You can tell a lot about a culture by how its people spend their free time and disposable income.
OnlyFans, an X-rated internet content site based in England, generated over seven billion dollars last year. With over 300 million users, more than 40% of which are believed to be based here in the United States, the company strives to provide its subscribers with all kinds of tawdry and pornographic content.
The site boasts 4.1 million “creators,” 84% of whom are female. Not surprisingly, 70% of the paying customers are male.
Last week, one “creator” filmed herself having sex with 1,000 men in a single day. The site eventually removed the video because they said they couldn’t prove if everyone involved was over the age of 18.
That same woman claims to be making over one million dollars a month on the site.
Friday’s Wall Street Journal features the sad tale of “celebrity women” cashing in on the perverted interest of voyeuristic men:
Today, the most lucrative way for many female celebrities to sell sex is OnlyFans. In theory, it is a content-neutral platform that enables any individual to sell subscriptions of any kind to fans, promising “creative ownership,” “inclusivity” and “freedom” to would-be “creators.”
Lily Allen, a British singer who had two platinum-selling albums in the 2000s, posted on X last year that she earned more money selling pictures of her feet on OnlyFans than from streams of her music on Spotify. Drea de Matteo, who won an Emmy for her role on The Sopranos in 2004, has said that she joined OnlyFans after acting work dried up and she faced foreclosure on her mortgage.
It could be argued that pornography is not new. The first publications of lewd material and images are said to date to Rome in the 1500s. The advent of photography in the early 1800s and then film in the early 1900s provided more opportunity to exploit and commodify human sexuality. The internet is yet one more, albeit supercharged, medium to make a mockery of God’s gift of sexuality .
It would be easy to chastise the women who are voluntarily exploiting themselves on OnlyFans or other similar sites. To be sure, a number of them are being exploited by others. But the main reason the women are engaging in this industry and forum is because there’s a market for it. Men are willing to pay, so women are willing to perform.
Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson was invited by President Ronald Reagan back in the 1980s to serve on the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography. It was a grueling and difficult assignment. He and his co-laborers spent several years identifying the wickedness of the industry and made substantive recommendations. They contended it was a “winnable war.” Congress enacted many of their proposals, but sadly, time and culture have erased many of the gains.
I’ll always remember what Dr. Dobson said to me once about pornography’s scourge. He once said, “You go into the house of every serial killer, and you’ll always find pornography. Always.” He wasn’t suggesting everyone who looks at porn becomes a mass murderer, but he was warning about the insidious and incremental nature of the sin.
Friday’s Wall Street Journal article concludes by quoting an Only Fans “creator” who recently told a documentary filmmaker that navigating the escalating, sometimes unnervingly depraved requests of “fans” is “like doing a deal with the Devil.” Another woman said, “I felt objectified by creepy men.”
Tragically, that’s the evil nature of the pornography industry. If you or someone you know is caught in its grasp, please know Focus on the Family has resources available to help you break free and be liberated from it.
Image from Shutterstock.