Job Losses Send Some Women to Online Sex Work

Samantha Rivera tucks her two-year-old in by 9 p.m. every night and worries about tomorrow. “When your income changes, and you have bills to pay, and you have a child to feed, or even just to feed yourself, you start looking for other alternatives.” The single mother lost her job as an administrative assistant at a concrete company in Queens, NY, and her childcare a few weeks into the pandemic. “I found myself very panicked,” she recalled.

23.1 million American’s were jobless by April 2020 —15.5 percent of them adult women. For Rivera, an error in her unemployment benefits worsened her economic situation. “What if I can’t pay my rent? So that’s when I started to worry. And I was like, ‘okay. I need another form of income,’” she said.

Enter OnlyFans (OF), a UK based subscription service that allows its users to sell and buy original content, from home workouts to pornography. The site exploded during the pandemic, with super stars like Beyoncé referencing the NSFW (not safe for work) platform in the hit song “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion. She sang, “Hips tik tok when I dance/On that Demon Time, she might start an OnlyFans.”

Rivera began selling nude photos of herself. She soon found the work wasn’t as easy as she had thought. “Here’s the thing. If you don’t already have a social media following that you can promote on, chances are you’re not going to make that much money,” Rivera said.

Yet, others do figure out a way to make the site lucrative for them. TsBellaCurves, who requested we use her stage name, created an OF account after she lost her job at Saks Fifth Avenue in Palm Beach. “I’m part of the Trans community, so most of my friends are sex workers and escorts. I had a lot of friends who were already doing [OF] and making lots and lots of money,” Bella said.

Money came in slowly at first, until she reached out to other girls for advice. Their suggestion? Promote on Twitter. “That’s where it really blew up. I started getting thousands and thousands of followers every day. I started in March and two months later, I had 40,000 followers. It was insane how quickly I blew up,” Bella said.

Bella’s success reflects the popularity of OF. The site generated $2 Billion in sales in 2020, and hundreds of thousands of people continue to set up an account every day. In a world where standing six feet apart from others is the new norm, it is easy to understand why OF is now a preferred platform for both fans and sex workers. “You don’t have to come in contact with anyone to make money off of them. It wasn’t like you had to go see the person or work a client. The money is there. It’s a lot safer,” said Bella.

But the women we spoke with, who expressed fear of judgment from loved ones should they find out, don’t see it as a long-term career. Rivera made $750 in a month but quit because of her young son. “For some reason, I felt guilty about it. I don’t know if it’s because I am a mother and I was nervous about him finding out someway when he gets older,” she said.

Bella got tired of the constant self-promotion. But her success allowed her to take a break and still bring in $3,000–$4,000 a month. “Though I’m not posting, I still have a bunch of people who resubscribe. These men are so stupid. They are getting charged, honey,” she said.

However successful, OF’s boom revealed a sad truth about the current job market. 2.3 million women are jobless as of January 2021, the highest since 1988. “I think that people, especially women, were put in a really rough spot. This was an opportunity for me to make money,” Rivera said.