The Sunday Read: ‘The “E-Pimps” of OnlyFans’

The Daily

The New York Times

News, Daily News

4.5 • 97.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ezra Marcus takes a deep dive into the world of OnlyFans and self-described e-pimps, and untangles the vast web of models, agencies and “chatters” (the people who often act as the OnlyFans models in private messages with the customers) that support these lucrative businesses. The article explores how e-pimps can help turn a seemingly simple exchange of “dollars for sexts” into a transaction that extends across layers of third-party intermediaries. With the help of e-pimps, even the most impersonal of transactions are fine-tuned to feel personal. As Mr. Marcus discovers: “That OnlyFans creator you’re DMing? It’s probably a marketing ghostwriter impersonating a woman.” When it comes to OnlyFans and its legions of e-pimps, deceit and desire work together closely.

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0:00.0	It's never been easier to simulate intimate relationships.
0:06.5	Only fans is one of the most popular websites that does just that, and it does so by selling
0:11.4	access to erotic content.
0:13.3	But really, the whole point of paying for only fans is to be able to chat with its content
0:17.2	creators directly.
0:19.2	Maybe just about how someone's day was going.
0:21.6	Or to ask, hi, can you make me a sexy video of you doing X, Y or Z?
0:27.4	And like that might cost, say, 30 bucks.
0:31.4	My name is Ezra Marcus.
0:32.4	I'm a contributor to the New York Times magazine, and today's Sunday read is my article, the
0:37.9	E-Pimps of Only Fans.
0:41.2	Only fans is a way to have access to the people that you're interested in.
0:44.9	But it goes beyond what we typically think of in terms of fandom.
0:49.0	Some subscribers might believe that they have a relationship with the model, and that's
0:52.4	what they're ultimately paying for.
0:55.0	In 2019, there were about 120,000 people creating content on Only Fans.
1:01.0	By the end of 2020, there were well over a million.
1:03.5	A massive boost, driven in part by people who found themselves out of work during the
1:09.0	pandemic.
1:10.0	They saw Only Fans as a way to help make ends meet.
1:13.8	But the work itself can be time consuming.
1:16.6	If you're a creator, you're trying to build your customer base.
	...

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