‘Before OnlyFans, I was waitressing and barely making rent. That platform gave me everything.’
These words – spoken by 21-year-old and $95-million OnlyFans (OF) creator Sophie Rain – are the exact reason why women and young girls around the world are being drawn into a cancerous lifestyle that promises everything, but which is ultimately enslaving and destroying an entire generation.
It is thus a somewhat grim irony that the man responsible died of cancer at the age of 43 last week. OF owner Leonid Radvinsky made $7.4 billion destigmatising pornography and transforming it into a ‘global sensation’ before retiring to a $19 million Miami home. Radvinsky’s billions could not save him from the certainty that awaits us all.
Unfortunately, his disturbing legacy persists beyond the grave. Under Radvinsky’s stewardship, OF offered young men and women an impossible choice that enslaves millions to this day. Radvinsky transformed the OF model to promise young people like Rain the possibility of becoming multimillionaire sex sensations practically overnight. Under Radvinsky, OF began offering subscription-based adult content and enabled the platform’s creators to keep about 80 per cent of their earnings. This system allowed top creators to make millions while countless young women strove to reach similar fame and success.
As a result, today there are more than 4.5 million OnlyFans creators who reach 377.5 million accounts globally. In 2024 alone, users spent more than $7 billion on OnlyFans, which draws 300 million visitors every month.
OF’s dramatic rise has been toxic for American culture, relationships and trust between the sexes. Unfortunately, Radvinsky’s transformation of OF has made it impossible to ignore.
Think about it. Radvinsky’s changes offered vulnerable young women like Rain an offer they could not refuse. Do you lack economic stability or an education? I have a million-dollar career for you. Do you have trauma or sexual abuse in your past that makes you afraid to truly love? I know a way for you to ‘regain’ your power. Do you have a repressive or absent father figure in your life? I know a way you can seek alternative male validation. Do you want a better life than bussing tables in anonymity? I know a way you can buy your own home and become a global star before 30. Do you want to be loved? I will have dozens of men in your DMs adoring you.
For boys, the allure was simpler: naked women having sex this way, subscribe for as low as $4.99 a month.
Even worse, the proliferation of OF has made it nearly impossible for young people today to avoid encountering adult content online. Soft-core pornography on social media apps like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube blurs the lines and desensitises young people, who see influencers turned OF creators living lavish lifestyles and speaking about how ‘empowering’ their ‘work’ is. The temptation to post sensually and encourage followers to ‘subscribe for more’ is somewhat understandable when this is the content that young people are inundated with constantly.
There is even some evidence suggesting that OF platforms and creators directly target young people for subscriptions and content creation. While the platform is technically only for individuals older than 18, there is no ID requirement to sign up unless you are a creator. Even then, underage girls have found ways to circumvent the age requirements through fake or stolen IDs.
Can you really blame young women for pursuing this path? How could the average person refuse Radvinsky’s false promises? Many do not. Yet, like Radvinsky, some are discovering too late that perhaps there is more to life than wealth and fame. Many also discover belatedly that most OF creators make very little money – yet the false promise of becoming the top percentage who make millions keeps countless young women hooked.
One episode of the ‘Whatever’ podcast featuring the late Charlie Kirk and a panel of OF creators powerfully exposed the cancerous effect that OF has on the young women who succumb to its allure. At the beginning of the episode, multiple young women bragged about their OF ‘work’, claiming that it was empowering and even made men ‘love’ them. By the end of the podcast, however, Kirk’s compassionate and logical discussion with these young women provoked one to admit that she drove home ‘depleted’ and sometimes cried after her ‘scenes’.
Another admitted that she would give up her OF career if a man retired her and let her relax in bed all day. Several admitted that they dreamed of marriage and love, but simultaneously had zero trust in men or marriage and that it was scary to be vulnerable and ‘give more’ if they did not receive the same love back. One young woman even admitted that God probably did not approve of her OF content.
As these women’s justifications for OF broke down, it was clear that their plight – and that of a society corrupted by OF in general – broke Kirk’s heart. Even more sobering was how astonished the young women seemed to be that Kirk was respectful and kind to them, as if they had never considered that trustworthy and protective men still existed.
The interview offered a dramatic glimpse into how society had failed these young women, who felt pressured into selling their bodies to feel loved, empowered and financially secure. Kirk – who was assassinated for his Christian beliefs at a very young age – offered these young women an alternative legacy: ‘If you are engaged in the creation of that content, I think God has a better plan for you,’ he said, ‘every day is a new day.’
Unfortunately, Radvinsky’s legacy will prevent many young men and women from realising this truth. And thanks to him, many of the men that God created to protect women like Rain and the ‘Whatever’ panellists are now enslaved by the very platform that promised to liberate women.
