As I leave my house on a cloudy Tuesday morning to walk the dog, I am accosted by a neighbor who shouts cheerfully from the street: “I heard you have an Onlyfans now!” I’m starting to wonder if I’ve made a terrible mistake.
Onlyfans has, how to say it, a reputation. Like many online platforms, it matches content creators with their audience. But OnlyFans is primarily known for one type of content: sex.
When friends and acquaintances find out that I, a 43-year-old man and father of two, have created an Onlyfans account, they are intrigued. When I explain that I only post non-sexual, very safe-for-work content, their next question is “Why?” In their minds, it’s clear that “having an Onlyfans” means doing sexy things on the Internet for money.
Onlyfans, a UK-based organization that earned $658 million in pre-tax profits last year, wants to shake this image. For every college student raising money by sharing nudes, there’s a wholesome housewife uploading DIY tips or an up-and-coming musician posting their latest songs, at least if you look at the featured accounts on the company blog.
“Everyone is dancing on the rest of social media, where they’re saying, ‘Hey, you’re not supposed to show people your penis here and you’re not supposed to say crazy, wild things,'” said John Hastings, 39 years old. three-year-old Canadian comedian, tells me over the phone from his home in Los Angeles. However, on Onlyfans there are still people who slide into their DMs just to say, “I want to see your feet, I’m not here to joke.”
Like all the workplace safety creators I talk to, Hastings has a presence on many social networks, from Instagram to X and YouTube. The audience on OnlyFans will generally be smaller than other sites, but followers are usually more engaged and, more importantly, must have a bank account linked to their profile, ready to be opened.
“It’s certainly a different world compared to the people who are on my other social media platforms,” says Dudley Alexander, an R&B artist who releases music under the name It doesn’t matter.
Alexander, 33, joined OnlyFans in 2019, before the site’s profile rose as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed many previously IRL activities online. As such, he is a pioneer of the safe-for-work OnlyFans scene and has amassed over 67,000 likes on his page. (OnlyFans only publicly displays a user’s like count; the follower count, which is usually higher, is hidden.)
