this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025
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A new study published in the journal Sexuality & Culture has found that many adolescents in Spain, including those as young as 12, are not only aware of OnlyFans but also see it as a viable and even empowering way to make money. In group discussions with over 160 teenagers, researchers discovered that platforms promoting erotic content are influencing how young people—especially girls—view economic opportunity, self-worth, and sexuality. Teens frequently framed content creation as a personal choice or expression of agency, while minimizing the risks.

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[–] KickMeElmo@sopuli.xyz 78 points 5 days ago (5 children)

"People as young as 12 have realistic views of the economic viability of sexuality, how dare they."

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 40 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Somehow I doubt that. More likely they view it like being a YouTuber, streamer, or influencer, when in reality it's primarily video production and marketing. It's not just "film titties get money", you have to actually convince people to subscribe.

[–] Liz@midwest.social 55 points 5 days ago

It is like being a YouTuber. People think it's easy money and then they make jack-shit with barely any audience all while working their ass off. Only a few get big, most burn out after lots of work and little success.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 21 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I think that the larger problem is that you probably aren't going to be an erotic actress for your whole life.

Like, what the authors seem to be focusing on is the degree to which teens might see this as an alternative to traditional work or being educated:

Another important finding was how strongly OnlyFans was associated with financial success. Teens repeatedly cited the platform as an easier and more appealing alternative to traditional work or education.

So, okay. Say you're a young woman and 20, and you make pretty good money putting on cat ears and licking a microphone or whatever's presently in vogue compared to most other things you could be doing at that age. But...are you going to be doing that at 30? 40? 50? Are you likely to make enough to retire off that in the time that you're successfully doing that? Because if you haven't acquired a skillset in that period for a lifelong career...like, if you forego education for that, that could be a really expensive exchange.

Now, in fairness, I kind of feel like some similar issues also apply to things like being a professional sports player. Short viable career for most sports, high risk of not being able to make it big enough to retire off earnings. But we also haven't had a radical recent shift in the pro sports industry.

I guess maybe pro gamers could be in a similar position. I don't know how many teens plan to do that (though I haven't seen a lot of material agonising about the number of teens who want to become pro gamers). I have seen a lot of material concerned about the wildly-beyond-what-can-be-sustained numbers who want to become social media influencers, though.

EDIT: Regarding influencers:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-influencers-86-of-young-americans-want-to-become-one/

86% of young Americans want to become a social media influencer

I can't give you a percentage of society that can be viably dedicated to trying to influence others on social media off the cuff, but I am very confident that it is far, far less than that. If anything remotely approaching that level tries to do the field full time and make major tradeoffs for it, that's going to potentially be very costly for society.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

There's not really any stigma to being a former sports star, that's one big difference.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 11 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I mean, I can imagine a world where there isn't to being a former erotic actress either. Used to be a stigma attached to being a (non-erotic) actor or actress, whereas today, we have very high-prestige actors.

But that world still requires people to have a skillset for their working life


like, that's kinda fundamental.

[–] F04118F@feddit.nl 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If you are successful as a content creator, whatever the platform, you have great marketing, communications and branding skills. How transferable do you want the skills to be?

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Big if. Most aren't that successful.

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[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I can imagine it too, but that's not the world we live in, and I don't think we will any time soon.

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[–] quantumcrop@lemmy.today 11 points 4 days ago

I don't think you can extrapolate that from this. Recognizing economic hardship and understanding nuanced sexual dynamics in society are very different.

It would be like saying a child understands the military industrial complex and systematic oppression just because they liked GI Joe action figures or want to be in the army. Lots of kids just think helicopters and explosions are cool. Then their opinions change as they get older and begin to understand the actual toll on human life that a war takes.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 7 points 4 days ago (12 children)

This is an insane fucking take. Yes 12 year olds should not be feeling a desire to make pornography.

[–] Lazylazycat@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

It doesn't say they desire to make it, but that they recognise it's a viable way to make a living, which is true. I think this says more about how terrible wage slavery is and how difficult it is to survive on minimum wage, than anything else.

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[–] Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world 51 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In all fairness, you don't have to spend very long working in retail to feel like sex work not only probably pays much better, but is also probably a lot less degrading.

[–] Lazylazycat@lemmy.world 30 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

100% this. I've been sexually assaulted, spat at, threatened with the police, had a snake pulled on me (???). None of these things happen to you on only fans ( I guess you might have another kind of snake pulled on you eyyy) and you'd make significantly more money.

[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 47 points 5 days ago (3 children)

“Teens as young as 12“

Im pretty sure that's now how teens work...

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[–] vane@lemmy.world 26 points 4 days ago

That tells a lot about the job market.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 26 points 4 days ago

The solution is, of course, more censorship.

[–] nymnympseudonym@lemmy.world 21 points 5 days ago

Somebody start monitoring GOP members for trips to Spain

[–] Tedesche@lemmy.world 21 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I mean, oldest profession and all that. Shouldn’t be surprising. When you can just fill mason jars with tap water and let the imaginations of some horny others do the rest, what’s not to like?

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[–] MeaanBeaan@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I'm a 32 year old man with a receeding hairline. I too see OnlyFans as an appealing alternative to traditional work. Unfortunately no one else wants to see that.

[–] LMurch@thelemmy.club 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You would have an audience, but it's probably not the audience you want.

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[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Don't like 90% of onlyfan people make next to nothing? I thought only a small portion of them can actually afford to do it "full time".

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

Yeah, same thing with cam girls. A few popular ones can make a lot of money, but it's pretty common to see rooms that are mostly empty with a bored girl waiting for tips and slowly getting more and more discouraged.

There's so much free porn on the internet. Including theirs, because there's always people recording and wanting their own clout or money from sharing it. Though one plus side is due to the sheer volume of what's available, the "once it's on the internet, it never leaves" doesn't always apply. And even that which stays can be hard for anyone else to find due to the noise.

Though those who advertise their OF also advertise the search string to find it for free.

[–] Whitebrow@lemmy.world 17 points 5 days ago

The children yearn for the.. yikes.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Fascists: Omg, young people see online sex-work as a possible solution to their future bondage under capitalism!

Me: Change the system so that they can have a future otherwise.

Fascists: We're more interested in overreacting.

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[–] zd9@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago
[–] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

In person sex work might be safe from AI, only fans probably not.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

Do any of y'all pay for OnlyFans?

Like, I am single and horny/lonely, but… I don’t get it, even theoretically. What’s the appeal of viewing some performer through a one-way digital window over the deluge of free content?

And I get that some would be into that, but (apparently) a significant fraction of the planet? That I don't understand.

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[–] DougHolland@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Sorry, kids. Porn is another line of work that's going to dwindle away, thanks to AI.

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[–] krunklom@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

My ex saw onlyfans as a great way to make a living and express her sexuality after we broke up.

It did not go as well as she thought it would.

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