If you have been a member of social media longer than a hot minute, you will have at one point or another ran into conversations or notations concerning a site called Only Fans. I myself am not a member of the site, nor have I ever even browsed their site, but millions of people have, and do on the daily. It is a very successful website, that commands traffic like nobody's business.
What makes this site successful, you ask? They sell a product which is almost older than time itself. SEX. Sex has always sold, and sex will always sell. There will be no stopping the revenue stream sex enables. Is this a bad thing? Some would argue so, whilst others would demand it continue as their right to pursue happiness. I will not muddy the waters with my own two cents as my purpose is to make you think, rather than telling you what to think.
The website is comprised of independent artists who sell their wares, while the parent company enriches itself with a percentage of the profit. Capitalism at work my friends. Is this exploitation of a vulnerable class, or merely a symbiotically successful business venture? The artists who employ this site as a means of product distribution are noted to do so as consenting adults. This means that no one is forcing them to join, display, or sell their items on the site, which is good yes? This does not mean that some of the content creators have not been "forced" down this avenue out of desperation for means of survival, yet this remains a choice they themselves have made to ensure continued housing, and negate physical hunger.
The majority of creators are of the female persuasion. Why do you think that is? Could it be due to the customer base being comprised of majority males? History has shown us that men are willing to pay for sex and pleasure in one form or another. This has always been true, and always will be true.
I am reserving judgement here, but many aren't. In fact, quite a few are very vocal in regards to their distaste, disdain, and downright hatred of sites such as these. The most vehement critics I have taken note of, are male. Not to say that some women are not anti-porn peddlers, they are, but men are more vocal about their dislike. What is it about these sites that make a minority slice of men angry?
Who are these men? I am going to break it down to the reasoning voiced for the disturbance of the existence of said sites as a classifier. 1)It is immoral 2)It is indecent 3)It is a stain upon society 4)Women are whores 5)It is exploitation 6)It encourages and abets human trafficking 7)You shouldn't have to pay for porn, or feminine attention. Do you agree with any of these opinions?
The outrage is real, folks. The focal point of the outrage is what bothers me though. Where is the focus spotlighted? Women. Women are the beings who bear the blame and shame. Look back to reason #4. Women are accused of taking advantage of lonely depressed males who do not have, or are not capable of forming "normal" intimate relationships with the opposite sex, which leads them to sites where women are readily available to fulfill their erotic fantasies, and provide them with a feeling of the intimacy they lack in real life.
Men make a choice to visit these sites. They make a decision to spend their money on them as well. Who are we to declare these men victims, when they themselves have opted to walk this path? As well, what right do we have to blame women for selling these men a product that they obviously desire? Companies sell their products online daily, and no one complains, but since they are not selling sexual images, it is ok, right? Earning a living is what we as human beings have been indoctrinated to do, yet if it is done so in a proscribed manner (even if legal), than it is condemned, and the sellers scorned.
The entirety of my issue with this conflict, is that women are being blamed and shamed, yet if men were not willing to purchase the content, then there would be no sellers. Supply and demand is very much the root origination of the sex work industry, so why are men not bearing the brunt of blame, when they are the ones enabling the continuation of women producing content?
Thoughts, and opinions always welcomed.
