What's the current feminist take on OnlyFans?

https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/jmwm07/whats_the_current_feminist_take_on_onlyfans/

created by maddog367 on 02/11/2020 at 21:26 UTC

223 upvotes, 12 top-level comments (showing 12)

I recently listened to a podcast on the book "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir and how it was a seminal text for modern feminism. The subject/object dichotomy accentuation was interesting but I was wondering how/if that would apply to the modern day advent of online sex work(onlyfans). More specifically: are women the subjects or objects when choosing to get an onlyfans(or maybe sex work in general??). Are they practicing self-autonomy by choosing to do such work or are they objects subjected to the whims of men--specifically through men wanting certain beauty standards, fetishes, personality traits etc... What's the modern feminist consensus on this topic?

Comments

Comment by AutoModerator at 02/11/2020 at 21:26 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Welcome to /r/askphilosophy. **Please read our rules[1] before commenting** and understand that your comments will be removed if they are not up to standard or otherwise break the rules. While we do not require citations in answers (but do encourage them), answers need to be reasonably substantive and well-researched, accurately portray the state of the research, and come only from those with relevant knowledge.

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/9udzvt/announcement_new_rules_guidelines_and_flair_system/

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit[2] if you have any questions or concerns.*

2: /message/compose/?to=/r/askphilosophy

Comment by TeN523 at 03/11/2020 at 00:35 UTC

282 upvotes, 1 direct replies

There isn’t a consensus. Sex work is one of the most contentious issues within feminist philosophy and politics today. The two perspectives you outline roughly correspond to the “sex positive” and “sex negative” perspectives, but there are many shades between those two.

Comment by [deleted] at 03/11/2020 at 00:22 UTC

31 upvotes, 2 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by suckit_imin at 03/11/2020 at 15:39 UTC

6 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I'm not sure how modern you want but I suggest checking out Catharine MacKinnon's "Toward a Feminist Theory of the State" (1989). The premise is a bit more on political theory and feminism but she has a chapter dedicated to pornography. As a male who never had heard of her (and now admire her work), the views she brings up are compelling.

I can't exactly remember her specific arguments against pornography but she does make it clear she is against pornography and that it hurts women.

One thing I do remember is that she argues that pornography conveys women as being solely sexual beings that are to please the male sexual appetite. This makes more sense given the context of her book on how the male viewpoint dominates our society. Would definitely recommend checking out that chapter and comparing it to the fundamentals of OnlyFans.

Comment by OrgansWithoutBody at 03/11/2020 at 04:43 UTC

10 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I highly recommend the book Revolting Prostitutes by Juno Mac and Molly Smith. The authors are themselves sex workers, and they offer a perspective informed by lots of reading, as well as their own experiences in the sex industry. They present a much more nuanced take than "sex work good" or "sex work bad", trying to interrogate the actual material conditions that lead to the reality of the sex industry, and what a truly effective and compassionate response to these conditions would be.

Comment by HomemPassaro at 03/11/2020 at 10:15 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Well, "feminism" isn't a cohesive movement, there are many intersections with other ideologies. A Marxist feminist will, frequently, have different positions from a liberal feminist.

Comment by [deleted] at 03/11/2020 at 02:36 UTC*

12 upvotes, 3 direct replies

On sex work generally, the two opposing stances in feminism are:

-it is inherently exploitative and buying sex should be illegal, but selling sex decriminalized (Sweden model)

-it is as legitimate of work as other work in capitalism. To protect the workers it should be legalized and regulated (Germany, Netherlands).

Sex work may be more dangerous in the former model, but it is normalized in the latter model resulting in prostitution rates which are extremely high (in Germany 20% of men attend a brothel DAILY). In Germany most women continue to be trafficked from Eastern Europe and coerced into work despite the work being legal.