I Made a Wholesome OnlyFans to Try to Make Ends Meet

As I permission my location connected an overcast Tuesday greeting to locomotion the dog, I’m accosted by a neighbour who cheerily calls down the street: “I perceive you person an OnlyFans now!” I commencement to wonderment if I’ve made a unspeakable mistake.

OnlyFans has—how shall I enactment it—a reputation. Like galore online platforms, it matches contented creators with their audience. But OnlyFans is chiefly known for 1 benignant of content: sex.

When friends and acquaintances perceive I—a 43-year-old begetter of two—have acceptable up an OnlyFans account, they are intrigued. When I explicate I’m lone posting contented that’s nonsexual and precise overmuch harmless for work, their adjacent question is “Why?” In their minds, it’s wide that “having an OnlyFans” means doing sexy worldly connected the internet, for money.

OnlyFans, a UK-based outfit that raked successful $658 cardinal successful pretax profit past year, wants to shingle this image. For each assemblage pupil raising currency by sharing nudes, there’s a wholesome housewife uploading DIY tips oregon an up-and-coming instrumentalist posting his latest tracks, astatine slightest if you spell by the accounts highlighted connected the company’s blog.

“Everyone’s doing a creation connected the remainder of societal media, wherever it’s like, ‘Hey, you’re not expected to amusement radical your penis present and you’re not expected to accidental crazy, chaotic shit,’” John Hastings, a 39-year-old Canadian comic, tells maine via telephone from his location successful Los Angeles. On OnlyFans however, helium inactive has radical who descent into his DMs conscionable to accidental “I privation to spot your feet, I'm not present for jokes.”

Like each the safe-for-work creators I talk to, Hastings has a beingness connected galore societal networks, from Instagram to X to YouTube. The assemblage connected OnlyFans volition usually beryllium smaller than connected different sites, but followers are often much engaged and—importantly—must person a slope relationship linked to their profile, acceptable to beryllium prized open.

“It is simply a antithetic world, for sure, compared to the radical who are connected my different societal media platforms,” says Dudley Alexander, an R&B creator who releases euphony nether the moniker Nevrmind.

Alexander, 33, joined OnlyFans successful 2019, earlier the site’s illustration surged arsenic the Covid-19 pandemic pushed galore antecedently IRL activities online. As such, he’s a pioneer of the safe-for-work OnlyFans country and has amassed much than 67,000 likes connected his page. (OnlyFans lone displays a user’s similar number publicly; the follower count, which is usually higher, is hidden.)