Portrait of an OnlyFans Content Creator Dismantling Perceptions
- Lila Monroe
- Aug 27, 2025
- 6 min read
By Lila Monroe and Ryder Vale
“I found your grandmother's profile on OnlyFans...”
It’s the kind of line that makes you laugh, then pause, then wonder: What? Not MY grandmother! My granny is so sweet and innocent...
And here’s the twist: it could be.
Because the real story of OnlyFans isn’t the stereotype that gets thrown around as a joke, or casual conversation, or the strange cultural behavior of normalizing behaviors we still aren't truly comfortable with, but don't want to to be singled out for. It’s far more ordinary, far more surprising—and, frankly, far more uncomfortable for the culture to truly admit.
Your neighbor. Your coworker. Your child’s teacher. Maybe even your grandmother. These are the people who’ve quietly built side careers—and sometimes entire empires—on the platform that was never actually designed for them.
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN JOURNALISTS
Lila Monroe:
That’s what fascinates me most, Ryder. When OnlyFans launched in 2016, the idea wasn’t to create an adult entertainment empire. The term “content creator” was meant to describe bakers, photographers, fitness trainers, musicians—people sharing recipes, tutorials, tips. It was the language of community, not controversy.
Ryder Vale:
Exactly. They wanted to be Patreon with a British accent, not Pornhub with a paywall. The original branding was almost wholesome. And then? Reality happened. Amateur performers flooded in. Subscriptions skyrocketed. Money rolled through the door. And rather than embrace that reality, the company clung to euphemism: “content creator.”
Lila:
And that word has always felt thin to me. It doesn’t match the power these people actually hold. They’re not just making content. They’re shaping culture, building economies, influencing audiences. I’ve always believed the industry needs a better word.
The contradiction deepened as OnlyFans became a cultural flashpoint. It kept its sanitized language, while profiting from an entirely different reality. Worse, it refused to advocate for the creators who had built its empire.
By 2021, the platform tried to cut ties with its very lifeblood. OnlyFans announced it would ban sexually explicit content—an existential blow to the performers who generated nearly all its revenue. Founder Tim Stokely admitted the move wasn’t about morality but money.
“The short answer is banks,” he told the Financial Times, explaining that payment processors were flagging creator transactions.
Days later, after a tidal wave of backlash, OnlyFans reversed course, saying it had
“secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community.”
But the message was clear: creators weren’t the company’s priority. They were leverage.
Lila:
And yet, the stories we receive for Only Fans Insider Magazine show creators as anything but reckless. They’re careful, strategic, entrepreneurial. Skylar Mae submitted a draft that looked more like a startup business plan than a profile—spreadsheets, milestones, even reinvestment strategies.
Ryder:
That’s what kills me. Outsiders see scandal. We see CEOs in disguise. The euphemism “content creator” erases both truths: the adult labor and the serious professionalism behind it.
Lila:
Exactly. It was meant to elevate bakers and trainers but ended up diminishing the very people who carried the platform into global relevance.
Ryder:
And while creators juggle stigma, the company spins a different narrative. CEO Keily Blair calls OnlyFans “an incredible UK tech success story.” Meanwhile, filings show owner Leonid Radvinsky has pulled “at least $1 billion in dividends” since 2018. A billion dollars extracted, with no serious lobbying for the workers who make the cash machine run.
Other platforms have tried to step into the gap. Fansly, LoyalFans, FanCentro, Fanvue—each has promised a safer, more creator-friendly environment. Some highlight better revenue splits, some tout discovery tools, others stress loyalty features. And now, OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely himself has returned with a new venture: Subs.com, which he calls “a platform for all creators.” The irony is thick. The man who once struggled to defend sex workers from banks now markets a sanitized alternative for mainstream creators, again thinly vailing the true member's content.
Lila:
And that just proves it, doesn’t it? Everyone wants the subscription model. But no one wants the stigma. They’re happy to replicate the business structure without carrying the weight of its pioneers.
Ryder:
Exactly. Porn built the machine, and now everyone’s trying to sell the blueprint while pretending the original builders don’t exist.
But those builders keep sending us their stories.
Lila:
Like Bri Stasia. She left medicine for freedom. Her piece radiated joy. She laughed about having fun again—and yet, behind it was scheduling and discipline.
Ryder:
Or Lucy Banks, one of our Advisory Board Members. Balancing bedtime and business. Multitasking her kids’ routine and her own. No scandal, just another kind of work-life balance.
Lila:
Chris Rail’s quiet line about being bisexual shifted everything for him—authenticity became his growth engine.
Ryder:
And Sabrina Fischer. Engineer turned millionaire founder. If she had left out the word “OnlyFans,” she’d be on the cover of Wired.
Lila:
Even Viktoria Winslow and Ari Kytsya prove the point. Viktoria peeling back agency politics with brutal honesty. Ari landing a brand collab with Urban Decay, only to have her face blurred out of the campaign. Blurred influence—that’s the metaphor for the whole industry.
Ryder:
Which brings us back to labels. We keep calling them “content creators,” but that was always too small for the role.
Lila:
That’s why I don’t. I call them influencers. Because that’s what they are—the largest influencer community in the world. Unlike mainstream influencers, who measure impact in likes, these individuals convince audiences to subscribe monthly, to pay for ongoing access to their lives. That’s influence in its purest, most measurable form.
Ryder:
And with proper labeling, they’d have access to resources other industries take for granted. Business support. Media legitimacy. Collective associations that protect against scams, harassment, and shadow bans.
Lila:
And here’s where I want to pause and share something Joseph told us—because it speaks to the heart of the misunderstanding. He once had a conversation with one of our featured influencers, @naturalbody_elle, who told him directly:
“If you don’t understand that we are sex workers, then you don’t understand the business.”
And she was right.
But the truth is Joseph does get it. We all do.
At Only Fans Insider Magazine, we’ve never been afraid to name what the platforms themselves try to dance around. We fully understand the labor and the stakes.
We also wake up each day wondering if we've been shadow banned, simply for sharing and covering the stories of the content creators and businesses we feature.
But until the platforms acknowledge it too, creators are left hanging. They’re making billions for the industry, but without being named for what they are, they’re denied the collective power to take on juggernauts like Meta, TikTok—even LinkedIn.
Ryder:
Exactly. The industry profits from them, but doesn’t truly support them. The banks balk, the platforms hide behind euphemisms, the media looks away. Meanwhile, creators are left alone to fight systemic battles.
Lila:
And that’s where Only Fans Insider Magazine steps in. We don’t look away. We call it what it is. We give it a platform, a voice, and a name.
Because let’s be honest: your grandmother may very well be an OnlyFans creator. And if she was—shouldn’t she feel safe in her newfound career? Shouldn’t she be afforded the same protections as a porn star or a mainstream influencer?
Ryder:
Right now, she isn’t. Right now, she’s alone.
Lila:
And this is why press matters. Why Only Fans Insider Magazine matters. Because if the platforms won’t speak up for their communities, then we will.
We didn't set out to be "advocates". It's not really our voice that matters. It's the voice of the community that matters. It's their stories that matter.
Every article we edit, every feature we publish, every story we amplify chips away at the stigma. Or it doesn't. We’re not here to make that decision. We are hear to give the influencers running their content businesses, day in, and day out, globally...a platform to share their story.
Joseph Haecker (Editor-in-Chief):
I’ll never forget what @naturalbody_elle told me: “If you don’t understand that we are sex workers, then you don’t understand the business.”
She was right. And I want every creator reading this to know—we do understand.
At Only Fans Insider Magazine, we don’t shy away from naming it. We see you as workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and yes—as influencers.
The platforms may make money off you without standing beside you. But we do.
We are proud of the work we’re doing here. Proud to give creators space in a digital magazine built just for them. Proud to connect their stories, their businesses, and their humanity with readers who are ready to see them differently.
But we can’t do this alone. If this article opened your eyes to a different truth, here’s how you can help:
Keep reading the magazine.
Share these stories.
Leave a tip to support the influencers running their businesses tirelessly, often invisibly, and against the odds.
Because your grandmother may very well be an OnlyFans creator. And if she is, don’t you want her to feel safe, supported, and seen?
Hit the share button. Tell the world. And keep reading Only Fans Insider Magazine—press built by, and for, the influencers boldly running their businesses daily, in a world that has them walking on thin ice, with platforms and banking institutions that leave them in limbo, without the support afforded to even fields like porn.
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