Influenced: The OnlyFans Generation

How social media has changed the conversation around womens online sex work, money and empowerment.

OnlyFans was once a platform few people had heard of. Today, it's discussed on podcasts, referenced in TikTok comment sections and promoted alongside lifestyle content, beauty routines and "day in the life" vlogs.

As the boundaries between influencer culture and online sex work continue to blur, more young women are being exposed to careers that once existed largely out of public view.

Social media has helped normalise these conversations, however it has also raised new questions around privacy, ambition and consequences.

Through the experiences of two women working in the industry, this feature explores how the digital age has reshaped sex work, and the generation growing up alongside it.

From Taboo to Timeline

How OnlyFans grew, and online sex work became increasingly mainstream.

Let's begin with some statistics...

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377.5

million registered users

The UK has roughly 70 million people, meaning OnlyFans’ registered user count is equivalent to more than five UK populations.

4.63

million registered creators

That's roughly 1 OnlyFans creator for every 82 registered users on the platform.

$5.8

BILLION earned in latest financial year

Equivalent to around $16 million paid out every single day - roughly enough to rebuild Wembley Stadium 5 times...

In less than a decade, OnlyFans has gone from a relatively unknown subscription site to one of the biggest names in the creator economy.

Launched in 2016, the platform allows creators to charge subscribers for access to exclusive content.

OnlyFans is not exclusively an adult platform, it has become widely associated with online sex work, and it's popularity exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic, when lockdown pushed more of everyday life, work and entertainment onto a screen.

Today, the scale is difficult to ignore. The platform has approximately 377.5 million registered users worldwide, and 4.63 million creators, with creators collectively earning $5.8 billion in its latest reported financial year

The platform operates on an 80/20 model, meaning creators retain 80% of their earnings, and the platform takes the remaining 20%.

(Source: OnlyFans/Fenix International latest accounts)

But the shift is about more than numbers alone. Researchers have positioned OnlyFans at the intersection of social media, digital labour, sex work and entrepreneurship. Studies of creators highlight the less visible work involved - marketing, audience engagement, content planning, customer management and emotional labour.

Sex Work, Screens and Scrutiny

Layla's story: The realities of the work, money, stigma, and being an "out and proud" sex worker.

Layla Jones has been a sex worker for almost a decade. Today, she is open and unapologetic about her career, working across webcam modelling, escorting and OnlyFans. But at 22, her introduction to the industry came at one of the lowest points of her life.

“Looking back, I was so young, but at the time I felt like I’d already failed"

She had gained weight, lost jobs, experienced trauma and moved back in with her parents. At one point, she had even been sleeping in a tent.

“Everything seemed to go wrong at once, and I was desperate.”

That desperation would eventually take her more than 1,000 miles from home, to Estonia, where she moved into a so-called “webcam mansion”.

It sounds glamorous. Layla quickly discovered otherwise.

“The house was dirty, nobody seemed particularly happy and the income wasn’t there,”

“Many others had travelled there expecting to make a fortune and left disappointed.”

Almost a decade later, Layla is reluctant to romanticise the circumstances that brought her into the industry.

“I actually think desperation is the worst reason to get into sex work. If I could go back, I’d probably have worked a few shifts in a pub first because I entered the industry feeling like I had no other options.”

Estonia became an unlikely education. Layla returned to the UK knowing which websites to use, how agencies operated and where to find clients. She signed with an agency she remains contracted to today, eventually leaving conventional employment behind.

And as Layla's career continued, the world around it began to evolve.

“Years ago, when I told people what I did, they were genuinely stunned."

“Now the reaction is more curiosity than disbelief.”

For Layla, this isn't simply about more women choosing sex work. She believes the internet has exposed people to alternative lifestyles and careers at the same time as conversations around burnout, poor working conditions and the traditional nine-to-five have become increasingly commonplace.

But greater visibility hasn't necessarily brought acceptance.

Social media can provide community, advice and even safety for sex workers, but Layla describes the same platforms as “incredibly hostile”. She has lost multiple accounts after being reported, despite following platform rules.

Some of the stigma extends far beyond her work.

“One of the biggest misconceptions is that sex workers can't be loyal or committed in relationships,” she added.

For someone who has spent almost a decade watching attitudes towards her profession change, Layla's response is simple:

“Sex work doesn't automatically determine someone's values or their ability to love and commit to a partner.”

Watch the highlights of Layla's interview on our Instagram @awomansinfluence or scan the QR below!

For a generation raised on TikTok and Instagram, online sex work does not necessarily exist in a separate corner of the internet. It can sit alongside fashion hauls and lip-syncs, as creators build mainstream audiences, earning money through subscription platforms elsewhere.

For one OnlyFans creator, who will remain anonymous to protect her professional and family life, that crossover was how she first discovered the platform.

“I got into it from looking at influencers on TikTok like Anna Paul and Mikaela Testa,”

“At first I didn’t realise what they do. I thought that they were just influencers online doing day-in-the-life vlogs and WIEIAD (what I eat in a day) videos.”

After discovering the exclusive side of their careers, and the money reportedly being made, she eventually started her own account. She has now used OnlyFans for around three years, but maintains a traditional career alongside it and keeps the two identities completely separate.

Perhaps nowhere is the crossover between influencer culture and adult content more visible than Bop House.

Launched in Florida in December 2024 by OnlyFans creators Sophie Rain and Aishah Sofey, the original collective brought together eight women aged between 19 and 24. Within just a month, its TikTok account had amassed more than 1.3 million followers, with the members collectively commanding an audience of more than 33 million across social media. Their TikTok strategy borrowed heavily from mainstream influencer culture, viral trends, challenges and lifestyle content — whilst weaving in more suggestive posts designed to capture attention and ultimately drive audiences towards their subscription platforms.

(Source: Fast Company, 2025)

But for this anonymous creator, watching increasingly young women enter the industry has raised concerns.

Despite understanding “the money aspect and the appeal of fame”, she views her own account as "pocket money" rather than an alternative to conventional employment.

“I have my main career to fall back on, but I also have a house, I have bills to pay, I have kids that I need to support. I'd be lying if I said my salary alone was keeping us afloat”

For the OnlyFans generation, sex work has never been more visible. The question is whether the reality behind it is equally easy to see.