OnlyFans is problematic for some but for me it’s empowering – and incredibly lucrative

When the pandemic hit and Victoria, 24, from Southampton, lost her job, she decided to start working for OnlyFans, creating sex videos and often explicit images for her subscribers. The website has proven to be a divisive business since launch in 2016 due to its association with criminal activity such as harassment and abuse, but she claims it’s provided an opportunity to create a lucrative business that affords her a luxury lifestyle...

To me, being a sex worker on OnlyFans is all about how I can make money and carve out a nice life for myself. The money you can make is absolutely endless – it just depends how much work you want to put in.

I started working on the site during the first lockdown in November 2020. I’d been made redundant from my job because it was a close contact role (I was an aesthetic practitioner doing Botox etc) and financially, I was struggling.

I’d done a bit of swimwear modelling but never any sex work before, and had no idea how OnlyFans worked. One of my closest friends was already a ‘veteran’ of the site and one of their top earners. She was the main incentive for me giving it a go.

My dream then was simply to be able to fill my tank up with petrol. Now I can do that every time I go to the garage. Within the first month of starting my account, I had bought a Range Rover and paid off my mum’s bills for her – I suddenly had huge amounts of money.

The way I describe how my job works is that it’s just like having a racy Instagram account but people pay to see it. It’s a subscription service, so subscribers to my page pay $12 (nearly £10) a month. (It’s an American company).

For that, they get to see my content such as fun, sexy pictures including nude and ‘open-legged’ shots, pictures of me in lingerie, or just of my face. I also post short, sexy ‘teaser’ videos showing what else you can buy on top of your basic subscription – it’s these pay-per-view videos that make you the money.

This menu of more exclusive content includes sexy strip dances and solo sex tapes which cost $40 (around £33). The most expensive thing I've done is a full-length sex tape for $65 (approx. £53) where I'm having full-on sex with a partner.

Read more: Meet the ethical porn producer creating female-friendly erotic films

Occasionally I get one-off requests asking for things like ‘more feet’ pictures (feet is one of the many fetishes catered for on the site – there really is something for everyone!) but that would be a custom-made video and costs extra too.

I have only ever done a sex tape with a guy I'm having an actual relationship with at the time but I have a very business-like approach to them: subscribers expect the action to be from certain angles. Also, they have to be the right length – a full sex tape should be at least 15 minutes.

Because sex tapes are basically porn and most men will get off on that, they are the biggest sellers. In my opinion, OnlyFans is the sort of site you go to see people you wouldn’t normally meet or wouldn’t normally speak to you in real life, so paying for it is the only way you get to see them naked or having sex.

The website isn’t my only source of income – I'm also a swimwear model and I do Page 3 – but it is my biggest. I usually upload a couple of photos and videos per week and go on there every day to reply to people’s messages.

One of the things that I love about it, is that it ticks over even if you aren’t posting content because people are still paying their subscriptions and want to see the content you already have up there.

If I fancy a shopping trip, I can just log into my OnlyFans account and withdraw a few hundred pounds. The website kind of drip feeds you money and you are in control of your earning power, which feels really liberating. I can do it from wherever – the beach, my home, wherever I feel safe – and I can do it whenever I like too, as much or as little as I want.

Read more: ‘I want women to take ownership of their sexual pleasure,’ says female director of hook-up app

For me, and most people who work for the site, it’s a business. I don’t attach any emotion to it. You are the product and you are just trying to market yourself and get people to spend money. So, I simply post what I think the guys are going to like.

Yes, some people judge me for what I do, but at the end of the day, it’s just a job to me and why would I do a boring nine to five job in an office when I can get paid much more to do something more fun and in my own time?

Having said that, you do need to have a thick skin to do this line of work. Whenever you post yourself online, you open yourself up to intense scrutiny and there will be nasty comments.

Read more: More women feel they will be 'judged' for having multiple sexual partners

The main haters I find are men – but it’s all so hypocritical which is why I take it with a pinch of salt. Some men don’t believe that women should get paid for their own perversions, but they are the ones who are the direct consumers.

The way I see it, men are effectively being sold a fantasy by you and they are buying it. Part of the business is trying to build a rapport with your subscribers and make them think they’re getting the real you, but it’s all a façade.

My job is just acting – I'm playing a part. Nobody would want to know the real Victoria that sits in every night watching TV – what’s attractive about that? But on the website I have an alter ego – the sexy girl next-door who’s a sex addict. If men are going to pay for that fantasy, then that’s up to them.

People ask, how do I feel about having to pretend to be someone else in order to appease men? But sometimes when I’m sitting in my pyjamas with a face mask on, cup of tea and biscuits, saying to one of my subscribers, ‘Oh I feel so horny right now’ I feel like I'm having the last laugh.

Just because it’s sex work doesn’t mean I'm a bad person or immoral. I'm no different to anyone else doing any other sort of job and making a living. It doesn’t define me.

That’s why I'm passionate about destigmatising this kind of work and challenging the victim-blaming mentality of, ‘Oh well she does OnlyFans so she deserves it’ or ‘She was wearing a short skirt so she deserves abuse…’

Read more: Why I'm proud to be sex-positive

I'm proud to be collaborating with entertainment company Electric Noir Studios who are working to shift perceptions of sex workers by creating an interactive video game that also shares the potential dangers of being an online sex worker.

It portrays women and sex workers as relatable, fallible, ordinary people, highlighting the right for women to live in safety, regardless of their jobs or sexual preferences.

In my real life, everyone including my boyfriends, my parents and my two older brothers are supportive of what I do. They figure, as long as I'm safe and they know it’s affording me a comfortable life, then they’re happy. If my family who love me most and care about me aren’t worried about it and don’t judge me for it, then why should anybody else?

Disclaimer: This is one woman’s account of life as a sex worker. Sex work, despite often being lucrative, can involve significant risks to your mental health, physical health, your safety off-line, and is associated with a risk of being trolled or stalked. While sex work is legal in the UK apart from in Northern Ireland, some of the activities surrounding the exchange of sex for money are criminal offences, such as soliciting for business in a public place, i.e. on the street. This does not include OnlyFans.

OnlyFans' statement to Yahoo UK: “At OnlyFans, we are committed to robust protections and controls that ensure the safety, privacy and well-being of our creators, employees and OnlyFans community.

"Each post and account on OnlyFans has a report button. If you see any content on OnlyFans which you suspect could be modern slavery or human trafficking, you can click the report button to tell us what you saw or email us.

"We work in partnership with NGOs to make the internet a safer place – for example, The Child Rescue Coalition to support them in their fight against child sexual abuse.”