Many websites exploded in popularity because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since people could not leave their homes, they needed something to do. It could be something entertaining – watching videos, for example. Thus, TikTok quickly became relevant. The health crisis also forced companies to switch to a work-from-home setup. Likewise, schools shifted to online classroom setups. It is for this reason that tools and websites like Zoom, Google Meet, and Google Classroom skyrocketed to fame.
With all of that said, it becomes crystal clear how a particular website “won” during the pandemic. OnlyFans let sex workers continue what they are doing, and it provided people with something to watch.
The pandemic did not only affect people’s mental and financial health. It also negatively impacted sexual health. People can’t go on dates or find hookups. Even couples are advised not to get too close to each other. So people had to find other ways to explore sexuality. Understandably, sales for sex toys and sex dolls rose. Along with it rose the demand for sexual content.
While there are millions of sex videos on porn sites, people want something more intimate. Watching two strangers having sex does not cut it anymore. So those looking for sexual content moved to webcamming sites and OnlyFans. These websites allow viewers to interact with the models. As the sex workers described it, they provide the “boyfriend/girlfriend experience.” Speaking of sex workers, they also moved to these websites because it was challenging to shoot scenes during the pandemic.
Birth and Growth of OnlyFans
What exactly is OnlyFans? It is a content subscription service. Think of Instagram, but the content is locked behind a paywall. There is an interesting story on why OnlyFans is designed like that. That background story is linked directly with sex work.
Timothy Stokely knew how important – and profitable – sex websites are. However, he cannot seem to find the sweet spot. In the past, he founded GlamGirls – a softcore porn website and Customs4U. The latter could be considered as the beta version of OnlyFans. It lets men direct the porn they are watching by sending requests to the model. A trend Tim discovered pushed him to take it up a notch.
Tim Stokely learned that sex workers are selling sexual content. Contrary to popular belief, starring in porn does not mean easy money. If you were to deduct regular and industry-specific expenses – tests they have to pay themselves – it pays just like any other job. So even porn stars need side hustles. Thus, this under the table selling of private videos.
According to what Tim Stokely learned, the sex workers promote their content on Instagram. But as everyone knows, Instagram is not a sex worker-friendly platform. Like other social media platforms, it avoids pornographic content like the plague. This makes the sex workers’ side hustle a little too challenging. They have to inform people of the video for sale through Instagram. Then, workers have to send interested buyers to another website where they can pay and get to see the sexually explicit content. That’s one way to do it. Another way to complete the transaction is through private messages. Either way is tedious and time-consuming.
Stokely saw the opportunity in this. He thought a content creation platform that lets creators earn directly from their posts would be nice to have. Of course, it would have loose content policies to allow sex workers to thrive on the platform. Tim Stokely followed this hunch despite the doubts of his father, Guy Stokely, who funded OnlyFans’ launch. Lucky for him, it worked. OnlyFans success was so well-known that Time Stokely has been dubbed the king of homemade porn.
Working On OnlyFans VS Working On Studios
In the way of how things happened, the pandemic helped in OnlyFans’ massive success. But, for sure, in an alternate reality where COVID-19 does not exist, OnlyFans is still a popular site. It offers so many benefits to sex workers that they would find difficult to pass on.
For starters, 80% of revenue generated by their content goes to their wallets. The platform only takes 20%, which it says becomes 12% after fees. This chunk is a lot smaller than what porn studios and webcamming websites take.
Aside from that, OnlyFans grant more flexibility. For best results, content creators are advised to post at least once every day. But, it is not required. They can miss a day or two, and it will not affect their earnings. Meanwhile, in porn sites, they have to be constantly looking for bookings.
That brings us to the third and fourth points. In porn, sex workers have to have sex with people they do not know. A lot of times, their partner is not someone they would normally have sex with. They are doing it just for the job. Needless to say, they only fake enjoyment in most of the scenes they shoot.
Also, since they are having sex with different people, testing for STIs is required. However, porn studios do not pay for these tests. Sex workers must pay for them themselves; otherwise, they would not land a job. Tests are not inexpensive, and they have to take two every month.
On OnlyFans, they do not have to do all of these. Content creators can choose their sex partners. If they like, they can co-star with their real-life relationship partner. Online sensation Belle Delphine did this. This also means they don’t have to get tested as much as they would have to when working for porn studios. It saves them so much money. In fact, they might not need to get tested at all. Content creators on OnlyFans do not need to have partners. Their fans may even prefer seeing them do solo plays.
The Use Of Sex Dolls
Since viewers on OnlyFans prefer not to see their “virtual girlfriend” have sex with another person, masturbation videos are a hit. But that can be too repetitive. If all creators do is post that type of video, it would quickly become uninteresting. So they have to find gimmicks that would prevent their channels from being monotonous. They found their answer on sex toys and sex dolls.
There are sex toys that can be controlled via smartphone apps. Content creators can use these to make their live streams more interactive. Simple and classic sex toys like dildos also add flavor to the videos.
Meanwhile, sex dolls have the form of a human. This allows the viewers to watch their favorite content creators have sex without feeling jealous. Moreover, they can “self insert” more easily since the sex doll is essentially a husk.
Perhaps, these products also benefited from OnlyFans. The platform became successful thanks to their existence. Then, their exposure on OnlyFans caught the interest of many people. As a matter of fact, there are now accounts where the stars are the sex dolls and not the owner. Consumers of their videos became more inclined to buy their own after seeing them on screen many times.
This is different from what happened on Instagram. Indeed, there are sex doll influencers on the Facebook-owned social media platform. But, as the doll owners who run the account revealed, most of their dolls’ followers did not know they weren’t actual humans. Some people even sent DMs and asked the dolls for dates. On OnlyFans, people know that they are sex dolls. More importantly, they came to subscribe to those accounts because they are sex dolls.
This could be what the sex doll industry has been waiting for for so long. Sex work is now close to being mainstream, thanks to OnlyFans. It did the same thing for sex dolls. In the past, people frown upon the sight of sex dolls. Some even regarded them as “creepy.” But nowadays, after OnlyFans showed the benefits people could get from them, the stigma has slowly disappeared. They aren’t viewed as vulgar products anymore. Instead, people now see sex dolls as health products. Of course, there are still those that stick to the old belief. But, it cannot be denied that sex dolls are now in a better light.
The Barrier
OnlyFans is known best for the NSFW content on the platform. But it is also used by cooks and fitness instructors. However, creators of sexually explicit content outnumber them. So it became a shock when out of the blue, OnlyFans announced that it would be banning sexual content starting on October 31. Fortunately, it reversed its decision just after six days.
That could have been a major loss for the sex doll industry and the sex industry, in general, if it was not stopped. Losing the platform would potentially bring them back to the underground.
As a sex worker might expect, the culprit behind this is banks. They have a reputation for not liking cooperating with sex-related businesses. It seems like sex dolls will never become mainstream unless they change their views. One can only wonder how long that would take.
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