5 things to know about sexual exploitation in the US, worldwide
1. OnlyFans recruiting women and girls to make pornographic content
Victoria Sinis had never been exposed to pornography before she started working for an OnlyFans agency that reviewed women's pages and advised those with a large number of subscribers on how to promote their OnlyFans account to boost subscriptions.
Sinis began her presentation by explaining that there are many misconceptions about OnlyFans, as many believe it’s possible for someone to make a ton of money selling pictures of their feet or other content that doesn’t seem sexually explicit. She explained that OnlyFans often draws in college students looking to make money or girls who believe they can achieve happiness and success through the platform.
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According to Sinis, the girls posting content must adhere to a set of rules. Once they have enough subscribers, they begin working with an agency, which tells them the level of content they can post. The levels range from bikini wear, which was level one, to implied nudity and full nudity, levels two and three. The higher the level goes, the more explicit the content.
“Now, I came up with this idea, actually,” Sinis said. “I was like: ‘Why do we have a level one?’ This doesn’t make us any money. People see this content on Instagram.”
After getting rid of level one, the next round of girls coming in were forced to provide content that already went beyond what they might be comfortable with, which Sinis noted is “coercive.”
When it came to recruiting girls to make content, Sinis said the agency’s strategy eventually shifted to “the younger, the better.” If a girl making content was not 18, the OnlyFans agency would instruct her to just lie, Sinis admitted.
“In this digital era, we have to remember that this stuff is happening,” she said. “Girls aren’t necessarily being kidnapped into doing this, but they are being manipulated and coerced by people like the agency I used to work at and the person I used to be.”
The former OnlyFans agency employee said she started to have a change of heart after she saw the before and after results of girls being coerced into making pornographic content. It wasn't until she heard a woman talking about her OnlyFans experience at church one day that Sinis found the courage to quit.
While she had to work at a cafe and clean toilets for a while, a period of her life that Sinis described as “humbling,” she now uses her experience to educate people about the sex industry and warn women about the dangers of platforms like OnlyFans.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
