OnlyFans Creators Everywhere Are Fighting The Stigma Surrounding Their Job

About 20 years before OnlyFans was founded, Jennifer Ringley, a college junior, bought a webcam. She plugged it in and started recording everything she was doing. From homework to pleasuring herself, if it happened in her room, it would be livestreamed to her website, JenniCam. Ringley’s viewership continued to rise until she eventually found herself being interviewed on The Late Show with David Letterman. Ringley has been credited as the first official “cam girl”, pioneering an entire new section of the adult industry that now consists of millions of “cam girls” worth millions of dollars. OnlyFans, worth about $8 billion, has led the adult content industry for years and is responsible for adult cam work’s ascension into the vernacular. OnlyFans creators are increasingly sought after for brand deals and sponsorships, as they become more and more influential. Destigmatizing sex work is a tall order, but some of these creators might be up to the task. 

OnlyFans, founded in 2016 by British businessman Tim Stokely, certainly existed before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, but it perhaps didn’t become famous until the pandemic forced many to find new jobs. Jasmine Sherni had been an ICU nurse in Louisiana before she contracted COVID-19 on the job. Her employer refused to pay her worker’s comp, so she put in her two week’s notice and created an OnlyFans account. Sherni says that not only did OnlyFans allow her to leave a controlling boyfriend, but she also credits the site with helping her explore her own sexuality. She’ll often collab with other female creators, who are just as into kinky stuff as her. Needless to say, Sherni has since covered her lost wages and then some with her earnings from OnlyFans.

Alexis XJ is another example of a creator who used OnlyFans to pay her medical bills. She had begun studying welding in college when she was diagnosed with metastatic spinal cancer. In just one day, Alexis made $600. Fast-forwarding a few years, now Alexis makes over half a million bucks a year on the platform. Knowing she could make thousands of dollars a day was “life-changing”, she says. Alexis, ever a handywoman, says her top-earning video is her reading from a diesel-engine mechanics textbook. She claims to have made over $25,000 in tips, with guys messaging her with hundreds of dollars saying, “I’m learning something.” $25,000 is a lot of money, but we might be forgetting that trade school isn’t cheap either, so at least her followers are learning something.

Twin duo Andre and Sean run their account together and they often receive some strange requests that they’re not willing to accomodate. “First of all, we’re straight,” said Sean. “Well, actually, first of all, we’re related.” The OnlyFans earnings Andre and Sean have received have been enough to make OnlyFans their only source of income. Performing naked has given Andre the confidence to dip his toe into songwriting, something he says is also “very vulnerable”. 

Celina Reboyras, meanwhile, has used her OnlyFans funds to start her very own magazine. Doxy calls itself the magazine “for sex workers by sex workers” and frequently features interviews with other prominent OnlyFans creators. Reboyras, also a photographer, has a photo series on display at the Museum of Sex in Miami, inspired by her time spent as a stripper. 

As for Jasmine Sherni, the ICU nurse from Louisiana, she’s had several friends stop talking to her after she created her OnlyFans account. She says she’s frustrated, but that, “Society will unfortunately always have a lot of whore-phobia.” What most OnlyFans influencers wish outsiders understood is that they’ve achieved a happy life through this work, and they’ve gained confidence, followers and enough cash to provide for their other goals. For as much criticism as they receive, OnlyFans creators are making bank and show no signs of stopping anytime soon.