OnlyFans definitely cares deeply about its sex worker creators. As long as they follow some arbitrary new rules.
The platform — made popular and successful by sex workers— inspired outrage and disbelief Thursday when it announced that it would ban sexually explicit content. It released details in a revised acceptable use policy on Friday, which will go into effect on Oct. 1.
The guidelines prohibit content, which includes both photos and videos, that contains sexual intercourse, masturbation, and some “extreme” or “offensive” (???) depictions of genitals. Here’s the relevant portions of the new policy.
Do not upload, post, display, or publish Content on OnlyFans that…shows, promotes, advertises or refers to “sexually explicit conduct”, which means:
1. actual or simulated sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, between persons of any sex;
2. actual or simulated masturbation;
3. any exhibition of the anus or genitals of any person which is extreme or offensive;
4. actual or simulated material depicting bodily fluids commonly secreted during sexual conduct.
As OnlyFans acknowledged in a tweet — and as creators on social media had already pointed out — the new rules aim to appease payment platforms. They also seem arbitrary and subjective, and both prudish and sexist at the same time. What counts as “extreme” or “offensive” genitalia exhibition? Why are boobs a-ok?
Essentially, the rules prohibit sex acts in which a creator is a participant who sets their own limits. But fans can still gawk at certain (female) body parts in a way companies like Mastercard, apparently, find acceptable. Like a Mardi Gras “show your tits” circle, embodied in an acceptable use policy.
Sex workers who have had the rug pulled out from under them are already discussing moving to new platforms on social media. As the internet saw with Tumblr’s banning of sexually explicit content, the phenomenon of building a platform through the popularity of sex workers, and then hanging them out to dry, is one sex workers have seen before.
OnlyFans may say it cares about its sex worker creators. But it clearly cares about getting paid more.
