March 2023: OnlyFans and the Reality of Online Prostitution

Culture Reframed is the premier science-based, global organization working to stop the emotional, behavioral, and sexual harms of pornography to children and youth. Join our online community to receive updates on our work, announcements of upcoming events, and the latest news related to pornography and youth.

This month’s newsletter explores two dangerous offshoots of the porn industry: OnlyFans and hentai. Their immense popularity adds to the harm chain of the global porn industry and threatens the safety of children.

Below, you can read about the online pornographic ecosystem and the rise of OnlyFans, an online social media platform that invites users to pay for content — most of which is pornography.

We also explore hentai: pornographic — and often violent — cartoons in the style of Japanese anime. Hentai was the most-searched term on Pornhub last year. It is also one of the most common ways children are introduced to porn.

There are actions that can be taken to minimize the dangers of pornography on youth. Age verification legislation, for instance, would help make it harder for kids to access sites like OnlyFans or to watch hentai on Pornhub. Read more about these topics and our call to action below.

Culture Reframed Research Associate Eric Silverman explores the online pornographic ecosystem in which sexual services are bartered and sold. Silverman argues that this ecosystem arises from and depends on online porn: mainstream porn websites, OnlyFans, and other content subscription services and sexual webcamming platforms. He says these sites and services do not, as OnlyFans claims, allow the development of “authentic relationships.” Instead, they peddle inauthentic sexual exploitation, resulting in online prostitution.

Pornhub’s Year in Review 2022 showed that “hentai” is the most popular search term on the site. Hentai — pornographic cartoons in the style of Japanese anime — depicts child-like characters being sexually abused. Studies show that a large percentage of children are introduced to pornography via hentai.

In a recent article published by Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, Culture Reframed’s Dr. Gail Dines and Dr. Amanda Sanchez discuss the dangers of hentai and the pornification of childhood. They present three imperative steps that must be taken to protect children from the harms of the pornography industry: age verification legislation, civil lawsuits, and porn-critical sex education.

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