OnlyFans Is The New Entertainment Platform for “Anything Goes” ~ But Where Will It Go?

This is just an opinion, and is not based on any real familiarity or experience with OnlyFans, or even Instagram, and other visible online platforms, so please take it with a grain of salt.

The main attraction for the entertainer who is using a platform like OnlyFans, seems to be the growing online popularity of exhibitionism, stripping, fetishes, and various niche market sex promotion, so the really popular models and performers make a lot of money. In fact, many of them claim the money is downright addictive. I watched some of them being interviewed on a YouTube site called “Soft White Underbelly”. 

It might be safer in some ways to work online, although it still does carry risks of attracting creepy online stalkers. But overall, it is better than getting in a car with some random stranger. It also probably beats strip clubs, and/or being controlled by a pimp.

The key thing about all, and any type of sex work, is that it puts young females at risk. In addition, if it involves anyone who is underage, it is illegal in most countries, and can get people who use the sites, placed on a sex offender’s list, if they are not careful to avoid underage imagery.

The perusers of any site with underage girls, could be busted for having child pornography, and if they have a career, it is ruined. Some teenage girls look older than they really are. So there is risk for all those who enter this domain, and other similar websites. I suppose the platform itself must carry some kind of legal obligation to prevent the exploitation of young girls. One would hope so. 

By the looks of things, nothing is going to stop the growth and popularity of such a site. Therefore young girls should be educated about it, not lured into it, under the guise of modelling or dancing.

Ask any parent, and they will tell you that once a young person becomes an adult, they are still vulnerable, and naive. Even though a person turns eighteen or nineteen, that does not mean they have a full range of life’s experiences, lessons, or wisdom under their belt. Some are more cautious by nature than others. And others take more time to mature.

In my opinion, anyone who becomes a performer or model on the platform, should find out what the copyright laws are, who owns the imagery, and how the imagery can be used. For all I know, these parameters already exist. But they are very important parameters to establish and know about up front.

If someone poses, or does naked videos or performances on OnlyFans, or any Internet site, she is exposing herself to a lifetime of potential issues, that could include usage without permission, blackmailing etc.

We all do things in our youth that we might end up regretting, or want to put behind us. If a person uses such a platform, and then quits, gets a University degree, establishes a different career, gets married, and becomes a soccer mom – she may not want to be haunted by her own naked past.

I recall a story about a woman who was victimized, in a situation totally unrelated to her youth. But at some point in her youth, she had been a stripper. It was not online, or recorded, or anything, just a brief and short-lived job. 

Apparently she was broke, jobless, and had stripped a handful of times in some random club, to make some quick money. At the time she thought it was no big deal. It did end up being a big deal, and tainted her reputation, as well as the outcome of her case, even though she thought she had put it behind her.

Many people believe the stigma surrounding sex work should not exist. Some people believe it should be legalized. Regardless of whether our beliefs are liberal, or prudish, the issue is one of protecting young girls from mistakes that might follow them, when they choose to leave the lifestyle behind. Or to help provide some foresight, before they choose to do it at all.

Glamour and fame is a high stakes game. It seems to take off like a whirlwind, but the vortex is too much for some people. There is no way a person can pace it all, and handle is with finesse. In some cases, it leads to tragedy.

There are countless Instagram models who have fallen to their death, become lost and frozen, been electrocuted, run over, or murdered, just for a glam photoshoot.

In Taiwan, there was a young woman who hiked mountains by herself, with an additional thirty pounds of camera gear, in order to photograph herself naked, or in a skimpy bikini, once she reached the summit.

You have to admit, it is quite a feat. She carried far more on her back, than was recommended for her thin frame. Sure enough, she ended up falling to her death. Sadly it took several hours, or it might have been several days, for her to die.

She was in a deep crevasse, and was able to contact help, but it took a long time for them to get to her. By the time they did find her, it was too late. She had multiple injuries, and suffered terribly. She probably faced many regrets in the hours before her death.

Another young Instagram model who was visiting Vancouver, decided to take a quick hike up one of the mountains on a beautiful sunny day, to take some photos for her followers.

She was not properly dressed for the weather conditions, went by herself, and did not know the mountain, or what she was getting herself into at all. It was also an area with avalanches, icy patches, sudden changes in wind and weather, and poorly marked trails. Plus it was wintertime, with short daylight hours.

In one photo, taken midday, she was beaming and full of life, with a beautiful and scenic backdrop. Within a couple of hours after that shot, she was lost, and in despair. She died of hypothermia before she was found.

The only lessons we can learn from all of this, is that Internet, Instagram, and OnlyFans type of attention, is almost like gold fever. People will set aside their better judgement, to get the perfect shot. This is happening to intelligent, energetic, dynamic young people who are driven to succeed. 

Vanity is short-lived. It is like the trickster crow. Our own vanity will pull the wool over our eyes, faster than we can blink an eye.

So many of the lives lost, or exploited through these futile endeavours, are beautiful and creative young people, who are in the prime of their lives.

If only we could retrace our steps, and blot out our mistakes, or the things we wish we had not done. For some of us, we squeak past the perils, or lived in the age when selfies, and glamour poses were not such a big thing. Sometimes being unattractive is a blessing.

In spite of it all – glamorous and beautiful people still have insecurities. In fact, the more Instagram, and glamour photos a young woman does, the more insecure she is. It is a real conundrum.

It seems like it might be a better idea to focus less on image, and more on just doing things for fun, wholesome competition, and learning about your strengths, interests, gifts and what not.

I’m not sure what the answers are to all of the online imagery. But for anyone who does get involved in the online world of being filmed as a sex worker, I think it would be a good idea to have some legal parameters established upfront, in order to restrict the usage, and protect the person once they leave the platform.

I hope the Internet can be tamed, because vanity, impulsiveness, and the lure of quick money, cannot be subdued. Human nature cannot be bridled.

Ultimately, where does vanity go? I think the answer is – nowhere. It is the great gate to nowhere.

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2023). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.