Some call it empowering, I call it exploitation.
In the modern digital age, a majority of our influences stem from the media. Through the rise of apps like TikTok, Instagram, and OnlyFans, sex work has become a normalized profession and career path under the guise of “female empowerment.” So-called “influencers” promote their extravagant lifestyles that their sex work funds, promoting confidence, freedom, and financial success; blurring the line between empowerment and exploitation.
Young people, and in particular young girls, are convinced that selling and showcasing their bodies in this lucrative industry displays a form of independence and empowerment. This illusion of empowerment is misleading and harms young women as it glamourizes a career built from a misogynistic society.
As a young woman myself, what struck me most was the number of influencers I followed who I later realized were sex workers. The subtle sexualization and cues to market their content were something I began to catch on as I got older. It made me think about the types of audiences that sexualize normal activities and interests. There’s so much content that appears “normal” on the surface, but was designed to appeal to fetishes, and male desires.
This isn’t just a personal discomfort I feel, but a newfound culture that imposes a sexualization on many things that young women do. It’s not just sex work that the media and society normalize, but also the sexual gaze that results from this. By sexualizing normal actions, society fetishizes people who never asked to be, including minors. It leaves little space for women to exist without being sexualized.
Unfortunately, this influence stems further than just social media. Female teachers, nurses, dancers, sisters, mothers, service workers, daughters, women in the corporate world, etc. All categories and fetishes in pornography. As a society, we’ve managed to sexualize women in every stage of their life, profession, race, and more. Many of these “influencers” play on these categories and further sexualize women in roles that actually empower and uplift girls and women.
It’s important to make one thing clear: I don’t hate sex workers. What I’ve an issue with is the industry and culture that profits from their bodies, exploits their circumstances, and markets their vulnerability as empowerment. Sex workers deserve respect and compassion as human beings, just as all people do regardless of status or career, but the industry and work shouldn’t be admired.
Being a sex worker has never been an aspirational goal and is often a result of social and financial issues. It’s ultimately a paid service and if there were no financial incentive, it’s hard to say if there would really be as many people creating this content as there currently is. If economic pressure is the main driver of creation, then I don’t believe much of the content to be a voluntary act.
It can’t be framed as empowering when it rises from the same systemic inequalities that contribute to other forms of exploitation. Those who’ve had a real freedom of choice and engage in the industry aren’t a good enough representation of the large amount that don’t. Sex work involves grooming, abuse, harassment, stalking, threats, trafficking, and so much more.
Violence’s the reality, and it shouldn’t be glamorized.
The media and influencer culture has blurred the lines between a genuine fight for human respect and safety within the sex industry, and a twisted trend that romanticizes the job itself because the top earners make millions of dollars. OnlyFans models also inflate their own monetary growth as income. The narrative has become a marketing tool and exploits the language of freedom and respect to promote their personal brands.
What makes fighting back against the rise of online sexual exploitation on the internet a tough battle is its transformation of the sex industry. An article from medRvix.Org showcases the progress of health and safety for sex workers, and the internet’s ability to expand clientele and increase income. Many argue that the normalization of sex work actually makes it safer because it encourages consensual sex work, over illegal work.
It’s true that digital platforms have put more power in workers’ hands, and have created safer and more autonomous paths, however, when the industry becomes safer and more accessible, it naturally attracts and encourages those who might’ve not considered it before; continuously expanding a nefarious industry.
I’m not suggesting that sex work should be dangerous, but the inevitable perception of a reduced risk and easy money can make it seem like a more viable option over other career paths. This dangerous narrative ultimately encourages many minors including child stars such as Lil Tay to tease and launch OnlyFans accounts when they turn 18. I believe people in the industry, especially with influence, have a responsibility to educate their younger audiences.
No young person should feel that this is an easy and fast way to make money, because “influencers” do it. Instead, what should be done is protecting the rights and ensuring the safety of sex workers and being honest about the implications and consequences of such an industry. This isn’t about censoring the industry and the people in it, but rather it is about putting an end to the illusion of empowerment that it profits from.
Emily Ma is a second-year Political Studies and Psychology student.
Tags
Female empowerment, OnlyFans, Opinions, Sexual exploitation, sexual harassment
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Stella
Sex Work doesn’t need to be empowering for people to do it. In fact, it is just a way to earn income for many – particularly people in poverty. People who don’t want to do Sex Work should feel no more of an imposition to do it than people who do a psychology degree – this kind of “I wouldn’t do it so other people shouldn’t” attitude is what is harmful to marginalized communities who decide other paths – for the Myriad of reasons they decide (that are often NOT related to empowerment). Calling for the elimination of sex Work is calling for the elimination of sex workers. Slippery slope, make no doubt about it.