A disturbing new study has found that girls as young as 12 are aware of online prostitution sites such as OnlyFans and see them as an appealing alternative to traditional work due to their promotion and normalisation on social and digital media.
The research, published in journal Sexuality & Culture in June, looked at high school students aged 12 to 16 in Spain and found that adolescents freely access sites like OnlyFans despite being minors, and have a sophisticated understanding of how they work.
The study found participants viewed the site as an “attractive professional alternative, especially for girls who meet the canons of beauty”, and frequently framed online prostitution as a matter of personal agency or choice while downplaying risks and harms.
“We were struck by how naturally adolescents discussed OnlyFans, demonstrating a clear understanding of its subscription-based model and even sharing techniques to bypass age restrictions,” study author Kristel Anciones-Anguita, a PhD candidate at the University of Alcalá, told PsyPost.
“What was most surprising was how some teens framed self-sexualisation as a form of personal choice or empowerment, without fully acknowledging the underlying economic and social pressures that influence such decisions.”
“Constant exposure to sexualised content through social media can significantly shape how adolescents view sexuality, empowerment, and economic opportunity.”
The study found that the young people were heavily influenced by the promotion of online prostitution sites on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, and reported seeing ads, posts and stories about women making thousands of Euros a month by selling themselves on the internet.
The participants also associated the site OnlyFans with financial success, and saw it as an appealing way to make money while bypassing traditional employment pathways.
“Some young people identified OnlyFans as a feasible way to generate income quickly and easily, perceiving it even as a more profitable alternative to traditional jobs. In other words, OnlyFans is seen as an easy way to make money, a better option than studying,” the authors wrote.
The study noted that “postfeminism and neoliberalism” has led to popular culture “normalising the hypersexualisation of women, their portrayal as sexually available, and the adoption of provocative and sexualised behaviours that were previously only associated with pornography”.
“This phenomenon reflects a growing social acceptance of explicit and provocative sexual behaviours promoted by the media,” the authors wrote.
“The production of explicit content and the monetisation of intimacy are increasingly perceived as legitimate forms of self-empowerment and pathways to financial success.”
OnlyFans, which has been the subject of repeated complaints about child abuse and non-consensual material, is owned by Fenix International Ltd and its sole shareholder Leonid Radvinsky, and is now worth about $8 billion, Reuters reported in May.
Radvinsky, a Jewish Ukrainian-American billionaire, bought a majority stake in the company in 2018 and increased its focus on pornography, paying himself dividends of at least $1 billion over the past three years.
