OnlyFans and Homemade Porn: A Springboard to Erotic Self-Expression

The subscription-based content hosting platform, OnlyFans, which some people go so far as to call the Instagram or Patreon of porn, now has 20 million subscriptions worldwide. It allows a large number of creators to earn an income by posting exclusive content, often of a pornographic nature. I spoke with Naïla, Simon, and Blanche about their experiences and ideas using this online tool.

While Naïla, Simon, and Blanche are three completely different people, what brings them together today is that they all have an OnlyFans account on which they have posted (or currently publish) adult content. Nalia does it part-time, Simon has since quit, and Blanche recently celebrated her first anniversary of posting adult content.

Feminist and adult content creator

Naïla, who is better known by her pseudonym “la grosse qui fait des vidéos” (“the fatty who makes videos”), made her debut in adult content creation in 2014. At the time, it was via Snapchat, on which she exchanged photos, videos, sexting sessions, or erotic calls for money with her subscribers But she’s been openly describing herself as an adult content creator only since May 2020.

Snapchat and Instagram deleted her accounts in early 2021 due to their policies for sexually oriented posts being very strict Today, OnlyFans is the platform she uses the most. She shares videos of herself twerking and masturbating, and photos of herself clad in lingerie.

“I make the content that I want. I take custom orders, but I set my boundaries. Afterwards, I admit finding these boundaries more difficult to respect when times are rough, financially.”

While she used to work as a barista, today, Naïla’s main source of income is from the creation of adult content. During our call, Naïla’s OnlyFans account was followed by 50 fans, a lower number than usual (she usually has between 80 and 120). She explains that she has been creating less content lately, leading to fewer new subscriptions and to several people canceling theirs. Naïla claims to have already earned up to $4,000 per month, an amount from which she had to subtract around $2,000 in material expenses.

“I think everyone should have the right to do whatever they want with their body. I love what I do, and the day I stop loving it, I’ll quit. It’s as simple as that.”

Changing course due to the pandemic

Simon, who had long dreamed of working in the porn industry, auditioned for a role at the age of 18, nearly 10 years before joining the social media platform considered the epicenter of homemade adult content. At the time, it was others’ judgment that discouraged him from doing so.

“The profession of porn acting is not well perceived in our society. At 18, I wasn’t equipped to handle other people’s judgments. I’m much better equipped today.”

Simon chose to pursue a career in marketing. At the end of 2019, however, he re-visited and in a way, reconciled with the porn world by creating his OnlyFans account. He made up to $300 per month posting about one video per week. Earning enough from his day job to support himself, he says he’s privileged to have been able to quit OnlyFans overnight without having to worry about income.

For him, OnlyFans was the perfect way to get closer to his dream while having the chance to have control over what he created and shared. The fact that there is still a lot of shame surrounding OnlyFans only turned him on even more, almost turning it into a kink. He made his butt his signature image and went so far as to honor a fan’s voyeurism fantasy by sharing a video of himself in the act on his front balcony on Sherbrooke Street.

His libido having been decimated by the pandemic Simon recently stopped posting on his OnlyFans account after almost a year of creating content. While the idea of other people seeing him in the middle of a sexual encounter with another man turned him on in the past, today he admits that he no longer wants that. The last few pandemic months have also allowed him to understand that his sexuality wasn’t linear.

“I find that porn actors and sex workers have a lot of courage. There’s still a lot of stigma surrounding their profession. Being part of it made me feel good. I loved exploring my sexuality that way. ”

Other than his changing libido, Simon admits not yet having accepted the changes his body has recently experienced. He’s learning to love the 25 pounds his body has gained over the past few months. For the moment, he prefers to reconnect with the person he’s become away from cameras and subscribers’ gaze.

Losing her job and becoming her own boss

In March 2020, when the Quebec government declared a provincial health emergency, Blanche, alias DarkOnyxx, like so many Quebecers, lost her job. What could have been bad news turned out, in his case, to be rather positive.

Long before the pandemic, Blanche had a great interest in the pornography industry With the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), she found herself having enough money to pay rent and a lot of time on her hands to invest her body and soul into a project she was passionate about: opening an OnlyFans account on which she began posting her own cosplay-type adult content.

In only one year, she racked up $200,000 gross. She invested a significant part of her income in the purchase of material and equipment (clothes, erotic accessories, cameras, monitors, etc.). A true entrepreneur, Blanche devotes nearly 60 hours per week to her project, from the creation of pornographic content to community management, including accounting, the purchasing of equipment, and everything directly or indirectly related to the management of her brand.

“For me, OnlyFans is a really nice way to make sure that I am always in charge of and ok with the content that I create.”

Today, she uses TikTok, Twitch, Reddit, and Instagram to gain exposure, and OnlyFans and MYM to post the adult content she creates. While she started her career posting professional-looking photos, she quickly realized that, in her case, less polished content in which fans feel as though they’re part of the show was more successful.

“I respect myself a lot more now that I’m doing a job that I love and that makes me happy. When you think about it, we spend 40 hours a week working. So we might as well do something we love and in which we respect ourselves.”

Creating for others ourselves

Naïla and Blanche openly talk about their job to those around them. Simon is more discreet, though without really hiding it either. All three have allowed several hundred people to feed their fantasies and quench their thirst for pornography through their content.

Beyond making content for others, the three of them are now helping to democratize a profession that, still in 2021, creates quite a stir. For them, the journey was about fulfillment. They chose to get into adult content for themselves first and foremost, rather than for others.

If reading this article has piqued your curiosity, there’s an episode of our podcast, À quoi tu jouis?, that tackles the myths and realities of pornography (available in French only).

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE