The dream of easy money on OnlyFans turned into a nightmare for thousands of Argentine women. An explosive report by CONICET together with the Association of Women Prostitutes of Argentina (AMMAR) blew the lid off: precariousness, digital violence, and a business that takes 20% of each subscription while creators break their backs for peanuts.
The research, titled «Sex Work and Digital Platforms. Exploratory Report,» debunks once and for all the story that anyone can get rich selling nude photos from home. The numbers speak: only 21% of workers reach $500 per month, and only 18% hit $1,000. More than half need another job to make ends meet. A pittance compared to the €6.2 billion the platform billed in 2024.
Activist Sonia Sánchez, a trafficking survivor, does not mince words: «OnlyFans is sexual exploitation and trafficking.» According to her, the platform is a digital pimp that takes a cut of the profit in exchange for providing the stage. For Sánchez, the body is sold just like on the street, only with a cell phone in between.
The study reveals that 72% of people doing virtual sex work started due to economic problems and lack of formal employment. But far from being a lifeline, the platform becomes a stress factory. 65% suffered harassment, more than a third experienced leaks of intimate content, 61% had burnout, 56% anxiety, and 29% depression. All while the platform rubs its hands together.
The majority are women (83%), with an average age of 31, and interestingly, many have tertiary or university degrees. But a degree is not enough to escape stigmatization: 91% feel their activity is frowned upon, and many hide it for fear of losing other jobs or being discriminated against.
Digital violence is the main course of the report. 66% received unsolicited intimate photos, and more than a third suffered the dissemination of their content without permission. Georgina Orellano, general secretary of AMMAR, denounced that clients use digital wallets to find out workers’ real names and then blackmail them: either pay up or they send the material to their family. A nightmare.
Orellano also pointed the finger at the platforms: they have no quick mechanisms to remove leaked content, and many women do not report for fear of being revictimized. The report calls for labor recognition, protection against harassment, and a legal framework that does not condemn these workers to clandestinity.
While Sánchez insists that prostitution is not work but exploitation, AMMAR asks not to close our eyes: the reality is that there are thousands of young women hooked into a system that promises freedom and ends up being a glass cage. The myth of easy money has crumbled: only precariousness and a cry for help remain.
Para mí esto huele a capitalismo salvaje de mierda. El 72% entró por necesidad, no por elección. El 65% sufrió acoso. Y encima las filtran. Esto no es empoderamiento, es explotación pura. Dejen de romantizar la precarización, zurdos.
para mi el conicet y ammar son unos trolos q lloran x las pibas q se venden en onlyfans si no quieren precariedad q dejen de mostrar el orto y busquen laburo digno encima se qjan del acoso pero ellas lo buscan verguenza de pais man