Collective Shout volunteer Victoria interviewed
Former OnlyFans recruiter turned Collective Shout volunteer Victoria was interviewed for the Daily Telegraph last week, where she revealed the abuse and degradation of women she witnessed which ultimately led to her quitting her job.
When I got onto the OnlyFans platform I started to see everything. I started to see how they (subscribers) would talk to girls, I started to see content … I cried every single day.
The girls who were the youngest were the highest performers, so even if they were older than 18 we would say they were 18.
Victoria said the work took a mental toll on some of the women.
I know a lot of girls didn’t want to do OnlyFans anymore but a lot of them felt like they didn’t have another option. They felt that was the only thing that they were good for.
Some had to deal with being stalked by subscribers.
A lot of girls had so much anxiety they didn’t want to go out just in case someone does spot them … They would have stage names so that people wouldn’t find them.
Victoria said while the industry is perceived as being “liberating for women”, it’s still dominated by fans and agencies.
At the end of the day, it’s a service. If you’re not servicing your clientele, you’re not making money. The women are still very much controlled by the subs that they have, and their wants and needs by the agency’s wants and needs.
Victoria left her job working for an OnlyFans management agency after hearing CS Movement Director Melinda Tankard Reist speak on the harms of sexualisation and objectification to women and girls. She tells her story here.
How Australian media promotes the sex industry
In our joint report with the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia (CATWA), Side Hustles and Sexual Exploitation: Australian news media reporting and commentary on the sex industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, we found Australian media promoted the sex trade - including OnlyFans - as an attractive option for vulnerable women during COVID-19 pandemic.
The report found women’s participation in prostitution was framed as an expression of their sexuality and autonomy, and a pathway to empowerment and personal fulfilment as well as a way of making significant amounts of money - reports that are in stark contrast to the reality of the sex trade for many women within it:
Women in the sex industry are among some of the most marginalised and economically disadvantaged – with indigenous women, migrant women and women of colour overrepresented within it. Despite this, news media outlets overwhelmingly told stories of the outliers; positive reports from the small minority of women who were presented as regarding “sex work” as an affirming and profitable experience. Voices of women who were exploited and harmed, or who made very little money, were rarely included.
The report concluded there was
a dominant narrative of the sex industry as a viable, and even desirable, career choice or aspirational lifestyle for women. In selling the sex industry to women in this way, we found the media was not only reporting about the sex industry but actively promoting it.
In an industry based on the sexual objectification of women’s bodies, and various forms of male violence and exploitation of women and children, the Australian media’s endorsement of a reduction in regulation should be of significant concern to anyone who seeks to uphold the human rights of women and girls.
See also:
I recruited girls to sell themselves on OnlyFans. Here’s why I left.
Call on the U.S. Attorney General Investigate OnlyFans
New Report on OnlyFans: A Case Study of Exploitation in the Digital Age
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