OnlyFans Perils: Youth Mental Health Risks

OnlyFan was launched in July 2016 by British tech entrepreneur Timothy Stokely, also known as “The king of homemade porn”. Former CEO Amrapali Gan served OnlyFan for 3 years and made the platform and made the platform as revenue monster.

In July 2023 Keily Blair became the CEO of OnlyFan, currently, she is trying hard to make the platform equal for everyone rather than turning it into a soft-porn platform;

But we will have a look at the statistical data of OnlyFan creators and users’ demography and we will try to understand how it is turning the direction of the youth mind towards the anatomy of darkness.

Let’s dive into the profile of OnlyFan top earners;

OnlyFan top earner 2021: Blac Chyna

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OnlyFan top earner 2022: Bhad Bhabie and Cardi B

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“Well, the OnlyFans top earners for 2023 are yet to be declared. We need to keep in mind that none of them are porn artists or adult content creators.”

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On the other hand, we’ll review the gross-level revenue earners who have made the platform popular or are the reason for logins.

OnlyFan became a major source of income after covid 19 for the people who were involved in pornography as well as for those who were jobless or skillless, an example can be given when adult star Mia Khalifa, in an interview she claimed that she earned $1 million in only six hours. Later, she shared that she grossed more than $50 million via subscriptions in an Instagram post.

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A post shared by Mia K. (@miakhalifa)

OnlyFans is providing opportunities for adult content creators to transition into a secure earning platform. However, on the flip side, it is also opening the door to the soft-porn industry for the teens or “GEN Z”, potentially promoting a culture of easy earning. Adult earning platforms are indeed compromising the moral values of teenagers who should be focusing on their aims, studies, or passions.

BBC documentary #Nudes4sale reveals under 18 teens are uploading nudes and semi-nude pictures for earning via the subscription module of the OnlyFan platform. BBC reporter Ellie meets Hannah, a 17-year-old from Scotland, who has been selling explicit content of herself since she was 16. Hannah set up an account on a site called OnlyFans using a fake ID. She was reported for being under 18 and kicked off the site but managed to set up a new profile and continue selling nudes.

Another Lauren, 23, is one of the top-ranked Only Fans creators in the world. She has over 2,000 subscribers and over 400,000 followers on Instagram. In one month alone, Lauren earned a jaw-dropping £37,000 – a figure she says is going up every month.

India’s Digital Sex Market

Another dimension, God Land India is not left behind in this race, India is a growing market for such platforms, and the soft-porn industry is rising in India because not only OnlyFan but India is feeding similar platforms like;

• OnlyFan
• LoyalFan
• Ismygirl
• Justforfans
• AVN Stars
• Mygirlfund
• FanCentro
• Fansly
• and more

According to data, the average Indian engages in sexual intercourse after the age of 30 because education and career become priorities. However, the desire remains the same, and such platforms are the biggest gap-fillers.

In a contradictory argument, platforms like OnlyFan have become a hope for adult or porn stars to earn safely without any difficulty or without doing real intercourse with someone on the screen which is also not a safe and favorable choice but another ugly truth that cannot be ignored is that the youth are finding platforms like OnlyFan quick ways to earn, which is destroying their future and negatively impacting their minds very deeply.

The Dark Psychology of OnlyFan Creators

The Non-profit organization The Avery Center: Sex Trafficking Research & Survivor Services, published a report in 2021 and stated that OnlyFans creators surveyed reported negative mental or physical health effects like anxiety, depression, shame, low self-esteem, and suicidal thoughts. On February 12, 2023, OnlyFan star Coconut Kitty committed suicide (Specific reason unanswered).

• Adult creators are always under pressure to create new content and require a creative touch, which is sometimes not easy for them.
• Low-steam profile becomes an identity for them because society doesn’t normalize their appearance in public like any common person, and that affects Mental risk for OnlyFan content creators badly.
• The loss of childhood is always possible because 35% of OnlyFans creators are minors.
• False sense of a relationship with the creator, because most of the viewers believe adult content creators are sex workers.
• The emotion of sex is very deep and such a platform can fuel the addiction to sex among youth and it can increase the number of patients.
• According to the University of New Hampshire (USA), “Consumption of too much adult or explicit content can change the behavior of any normal person, and towards women, it can become dangerous.
• Downgrading the dignity of women in society and symbolizing women as a sexual face is becoming common.

The Valuation of Soft-Porn

These platforms are generating substantial revenue across the world and becoming ideal options for investors to secure their money and exit without any risk, as desire never fails in the market. Soft-porn platforms gained popularity when the entire market was down (during covid-19 pandemic). Hence, the chances of loss for investors are minimal, take a look at the Adult Entertainment Market;

• OnlyFan revenue has increased by 1291.85% between 2019 to 2021 and currently, OnlyFan total valuation is $18 Billion. According to Bloomberg OnlyFans Owner Got $338 Million Dividend as 2022 Profit Soared.
• In 2021, the digital adult content market was at 44.8 Billion USD and it will add an extra around USD 201 Billion by 2032.
• Digital Adult Content covers Videos, E-books, Audio, Video Games, cartoons, and Others.
• In India, an open soft-porn market already scoring high with OTT applications like Ullu, this platform saw a 250% growth in its subscription during the lockdown, some other soft-porn platform apps like DesiFlix, Gup Chup, Kooku, Hot shots, Primeflix are also performing well in the market
• When the global adult industry was valued at US$ 172.5 Billion and the US porn industry is $13 billion and by 2023 it will touch around $117 billion, and globally US$ 267.3 Billion.
• India is becoming porn centric after Japan because of the easy availability of the Internet, content like Mastram, Savita Bhabhi, or soft-porn series like Gandi Baat, XXX, etc are becoming the audience’s first choice because such series are available at cheap cost.

OnlyFan Culture Consequences

I've been subscribed to my mum's onlyfans for the past eighteen months. I don't watch – I'm not sick – but my mum has been struggling financially for the past two years but has never accepted any help money wise from me, so instead I have three onlyfans accounts all subscribed.

— Fesshole 🧻 (@fesshole) February 16, 2023

18 years old son admits that he clicks his mother’s explicit pictures for OnlyFan

• Former Brazilian model & TV personality faced controversy when her 18-year-old son admitted that he clicked his mother’s images for OnlyFan content, and did not judge his mother or feel ashamed.
• Another story from OnlyFan creator Lucene Duarte is when her son asked for a cut for creating a sexy OnlyFans account for his mom.
• OnlyFan user demands more adult content than creative one, another story from OnlyFan creator was measurable and painful when she found that she was losing her identity and self-confidence. She stated that she was already posting photos in Bikini on Instagram and never thought it was wrong but she she started posting the same content on OnlyFan situations turned something different. In an interview, she claimed that her earning was superb around US$ 20,000.00/- in a month, but subscribers started treating her like an object and started receiving degrading messages. Later she admitted that “I was miserable and spending money to hide my depression and anxiety“.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, OnlyFans is becoming a marginal platform that’s motivating adult actors to shift to a safe platform for earning but at the same time it breaking the barriers of society. OnlyFans is designed to empower creators to connect with their fans and showcase their talent to monetize it.