Competing platform imaginaries of NSFW content creation on OnlyFans

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the competing platform imaginary of content subscription platform OnlyFans. A feminist content analysis of news articles, memes, and posts to the official OnlyFans blog reveals that the dominant platform imaginary of OnlyFans is one of women selling Not Safe for Work (NSFW), or adult, content – even though there is room for resistance and alternative platform use too. The platform’s corporate communication contests the NSFW platform imaginary by featuring mostly Safe for Work content creators, which deliberately attempts to leave room to distance OnlyFans from NSFW in future. In a social media landscape that often deplatforms NSFW content, I argue that the way OnlyFans renders its NSFW creators invisible does real harm to these creators and their opportunities.

KEYWORDS:

• OnlyFans
• porn
• social media
• platforms
• content creators
• NSFW

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.