Barely a day goes by without tabloid publications spruiking a ‘good news’ story about some poor, oppressed woman or D-grade celebrity discovering financial salvation and female empowerment in the arms of OnlyFans.

Often presented as a form of ‘women’s liberation’, the reality is that social media is luring women into selling their bodies for the sexual gratification of men.

Prostitution, once considered to be the last resort of desperate women, has been glorified by the feminism of 2023. The increase across most social media platforms of racy content in exchange for ‘likes’ normalised the behaviour before explicit platforms came along to capitalise on a market of willing women… Corporate women, musicians, actresses, and the average mum were told they could ditch their clothes for a bunch of anonymous men online and liberate themselves from ‘work’.

While it is true that OnlyFans – and sites like it – can be used to provide any sort of content a creator chooses (such as fitness blogs), the real money is being made from pornographic (or NSFW) material. Indeed, ‘OnlyFans’ has become slang for ‘show us your tits’ on other platforms where users beg their favourite female celebrity to show them something more.

The point was tested when OnlyFans attempted to ban sexually explicit content in 2021 and had to give up when it became obvious there wouldn’t be much left of the site.

To be clear, women are perfectly entitled to engage in sex work and its variations, but it feels like a rather sad legacy for the feminist revolution. Weren’t women meant to flood the STEM fields and stand beside their male colleagues in the boardroom as ‘girl bosses’?

Hilariously, my browser threw up a quick warning that my ‘safe search is OFF!!!’ when I tried to Google how many male content creators are on OnlyFans (compared to women). The answer is yes, there are male content creators but no, the average Joe is not flocking to the site for cash. According to the Archives of Sexual Behaviour, OnlyFans users are mostly married (89.5 per cent), male (63.1 per cent), and hetrosexual (59 per cent).

As a gender, women have come full circle, positioning themselves back into the role of a two-dimensional fantasy that men drool over from behind their keyboards. While there is a never-ending line of young mothers claiming how wonderful all the extra cash has been for their family, you have to wonder what the end result of public sex work will be for their children in ten years when the youth spend most of their time online.

There will be repercussions for the women too, once their looks fade and they decide to seek other employment. Fancy being a politician or global leader? Not likely. Want to be a respected CEO? Good luck. It’s not that it couldn’t happen, it’s just that these women have given themselves a self-inflicted handicap in a difficult game.

Unlike private, closed-door prostitution, the internet is forever. Future employers and co-workers may stumble across the X-rated content, making working life very difficult and unpleasant for these women for the rest of their lives.

OnlyFans is perfect for professional sex workers, who understand the risks – but I do worry about the young women drawn to the promise of quick money. Many see it as an extension of their sexy swimwear Instagram photos and think, ‘Why not get paid for this?’ There is probably a certain amount of gratification to know that men are clawing at the ‘like’ button with their wallets (and trousers) open.

It’s a little perplexing how keen people are to throw money at OnlyFans subscription services when the internet is awash with free porn and music videos that barely scrape through the rating system, but OnlyFans continues to grow year-on-year, perhaps because of the intimacy of the ‘girlfriend vibe’ or because users can customise content via request. Content creators are certainly raking it in, with a professional rapper earning over $1 million in 6 hours in 2021. One creator is earning $20 million per year. During 2021, users spent over $4.8 billion.

Sex sells. It’s a universal constant.

The problem is, and always has been, that women can turn to sex work when they are feeling dis-empowered, financially distressed, or depressed. The pathway to sex work used to be confronting and difficult to pursue, but with online platforms a click away and positive stories saturating the tabloids, it has become depressingly easy for ordinary women to join the industry.

One woman featured in Insider.com spoke of her experience:

‘I started an OnlyFans page after my divorce as a way to cope with the financial struggles of single motherhood. After years as a stay-at-home mum, I was suddenly burdened with the job of supporting two children on my own.’

In the end, she was earning $4,000 a month. While not the dizzying heights of celebrities flashing their bodies in sexy lingerie, it’s not pocket money either. Despite acknowledging the risks, this mother pointed out the benefits of online work – including flexibility of ours (when raising kids).

‘I kept this part of my life a secret from everyone, especially my children. I told myself that nobody would ever find out about my page. Besides, my photos and videos were paywalled.’

Then, the inevitable happened. Leaks and content theft led to content being uploaded to free sites where mothers ended up having their identities revealed and they lost their jobs even, according to Insider.com, the custody of their children. It had not happened to her yet, but it could.

‘I imagined my children being made fun of. Maybe they’d lose friends. I envisioned having to talk to every parent of every kid my child wanted to hang out with. Not that I deserved to be judged — but I would be … I buckled under the pressure. It was better to put my efforts elsewhere and try to make money another way. I quit my OnlyFans.’

Hers is not the only story. There are so many women who make their bodies into a business rather than their minds.

There was a very interesting video from The Roommates where the host makes the following point to a group of OnlyFans creators who love their job.

‘When you are a 20-year-old kid and you think that you have a certain amount of money, and when you think that your career is a ‘career’ when it’s actually a temp job, my problem is that so many young women believe this story. And then when you look at women who are your peers – who are 40 and 50 – how many of them who were in sex work are still making profit?’

The truth is that women’s beauty is transient and the window for making money out of it is tiny – that’s one of the main reasons the entire gender pushed for employment and social equality. The idea was to break out of this cruel cycle and create lasting, independent wealth. That is true liberty.

Love, responsibility, and family is what keeps men interested in their female life partners after their looks fade, but subscribers on the internet are going to get bored of paying for the same arse photo every week – which is why content creators have noted that their user requests get more extreme and bizarre.

The bigger problem with the universe of amateur adult work is that it is a bubble – a sudden and unstable market that users will almost certainly tire of.

‘I think guys [sic] is just mad ‘cause it’s easier for us to make money,’ said one woman, after a man with extensive business knowledge tried to explain the financial insecurity of the system.

It’s genuinely sad that the final consequence of feminism appears to be a return to prostitution and the objectification of the female form. As so many content creators have said, ‘Well, if I am going to get sexually harassed at work, why not take control of my body and make money off of it?’

And the answer is, you will never be in control of your body while its value is judged by strangers on the internet.

Sex work is a profession because it is difficult, emotionally draining, and riddled with consequences. To see millions of women in the affluent West enticed into this industry – educated women who have infinitely better choices due to the care of their parents – is rather sad.

Most women, deep down, wish to have their appearance validated and this desire only increases when they fall into difficult times. To have that vulnerability preyed upon by society is something we should be warning young girls against while they are in school instead of shouting, ‘YAS GIRL!’ at their increasingly sexualised Instagram photos.

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