“Tesco cashier gives up day job and now earns 30k a month on OnlyFans”
“OnlyFans star earns 50000k a week selling bikini pics”
“Ex-hairdresser turned glamour model makes £1,000,000 a minute dancing naked on OnlyFans”
How many articles have you seen with these headlines? Every week, a tabloid has a different content creator featured in an article about the quick cash money machine that is OnlyFans. Except, that isn’t really the case. These articles tell the story of the 1%; the X Factor contestants who became popstars; the lottery winners; the kid that posted BMX videos on YouTube and is now an Olympian athlete. There are people who join the online platform and make an enormous profit – but that is the exception to the rule. The majority of OnlyFans content creators are making money, but it’s not breaking the VAT barrier and it isn’t second house money. It’s a source of income, but that isn’t their primary reason for doing it. There are so many reasons to engage in online sex work, and money is only one of them.
One benefit to online sex work is that is gives you the freedom to manage your own time. You can choose to invest your energy in projects that you find worthwhile, and not have to spend your time on ventures that you don’t believe in. Also, you can manage your time to ensure you have space to care for your health, which is particularly of benefit to those who live with chronic illnesses or disabilities that may have to take time off at short notice to deal with flare ups. Not only that, it allows you to balance work with other aspects of your life such as care responsibilities, hobbies and social commitments. As one sex worker told me, “I like the fact that I can get up and do whatever I want with my day”. Your work is entirely flexible around your schedule.
Another plus that sex workers have noticed from working on paid platforms online is that is allows them to be more creative. They can use their hobbies, party tricks or formal training in a skill, and find a way to build it into their sex work content. You could be the Naked Pianist; you could tie a cherry stem with your tongue; you could build IKEA furniture in your underwear. You can express your art through your online platform and feel more creatively fulfilled in your life. If your creative outlet doesn’t fit with your sex work content you can keep them separate, and use the money made and time freed up from your work to invest in your personal creative ventures in your downtime. Either way, online sex work can harness your creativity.
I should caveat this article by saying that online sex work is not for everyone. The benefits I’ve spoken about are subjective and may not materialise for all. For some, online sex work has negatively impacted their health as they are stressed out about income security. Their creative flow is stemmed because of the stress, which in turn makes it harder to create content which worsens the problem. It is a vicious cycle that many online sex workers will confess to having gone through at some point, and a strong support network can go a long way in abating this stress. It can be friends, family, sex worker communities online or sex worker unions, but support is important in any line of work and no more so than sex work. I’ve said it before, but I am always a listening ear so please never hesitate to get in touch to vent and lessen the weight on your shoulders.
In summary, should you get into online sex work? Only you know the answer. Reading this article is a good first step into your research. I'd recommend following online sex workers on Twitter to get an insight on their working life, and many of them will have websites with blogs that will give you a lot of the information you need. Have a look around, see if online sex work is for you, and thank me later.