When capitalist greed backfires.
Around late August, OnlyFans announced that they will be banning sexually explicit content on their platform “to comply with the requests of [their] banking partners and payout providers” according to a statement they gave Variety. OnlyFans is a relatively “new” yet notorious online content subscription service not unlike Patreon and Ko-Fi (Gold) based in London. What sets them apart, however, is that they allow sexually explicit content such as nudity and porn on the platform. This has been the main, if not exclusive, appeal to its user base and subscribers of said users. Patreon and Ko-Fi have strict anti-sex worker policies because banks, credit card companies, and payment services such as PayPal forbid monetary transfers for such services.
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If you search a bit online, this is because the anti-porn movement, which often masquerades as, or dovetails with, being anti-sex trafficking but are really fundamentalist Christian groups trying to drive sex work back underground, has a strong hold on these businesses and have been able to influence legislation. Therefore, people who engage in any type of sex work—sometimes even including those who simply make content that is erotic—have a hard time finding platforms that will allow them to host their work and get paid for at all, let alone adequately. This latter part is very important because thanks to some very bizarre events with celebrities and influencers disrupting the platform for their own profits, OnlyFans decided that withholding content creators’ money and placing arbitrary caps on how much fans can donate was the proper way to reduce the risk of massive refunds. So, this sudden move to kick the very people who built their company up to be a multibillion-dollar entity did not settle well with its users. And because of that…they backtracked lmao.
Yes, before August was over, barely a week or so after announcing their sex ban, OnlyFans folded and said they would not be banning porn and the like from their platform. However, the sex workers on OnlyFans were quick to point out the language OnlyFans was using was very vague and didn’t really tell them what was allowed anymore. They also noted how OnlyFans continues to ignore their existence even though the platform would likely be a flop without all the adult content they produce on there.
Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard. We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change. OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators.
What does “suspended” mean??? Does it mean they will reinstate it at a different time?
Being the nosy person that I am and also from the fact that I feel bad for all these people because of how hard the anti-pornography movement has made it for sex workers of all kinds to simply work and get paid safely and peacefully, I thought I would read on this situation. So, let us get into it.
Oh No, Baby! What Is You Doing?
The first question I had to ask was, “Why did [OnlyFans] change their minds on banning sexually explicit content?”
Gemini: I Think Yod: Destiny Libra: I Balance Aries: I Am (reverse) Second House: Owning Venus: Love (reverse) Seventh House: Partners (reverse; bottom of the deck) Aquarius: I Know (reverse; bottom of the deck)
I do think the backlash from the sex workers on the platform was the cause. But the owners of OnlyFans didn’t come to this agreement to possibly (?) reverse their new policy easily. Gemini to me suggests that they personally went back and forward on the issue in private with each other. I think one was rather nervous about this backlash and that a large chunk of their user base was announcing their departure from the platform, which will likely cause the company to potentially not make up that lost money quick enough to avoid a substantial loss. But the other owner didn’t care. They wanted to go through with this new deal they were making with the banks and other investors. I think to him it was all about money, big money and more “legitimate” money. This owner seems like he was really invested in turning OnlyFans into a competitor with Patreon, so he didn’t care about all the “noise” the sex workers on the site were making. I feel like the Aries card represents him a bit too, not just the backlash by the sex workers. In either case, I guess this owner folded in the end—or!—he is the one behind this very vague language surrounding explicit content. I think he’ll still try to work it out with the banks, etc. behind the scenes, so this nebulous language is on purpose in order to have some leeway into how the platform can keep some of its sex workers and the money they bring in.
Yes, it is all a money game right now. The Second House is out, which shows your income or how you otherwise survive. Libra shows the sex workers on the platform as the image of the card shows a couple about to kiss with a seemingly naked woman in the foreground. Venus reversed is very interesting under it. Maybe it suggests that the platform doesn’t love the sex workers (“shocker” there), but they do recognize their criticisms of them, especially the main one of how their platform would be nothing without them. It’s true, and the owners of OnlyFans hates that.
I think what they also hate is how the public was not on their side when it came to their initial policy change. Yes, many hypocrites were having a field day on social media, laughing and taking immense joy that the “whores” on the site would have to get “real” jobs now, which I guess only exists in fast food from all the memes they’ve been posting. But I do think big publications talking about the ban, some even going so far as to interview some of the sex workers about their thoughts on OnlyFans kicking them out, put another big negative spotlight on the platform again. The public is knowledgeable about how this site has moved in the not so distant past to screw over sex workers specifically because celebrities and influencers were allowed to run wild on it. So, now the general public is a lot more sympathetic to the sex workers, or at the very least, see how they have been treated very poorly by OnlyFans. Therefore, the backlash from the sex worker users plus the bad publicity made the owners of OnlyFans change their minds.
Partners reversed at the bottom of the deck is very interesting here. The 7th house shows your literal romantic and sexual partners along with the spouse, but modernly it has come to represent contracts, business partners, and other legal obligations as well. I think the card being reversed is showing more how OnlyFans is seemingly (seemingly) rejecting these banks’ offers for now. I think some of these banks they initially made deals with are pissed to be honest. I feel like some of them really wanted to invest in OnlyFans and see how it would grow as a public company with a “cleaner” image and now the owners are trying to string them and their users along for who knows how long.
Finally, we have the Yod card. I’m not really sure what it means in this context to be honest. Was this reversal bound to happen? Then why not be represented by a different card? Let us see if we can clarify it.
For the Yod card we got Sagittarius: I See in reverse. I also clarified the reversed Venus card and got both Virgo: I Analyze and the Eighth House: Endings/Beginnings. The new card at the bottom of the deck was the Sixth House: Routine.
Sagittarius in reverse suggests that, yes, this reversal was bound to happen because the owners of OnlyFans did not look at the larger picture here. All they saw was more money along with being a more “respectable” and “legitimate” business. Therefore, they couldn’t foresee all the backlash and how much money they were about to lose. I don’t know why they couldn’t see all of this, especially since most people only went to the platform for sexually explicit content but hey.
Venus in reverse being clarified by Virgo and the Eighth House is very interesting. I still think the owners don’t like their platform being associated with sex work, even though sex work is what made them a thriving entity. And I think they’re still thinking of ways to sever their ties with it. They’re trying to be more meticulous and careful with it now, however.
The Sixth House being the new bottom of the deck suggests that this back and forwardness with sex work may be an ongoing issue, something many sex workers have lamented about in interviews and on social media, how many sites and platforms love to build themselves up on their labor then abandon them once they’re rich. How sad.
They Discuss Me
What does the platform think of its mostly sex worker user base?
Capricorn: I Use, Sun: Spirit, Saturn: Truth (reverse), Third House: Messages (bottom of the deck) Ace of Swords (reverse), Queen of Wands (reverse), 2 of Wands, 3 of Cups (bottom of the deck)
So, I think it’s very interesting that the sex workers come out as the Queen of Wands reversed and she is under the Sun astrology card. I think the owners of OnlyFans see their mostly sex worker user base as a bunch of entitled, bitchy women. I think they see them as people who are using their platform and successfully profiting off of it but are still complaining. Yeah, communication seems to be a big issue here with OnlyFans seeing the sex workers as liars for some reason. With the Third House card, the owners watch what they say on Twitter, and they’re not amused. They seem to think that their relationship with them is the other way around—without OnlyFans these sex workers wouldn’t be anybody or successful. To them, these sex workers had other options but chose their platform and now it’s like they want to act smug about it. This is very interesting but not a profound observation.
In the West, sex work and its workers are looked down upon, usually from a very snobby, faux morally concerned Christian way despite many consuming sexual content, and often for “free” because it is stolen. So, all in all, I don’t think we gained much insight here that we couldn’t glean from OnlyFans’s own words, actions, and the general Western attitude toward sex and sexual content. There is an underlying sense of hostility from OnlyFans to their sex worker user base and they feel like these users are too confident to be demanding things from them. But money talks, so we shall see if this attitude will ever change.
Do You Remember The Time When We First Met, Girl
What will happen to the platform starting from October 1st to the end of the year?
Chiron: Healing, Fifth House: Creativity, Second House: Owning, Black Moon Lilith: Mystery (reverse; bottom of the deck) 2 of Wands (reverse), The Lovers, The Chariot, 3 of Cups (reverse), 4 of Swords (reverse; bottom of the deck)
I think OnlyFans is scared of losing its sex workers again so it seems like they will spend these last few months of the year trying to make it up to them. Indeed, the platform feels stuck here but they realize that they should try to appease or placate the sex workers…but it won’t work it seems. Many may still leave the platform because they are unsure of what the platform will do in the future. Right now, everything is in flux, and they don’t want to deal with another company that is wavering in whether or not it wants to keep sexually explicit content on its platforms. They know that this temporary reversal is in fact temporary. They are not new to the game, even though some are as they may have only turned to sex work recently because of the pandemic. But for more seasoned sex workers they’re not completely buying it. What is interesting, however, is that OnlyFans will continue to make money. Let us pull some more cards.
Aries: I Am, Part of Fortune: Increase, Sun: Spirit (reverse), Ninth House: Faith (reverse; bottom of the deck) The Hanged Man (reverse), 7 of Swords (reverse), the Queen of Swords (reverse), 2 of Pentacles, 8 of Swords (reverse; bottom of the deck)
Sort of similar to the first set of cards, I think OnlyFans will try to turn a new leaf in the coming months. I don’t know what they’ve told their users nor investors, but it seems like whatever it was, the platform will continue to make money as a result. It seems fated for some reason, or that things for it will start to run more smoothly. But I still see many sex workers jumping ship. To them, OnlyFans is sitting on their hands and are lying about this reversal on their sexually explicit content ban. They don’t believe anything OnlyFans has said in regard to this and now they’re trying to figure out ways to get their own finances together so they can transition to a different platform, either their own or someone else’s. They don’t faith in OnlyFans anymore.
So, that begs the question, “What will the majority of OnlyFans’s sex workers do moving forward?”
Scorpio: I Transform Virgo: I Analyze First House: The Body (reverse) Grand Cross: Provoker (reverse; bottom of the deck) Grand Trine: Blessings (reverse; bottom of the deck) Neptune: Sacrifice (bottom of the deck) 8 of Wands (reverse) Prince (Knight) of Swords (reverse) Strength 3 of Cups (reverse) 2 of Wands (reverse) Prince (Knight) of Wands (reverse; bottom of the deck)
I think it’s split. For some, they are jumping ship like I said. And some of them seem to be doing it very quickly, if not impulsively. They’re not trying to wait around for OnlyFans to be clearer and grow a backbone either to kick all sex workers off the platform or finally acknowledge them and stick up for them. For this group, their mind is already made up and they are extremely resilient, but I feel like this is a small yet prominent percentage of the sex workers on OnlyFans.
The majority, I think, is this group that is hesitating on if they should leave or stay. They’re trying to weigh the pros and cons of both and want to take their time before they commit to anything. But I think like the previous group they are not happy with OnlyFans but why would they lol. OnlyFans has once again put them in a bind. They’ll have to sacrifice something. If they leave, that’s all the money they were making and their fans because there is no guarantee they will make the same money (or are able to keep 80% of the money they make) elsewhere and that their fans will migrate with them. But if they stay, who knows if and when OnlyFans will change their mind. As of right now OnlyFans is very vague on the details. If you are a creator on the platform who does solo or group sex acts, will you personally be demonitized and kicked off but the person doing risqué yet not fully nude pin ups will not? No one knows. That is why this group is wavering and upset. It’s a waiting game and they’re not sure what the outcome will be if they stay (too long).
But I Wake Up and Act Like Nothing’s Wrong
What will OnlyFans’s policy be on sexually explicit content in the near future (from October of this year into 2022)?
Void of Course Moon: Missing Mercury: Mind (reverse) North Node: Life's Purpose (reverse) Cancer: I Feel Tenth House: The World (reverse) Eleventh House: Friends Pisces: I Believe (reverse; bottom of the deck)
It appears even OnlyFans is unsure of what their policy will be moving forward. The Void of Course Moon showing up is foretelling because it suggests that things will not go according to plan and that the best option is to do nothing. With Mercury reversed next to it and Cancer under it, I feel like the owners of OnlyFans are conflicted on whether or not they will actually ban sexually explicit content outright in the future. They are sort of playing it by ear for now and using their feelings rather than mind.
The North Node and Tenth House being reversed is interesting. The former suggests your life’s path in this incarnation while the latter shows more your career, reputation, and what will be the highest thing you obtain in this life. I clarified both and the Eleventh House and got: Uranus – Genius, Mercury Retrograde – Reinvention, and the Third House – Messages, respectively. Eighth House: Endings/Beginnings was the new bottom of the deck.
So, it seems like OnlyFans’s initial ban on porn and the like has caused the company to mess up their own future and reputation in the public eye and among its user base. And as much as they want to turn back the clock now, it won’t work. As we saw in the other spreads, the sex workers are leaving or are thinking of doing so if they haven’t left already. No matter what OnlyFans will do to get back in their good graces will not work. To them, the company has been too confusing in their language/communication with them on the sex ban, so they have decided to go someplace else, and are encouraging those who remain on the platform to leave as well. I think that the sex workers leaving will be the nail in the coffin for OnlyFans.
So, that is all I have for you. I forgot to mention that when the Void of Course Moon shows up, it suggests that it is not the right time to be asking your question. And the fact that Mercury Retrograde showed up as well was double confirmation on the fact that there is no clear answer to what OnlyFans will do moving forward. We will all have to play it by ear just like them. But what do you all think they will do? If all the sex workers leave, will they be able to pivot into becoming Patreon 2.0 like they wanted? Let me know in the comment section below!
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Food for Thought
https://slate.com/technology/2021/08/onlyfans-porn-ban-cruel.html
https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/08/onlyfans-sex-banned-allowed-decision-history.html
Astro Lola 