We’re all familiar with the explosion of work-from-home opportunities that happened during the pandemic. Most people were either personally affected by it, or they knew someone who was. Anyone who could work remotely was setting up a makeshift home office and learning how to use Zoom.
For some, however, their work-from-home situation was a little different. Even if the pandemic was the cause of the change, they weren’t necessarily shifting their previous mode of employment to a temporary home base. This was because many people got laid off, and turned to OnlyFans modeling to make ends meet. Some of them found success, and even got featured on sites like The Little Slush. Others never really found their groove, and ended up finding other work opportunities. Either way, there’s no doubt that OnlyFans became more popular than ever during the pandemic, and this popularity shows no signs of slowing down. In April of 2020, as more people started realizing just how serious things were getting, OnlyFans reported a 75% increase in sign-ups. This trend obviously hasn’t continued for each following month, but the impact has continued – OnlyFans is now a household name that’s associated with not only homemade porn, but also as being a potential moneymaking opportunity for people from all walks of life.
Who’s signing up to be OnlyFans models?
The spotlight has focused on pandemic-related job losses in sectors like food service and construction, but guess who else was affected? Sex workers worldwide. From strippers to escorts, they all had to figure out another source of income – and for some, the answer was OnlyFans.
Joining the platform with previous experience in sex work definitely gave them an advantage, but it took more than a hot body and a few signature moves to grow a fanbase. One woman who’d been working at a strip club found herself without a job once the pandemic started, and decided to give OnlyFans a try. Initially, she struggled to gain much traction. Eventually, though, she discovered TikTok’s virtual strip club market, grew her fanbase via social media, and built up a tidy list of well-paying clients. By the time her old job asked her to come back, she was doing well enough on OnlyFans to give them notice that she was quitting.
Of course, OnlyFans has plenty of models who are new to sex work, and a lot of viewers seem to prefer that over traditional porn. They see these models as more authentic, and while their content may not be quite as polished, it’s clear that they’re working on developing their offerings to keep up with viewer requests.
Why do people choose OnlyFans?
For anyone who doesn’t mind selling nudes or putting on live sex cam shows, OnlyFans can be a great option to make some money. Beyond that, though, it offers several advantages that the average job typically doesn’t.
- They have more flexibility
What are some of the most common complaints about regular jobs? The hours suck, they don’t pay enough, it’s hard to get time off, and so on. If the employer tries to pressure employees to give everything they have, there isn’t much the employees can do about it. If someone’s working on OnlyFans, though, they can set their own hours, their own rates, and even develop their own strategies as they essentially run a business from home. They get to decide whether rating dick pics is part of their offerings, or if they want to focus on private videos. They can strategize which type of content is made available for free, and which is reserved for subscribers. As long as they stay within the site’s terms of use – which are obviously fairly lenient – the control is in their hands.
- It can be fun
Some people specialize in a certain fetish because they see that there’s a demand for it, while others simply put themselves out there and let viewers enjoy taking it all in. Overall strategies vary according to the model, but it’s a fact that many of them love doing what they do. Just because it happens to pay the rent doesn’t mean that they can’t also feel personally invested in each photoshoot or live cam performance. And guess what? Viewers can tell when an OnlyFans model’s heart is really in it, and they usually respond accordingly. It could be with their money, or mainly just their loyalty, but whatever the case, it all contributes to an OnlyFans model’s long-term success.
- They can set boundaries
Sex work has been looked down on for centuries; at best, sex workers are pitied instead of being judged. However, OnlyFans is playing a part in changing that. With a combination of regular people and celebrities joining the platform to post risqué content, the idea of selling sex to support yourself is becoming more normal than it ever has been before.
With this normalization has come the idea that sex workers deserve respect – and if viewers won’t give it to them, they can’t continue to be viewers anymore. Whether or not they consider themselves to be sex workers, OnlyFans models generally know what they are and aren’t comfortable with, and the platform gives them the tools they need to enforce their boundaries when necessary.
- It can boost self-esteem
There’s nothing quite like having hundreds to thousands of people drooling over how hot you are, and that’s pretty much what happens to successful OnlyFans models. And this isn’t just for the stereotypically pretty ones; it’s also for the gay bears, the soccer moms who are branching out, and the butch lesbians who are still figuring out their good angles. For every type of OnlyFans model, there’s usually an adoring audience who can’t get enough of them.
The takeaway
It’s no surprise that OnlyFans became popular during the pandemic, and it’s also no surprise that it’s stayed popular even when working from home was no longer strictly necessary. From better money to greater flexibility, it brings several advantages to models who want more independence as they grow their careers.
