What Bella Thorne’s OnlyFans success means for sex workers’ online presence
By: Sophie Bange
Tags: Sex Work, Censorship, Bella Thorne, Onlyfans, Instagram

In the first 24 hours since launching her OnlyFans, actress Bella Thorne made history on the platform, earning $1 million from subscribers. She announced she’d be joining the site just one week ago via Instagram, and according to Paper Magazine, she plans to share “exclusive paid content” and “is also in talks to star in a documentary film about her experiences on the platform.” But Thorne’s occupation of a predominantly sex-worker-centered site overshadows the struggles faced by non-celebrities who rely on the platform to survive.

OnlyFans is a subscription-based site best known for adult content shared by sex workers and influencers, but more people have begun using the site to make ends meet since the coronavirus pandemic left them jobless. In April, HuffPost reported that OnlyFans had seen a 75% increase in sign-ups.

While not everyone on OnlyFans shares adult content, the site has been widely occupied and popularized by sex workers — and sex workers have voiced their concerns over the trivialization of their work. Toronto-based adult content creator Gwen Adora told Vice, “When people make jokes like, ‘Oh, ha ha ha, sex work is so funny, let’s start an OnlyFans,’ they don’t acknowledge the gravity of our situation,” stressing the prevalence of discrimination against and murders of sex workers. She also described that many people simply don’t understand how much work it takes.

To be a sex worker online is to be a content creator, producer and promoter. Many use social media, such as Twitter and Instagram, to lead potential subscribers to their OnlyFans. But even before the pandemic, sex workers were often shadow-banned or had their accounts deleted from Instagram for promoting their content. This was presumably a result of Instagram’s April 2019 decision to demote “inappropriate” or “borderline” content.

Bella Thorne, on the other hand, has had no problems openly promoting her OnlyFans on Instagram, from posts and stories to a link to her OnlyFans in her bio.

Sex workers are calling out the apparent hypocrisy of Instagram’s censorship policies, and expressing concerns over the celebrity’s takeover of OnlyFans.

The Adult Performers Actors Guild, a federally recognized union of performers in the adult film industry, asked their followers via Twitter if their Instagram accounts had been removed after promoting their OnlyFans. Answers range from “been deleted twice” to “nine times total.” When a sex worker’s ability to promote their content is compromised, so is their income — and potentially, their survival.

StopSpeakingForUs, an Instagram account created to amplify sex workers’ voices, shared a post sharing the frustrations of being censored on Instagram and having their space occupied by celebrities.

The post reads:

“Things like this are part of the reason this account exists. Actual sex workers have to carefully police themselves on social media or risk having their connections and a source of income disappear. Actual sex workers can’t have OnlyFans links in their bios or post photos that are a little too slutty or even discuss their jobs. I have had *text posts* mentioning sex work deleted on my personal account. Meanwhile, celebrities are free to post suggestive videos with their OnlyFans link included and proceed to rake in millions. And then have the audacity to talk about an upcomimg ‘sex work’ inspired movie. As if people who already have limitless resources and enormous followings are representative of the people on OnlyFans for her to say she’s ‘living it.’ We don’t fucking need a single piece of media created about sex work by a civilian or a celebrity playing dress up ever again. We’re going through a pandemic and struggling economy, causing sex workers to be even more vulnerable to hardship, and these motherfuckers are talking about making millions off our image?? Money better be getting donated & they better pass the mic to real sex workers.”

Thorne isn’t the first major celebrity to join OnlyFans. Earlier this month, Cardi B also announced via Instagram that she would join the site, but stressed that she won’t be sharing sexually explicit content, only giving a behind-the-scenes look at her day-to-day life.

While many fans appear supportive of her decision, she, too, has faced criticism for using the site. Non-celebrities using OnlyFans have to create their following from the ground up, and some are frustrated that mainstream celebrities with a large following can so easily capitalize off of subscription-based platforms that many rely on as a primary mode of income.

Celebrities’ occupation of sex workers’ spaces is about much more than their ability to promote content — it’s about representation and survival.

While celebrities using OnlyFans could potentially be a gateway towards normalizing sex work, accurate representation of sex workers in mainstream media is equally important. Cardi B used to be a stripper herself, and was able to bring her real-life experiences to her role in 2019’s Hustlers, but she alone wasn’t enough to prevent the film’s exploitation of sex workers (see “Why Some Sex Workers Aren’t Happy About ‘Hustlers’”).

Thorne told Paper, “OnlyFans is the first platform where I can fully control my image; without censorship, without judgement, and without being bullied online for being me.” Everyone should have the opportunity to control their own image and avoid being bullied. But many people do experience harassment both on and offline for using OnlyFans. As a celebrity, Thorne has the privilege of using the platform without fear of retaliation from friends, family, coworkers or even complete strangers.

And that’s what makes Thorne’s documentary plans so dubious. While it may shed some light on the platform itself, Thorne’s experience using OnlyFans will not be the experience of everyday sex workers who rely on subscriptions to survive. And those are the stories that need to be told if we want this world to be a safer place for sex workers, both online and on the streets.