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OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

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Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#91

As a guy, I'm cool with this kind of stuff. But what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough or just don't want to do this kind of work? The message is that all the study, work, and effort to work in a meaningful career is a freaking joke, when all it takes is to be born a certain way and make huge amounts of money selling your body. On the other hand, we have a generation of young ma…

> The message is that all the study, work, and effort to work in a meaningful career is a freaking joke, when all it takes is to be born a certain way and make huge amounts of money selling your body.

It isn't much different than not being born into wealth, or not being able to marry into wealth because of looks. It exposes an inequity in our society, one that wouldn't be so harsh if people didn't have to sell their body to eat and keep a roof over their head.

Many people are driven by things other than money. There are plenty of people who are good looking, but want nothing to do with making a living from it.

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#92

My opinion: Porn is the new drug. Our daughters are the dealers and our sons are the users. Sex addiction fueled by free internet porn has ruined countless lives. At least OnlyFans is behind a paywall, keeping it out of view of children.

Incidentally, that's exactly the same logic behind gay conversion therapy: "you think this makes you happy, but it's actually a really unhealthy, unnatural lifestyle that will ultimately leave you isolated and alone, and harms society overall to boot".

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#93

As a guy, I'm cool with this kind of stuff. But what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough or just don't want to do this kind of work? The message is that all the study, work, and effort to work in a meaningful career is a freaking joke, when all it takes is to be born a certain way and make huge amounts of money selling your body. On the other hand, we have a generation of young ma…

> what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough

Arguably this same message is also being sent to boys, who almost certainly aren't "attractive" enough to be paid in this medium.

Aside from that, who is even paying these people? It's not like there's any dearth of free porn out there (or so I've heard). Unless it's someone rather famous or personally known to you, why bother?

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#94
The problem with modern society is everyone's a master of plausible deniability. Our obsession with legalism over plain ol ethics in America has created a culture where everyone's assessing what they can and cannot get away with and going from there, in so many ways and domains.

This is why enough comments in this thread are just circular arguments thinly veiling an opinion that does not want to fully shed itself into the light.

America has thus become such contradictory place that trust between random strangers is null and void, already a Hobbesian game of stalemate.

Progressives aren't any better; they rely on implicit, unwritten rules just as much as any strictly heteronormative conservative and so struggle with ethical nuance just as much.

Until Americans stop trying to game each other for what they can get instead of exposing themselves to one another utterly whenever they have to confront real, indissoluble ethical problems that can't be brute forced by partisanship.

And it's precisely because America really has no culture that it falls on America to face up to this task more than any other country.

Edit: No really, go back and re-read Leviathan, Hobbes doesn't say a state of nature is all-out violence, he specifically says nothing happens ("no industry or culture"); it's a stalemate. Nobody makes a move, so everybody loses

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#95

As a guy, I'm cool with this kind of stuff. But what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough or just don't want to do this kind of work? The message is that all the study, work, and effort to work in a meaningful career is a freaking joke, when all it takes is to be born a certain way and make huge amounts of money selling your body. On the other hand, we have a generation of young ma…

>But what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough or just don't want to do this kind of work?

Here's where the real damage gets done - women flock to onlyfans as they find it to be an easy way to sell their looks / body for money. They initially get interest and some (or a lot) of money. More beautiful girls join onlyfans, subscribers change and now you're left with yesterday's onlyfan star, having gained "worth" from her looks/body, now watching that "worth" dissipate.

Not to mention those images are now online forever.

>The message is that all the study, work, and effort to work in a meaningful career is a freaking joke, when all it takes is to be born a certain way and make huge amounts of money selling your body.

This already existed. Ugly rich/famous/powerful men don't get beautiful wives due to their glowing personality.

>But man, we are so fucked.

We are, from virtually every angle. Still, at least it's interesting.

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#96
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I've had MULTIPLE sellers violate my consent in hypnosis sessions. I'm not really familiar with this space, so forgive me if this is a dumb question, but what does this refer to? Do people buy hypnotism from cam folksover video chat? And if so, what would constitute a breach of consent? If that's too personal to ask, I apologize and respect your privacy. I genuinely know nothing about hypnotism, and it's been q…

> Do people buy hypnotism from cam folksover video chat? And if so, what would constitute a breach of consent? Well it's like anything else in that trade, some people like live, some would rather pre-order custom made content. Hypnosis is a big rabbit hole I'd rather not get too far into and we're already on the fringe of HN's overton window. One example might be trying to implant suggestions to give them more money.…

While I've only been hypnotized for therapeutic reasons, I would have definitely found a new therapist if my session contained any suggestions that would benefit the clinic... That's slimy.

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#97

As a guy, I'm cool with this kind of stuff. But what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough or just don't want to do this kind of work? The message is that all the study, work, and effort to work in a meaningful career is a freaking joke, when all it takes is to be born a certain way and make huge amounts of money selling your body. On the other hand, we have a generation of young ma…

>But what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough or just don't want to do this kind of work? Here's where the real damage gets done - women flock to onlyfans as they find it to be an easy way to sell their looks / body for money. They initially get interest and some (or a lot) of money. More beautiful girls join onlyfans, subscribers change and now you're left with yesterday's onlyfa…

> Not to mention those images are now online _forever_.

Online forever and owned by, or granted a license in perpetuity to, an entity that isn't you.

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#98
I watched this video recently about OnlyFans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djMojvschs0

It's more than just the content itself. "Becoming a fan" is a simulacra of a relationship, commodified. This already existed with escorts, of course, but never at this scale.

My personality type is probably closer to being a "consumer" than being a "producer" of content on OF. I don't use the site. But if I did, my status as a consumer would totally preclude being in a romantic relationship. Gonna go out on a limb and guess that most consumers and producers are in a similar situation -- if they're on OnlyFans, they're not in a real relationship.

It's only natural that taking genuine human connection, turning it financial, and then using the internet to turn it into a commodity and producing profit would extend to sex. I'm actually surprised it took so long.

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#99

As a guy, I'm cool with this kind of stuff. But what message does this send to girls who are not considered attractive enough or just don't want to do this kind of work? The message is that all the study, work, and effort to work in a meaningful career is a freaking joke, when all it takes is to be born a certain way and make huge amounts of money selling your body. On the other hand, we have a generation of young ma…

But what message does this send to girls I think the larger problem is the degree to which men refuse to engage women in a substantive intellectual fashion. I appear to be the highest ranked woman on HN. I've been here over a decade. It continues to be the case that most men don't really want to talk much with me unless they are hitting on me. This has proven to be a huge barrier to effective networking and a huge ba…

My observation as an AMAB person: you are absolutely 100% correct in your overall assessment, but I think your perception of relative ease for men has a filter of survivorship bias. Women aren't given much chance in the first place, but men have to walk a narrow line to access those chances and stay in once they get there. That's if they can walk the line in the first place.

The whole thing is a mess for everyone in an assortment of uniquely horrible ways across every intersection.

Re: OnlyFans, influencers, and the politics of selling nudes during a pandemic

#100
It is surprising as well as depressing that someone can get enough money to buy a house from OnlyFans payout. Goes to say how many people spend money on that kind of stuff. Instagram models living rich lifestyle is different as they endorse products and advertising is involved. This is just people paying to watch someones naked photos.
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