Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

elle.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 261 posts

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

#111

Post by mkr-hn »

dijit wrote: post #110
DoreenMichele wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but I think your perception of relative ease for men has a filter of survivorship bias Please don't put words in my mouth. My life is hard enough without that. I never expected anything to be easy. Just possible. My Patreon sits at around $150/month and I get the occasional tip while I get accused of being a beggar for expecting pay for my writing at all when all other doors are effectively closed to me for various r…

I understand, I think, that life has certainly been unkind in many areas for you. I know this is going to sound mean, given your context, but that is anecdotal. I know (personally) women who have doors flung open for them for the fact that they are women. I don’t tend to agree with it, but I won’t judge those who take advantage. I know at least one person who uses her femininity very effectively to fund her passion p…

Trading personality for employing unearned traits to get through life sounds like a bad deal. I can perform masculinity to top standards and bullshit my way through life, but then I'd lose myself. I doubt it's any different for AFAB people who lucked into good looks and wished they could thrive on merit.

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

#112

Post by DoreenMichele »

mkr-hn wrote: post #108
DoreenMichele wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but I think your perception of relative ease for men has a filter of survivorship bias Please don't put words in my mouth. My life is hard enough without that. I never expected anything to be easy. Just possible. My Patreon sits at around $150/month and I get the occasional tip while I get accused of being a beggar for expecting pay for my writing at all when all other doors are effectively closed to me for various r…

I didn't realize you were talking about HN instead of in general. It's weird and fickle. One day you promote collective action on big problems and get lots of upvotes, the next you're run out as a traitor to capitalism. It sounds like you get all of the latter and none of the former.

I am talking about HN and in general. I had a corporate job for five years as well and I did mention, above, my failure to make sufficient in roads in meat space since getting back into housing.

I don't bitch more about HN because while it is infuriating and upsetting I remain dirt poor, HN is generally less bad about most things than most places, so it's all kinds of problematic to harp too much on it here. It amounts to being abusive to some of the better people on the planet.

But it's equally problematic to not harp on it. That doesn't solve my problem here either.

So even the best of the best that I can find are still failing to go "I know! If we care about the status of women, we should figure out some kind of path forward on helping this very talented, intelligent, educated and persistent woman in our midst who has spent over a decade proving she's absolutely not some kind of man-hating feminazi."

I don't think it would be unreasonable at this point for me to just lose my shit and go completely postal over this garbage. I'm not, cuz reasons, but this is pretty goddamned ridiculously extreme stuff that any idiot should be able to see "That ain't right."

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

#113

Post by thatcat »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #105
mkr-hn wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

but I think your perception of relative ease for men has a filter of survivorship bias Please don't put words in my mouth. My life is hard enough without that. I never expected anything to be easy. Just possible. My Patreon sits at around $150/month and I get the occasional tip while I get accused of being a beggar for expecting pay for my writing at all when all other doors are effectively closed to me for various r…

Men face the same difficulties you describe when starting a career and getting paid for the value they provide. Simply because 1% of men do not face that due to networking or luck does not mean that the vast majority are in some privileged position.

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

#114

Post by BubRoss »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #107
BubRoss wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you shouldn't write huge blocks of text about yourself in threads that are supposed to be focused on a specific topic.

This is one of the many bullshit excuses I get for why it's okay for no one here to break with tradition and somehow find some way to reach out to me and help me solve this. It amounts to a silencing technique: We don't really want to know what poor people or women or whatever think. No opinions allowed except those of "the right kind of people" supported in "the right way" which pretty much guarantees that the statu…

As a gay poor woman, get over yourself. If you don't have a blog, start one. If you have one, write off topic thoughts there. No one is silencing you by not engaging in whatever you want to talk about in threads about specific articles. A lack of engagement and attention doesn't make you a victim. I don't go into a retirement home trying to sell skateboards and get upset because I think the world owes me something.

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

#115

Post by DoreenMichele »

dijit wrote: post #110
DoreenMichele wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but I think your perception of relative ease for men has a filter of survivorship bias Please don't put words in my mouth. My life is hard enough without that. I never expected anything to be easy. Just possible. My Patreon sits at around $150/month and I get the occasional tip while I get accused of being a beggar for expecting pay for my writing at all when all other doors are effectively closed to me for various r…

I understand, I think, that life has certainly been unkind in many areas for you. I know this is going to sound mean, given your context, but that is anecdotal. I know (personally) women who have doors flung open for them for the fact that they are women. I don’t tend to agree with it, but I won’t judge those who take advantage. I know at least one person who uses her femininity very effectively to fund her passion p…

I understand, I think, that life has certainly been unkind in many areas for you.

This is another bs dismissal of my criticisms.

I appear to be the only woman to have ever spent time on the leader board. Between my two handles, I have over 50k karma, which would put me respectably high on the leader board if it were one handle.

You are "anecdotally" acting like this is some personal problem for me as an individual. If I'm just some loser that life has kicked in the teeth having nothing to do with my gender, where are the many other openly female members who are on the leader board and/or obviously making bank through their participation here?

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

#116

Post by vharuck »

rland wrote: post #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 c…

Things you're assuming:

1. Consumers use OnlyFans as a poor substitute to an in-person relationship.

2. It's always better to be in a romantic relationship than not.

How is camgirling and pornography so different from other performance? What about comedians? They do the same thing as friends: tell jokes, laugh, entertain. A lot of them explicitly try to connect with the audience by asking questions and having short chats. But most people realize comedians aren't a substitute for friends.

The only real difference is your other assumption:

3. Sexuality outside romantic relationships is immoral.

You can argue that point. Personally, I'd be uncomfortable watching or interacting with a live person this way (I really didn't enjoy my only visit to a strip club). But I'm not going to generalize my psyche across others.

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

#117

Post by sometw »

diffrinse wrote: post #76
sometw wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bite and talk about the subject, since I've been involved in that community as both a buyer and sort-of-seller (Helped a ManyVids star rise to the top 20 in their category with feedback, strategy and ehem... 'collaborations' but I'll get back to that) I don't find sex work in and of itself immoral. That is of course an opinion. On the other hand... It's another subculture in and of itself. And unfortunately, it'…

Do you think the lack substantive social acceptance for sex work drives this behavior to an extent (you mention "living on the edge of acceptable behavior"), e.g. either side can cheat and leverage the risk of public exposure no matter how small (enough to prevent you from communicating with customer service)

I think it drives some of the behaviors, yes. If more people were okay with sex work, doxing would be less of a fear for both sides.

OTOH, In general, even sex-positive people often (and have a right to) prefer to keep the details of their escapades as to themselves as possible.

I -do- think there's a lot of room here for better platforms for sellers -and- buyers, but it's an industry nobody wants to get into because of all the bookkeeping and risk involved.

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

#118

Post by ajconway »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #88
mydongle wrote: post #62

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…

But what is the real problem that women have? Is it about the lack of fairness in the society they live in? Is it a problem world-wide?

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

#119

Post by legostormtroopr »

More power to people selling if it works for them, I'm just concerned they aren't thinking about their futures. As crass as people will say this is, selling your body is selling access to a depreciating asset. While they might be making good money now, eventually these girls will grow up. Slowly they'll see subscribers dip, but only enough for them to think they can adjust their product.

But there will always be someone younger, or just newer, and what they are selling won't be a "hot commodity" any more. At that point to either drop out broke, or creep towards more hardcore offerings.

Eventually they'll be burned out of the system, they'll have burned through their early career, likely with little to show for it, and with no real career skills or plan.

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

#120

Post by mydongle »

cmdshiftf4 wrote: post #95
mydongle wrote: post #62

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…

Imagine being a kid today and school bullies finding your mother's old OnlyFans pictures.
Post reply on HN