash Cow, Documentaries Suggest
Young women increasingly view “adult content creation” as a good way to make extra cash, two new documentaries on OnlyFans suggest.
OnlyFans is an online platform that allows adults to sell content — including pornographic photos and videos of themselves — directly to subscribers. Users flocked to the service during the pandemic. Today, it’s a cultural mainstay boasting more than 4 million content creators and 300 million subscribers.
Director Rock Jacobs examines the normalization of OnlyFans on college campuses in his upcoming documentary, Lonely Fans. While filming, Jacobs encountered teenagers proudly planning to join OnlyFans when they turned 18.
“There were girls that were coming out of high school that said, ‘Oh, what’s wrong with OnlyFans? We’re going to do that as soon as we turn 18,’” Jacobs told Fox Digital.
“[OnlyFans] has turned itself into something people want to do right out of school instead of picking a real career.”
OnlyFans lures young women with the promise of easy money; the platform’s highest earners (usually celebrities) can make millions a month. Mainstream, post-feminist narratives fuel the fantasy by characterizing “adult content creation” on OnlyFans as an entrepreneurial expression of women’s autonomy.
This perception of OnlyFans is pure fantasy. It doesn’t exist.
The vast majority of OnlyFans creators make between $24 and $200 a month. Celebrity and former OnlyFans creator Angela White says most women will show more skin to make more money.
White, who previously went as Blac Chyna, reportedly made $240 million on OnlyFans in 2021. TMZ interviewed her for its documentary The War Over Only Fans, which came out last month.
“[White] swears she knows the drill,” the outlet summarized her remarks.
“Plenty of women join the platform thinking sporting bikinis will do it, but before they know it, the [financial ambition] messes with their head, and they’re peeling off more and more.”
Proponents of OnlyFans as “empowering” argue the platform allows women to make money with their own bodies, on their own terms. But what power do women on OnlyFans exert, really?
“Adult content creation” requires women to hitch their livelihood to a rapidly depreciating asset—their physical beauty. They must turn their bodies into a product for mass consumption. Their livelihood hinges on the approval of faceless subscribers.
This daily continuum reinforces the insidious lie that women are only as valuable as they are attractive to men.
The truth is that women are inherently valuable because they are created in the image of God. They are His precious creations — not objects to be consumed. Accordingly, “adult content creation” on OnlyFans will never be a safe or empowering way for women to make money.
Parents must intentionally disciple their children against the influence of cultural phenomena like OnlyFans. Focus on the Family offers resources to help.
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San Francisco Erects Giant Statue of Naked Lady — for Female Empowerment
‘Naked-Dress’ Trend Doesn’t Empower Women
Public Nudity Isn’t Empowering
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