The earnings that Margo, a single mom, collects from this line of work go directly toward supporting her infant son after she loses her restaurant job, which didn’t involve horny people on the internet.
It also plays a role in a storyline on HBO’s “Industry” and was even parodied on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” the most wholesome show on television. A sign that American culture is going through a phase of hyper-sexualization? More like: people are struggling through a fraught and ever-changing US economy. The characters’ motivations for joining (or thinking about joining) OnlyFans may vary, but the reason is inherently the same: The traditional job market isn’t working for them.
Rufi Thorpe, the author of the novel on which AppleTV’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is based, believes the “increasing financial hardship in this country” has something to do with the rising cultural relevance of a platform like OnlyFans.
“You see the rise of hustle culture, and it could look like driving for DoorDash or driving for Uber, or it could look like OnlyFans,” she said. “But people are trying desperately to afford their rent.”
However fictional the storylines are, they’re rooted in some of the realities that millions of people are facing today.
Anew CNN pollhas found most Americans are pessimistic about the economy, with high prices and the cost of living prompting them to cut back on spending, including on groceries. Inflation is alsorising, cutting into Americans’ wages, while job seekers in most industries have in recent years been facingbig challengesin the labor market. Unless you’re looking for a job in health care — one of the only industries that is actually hiring right now and a field none of the characters in these TV shows work in — it’s pretty bleak.
That economic reality is changing the way sex work is being portrayed on TV. For so long, sex workers have largely been portrayed as victims on police procedurals. This season, they’re being shown turning to OnlyFans to do the banal, but crucial, thing of putting money in their pockets.
Thorpe was inspired to write her 2024 novel after seeing OnlyFans explode during the pandemic.
Those who earn more than $600 per year get a 1099 tax form, which in the eyes of many creators legitimizes their work, said Bridget Crawford, a law professor at Pace University who haspublishedstudies on the economics behind OnlyFans. Their goal, she said, is to feel “like any other worker.”
Paying taxes on earnings also helps creators have a record so they can get an apartment or a loan, a mindset similar to that of Fanning’s Margo.
Source: Drudge Report
