I started to hate the attention; it made me sort of narcissistic and hyper-aware of my appearance at all times, which had never been typical for me. I could no longer look at my naked body in the mirror without thinking about it as something to be consumed by other people, even if only in photographs and videos. In the end, you’ll place your self worth and value based on how males view you. Your income will be determined on how desirable you are towards the male gaze.

OnlyFans and young people - exploitation or empowerment: VoiceBox 2020

Jasmine, who was bullied, started sending nudes at 14 for validation and now sells videos of herself stripping on OnlyFans. Jasmine, 18, Wales, DE, was born in North Wales, but moved around a lot as a child because her stepdad was in the Army. She said she’d always had a rocky relationship with her mum and recently found out that her biological father, who she has never met, is in prison. Jasmine was badly bullied at school, and described herself as the “not-so-goodlooking kid” who everyone thought was “weird”. Jasmine was first asked to send nudes by boys at her school on Snapchat from the age of 13. She first sent a topless photo to a boy at school when she was in year 9 at age 14. She explained that she had a lot of insecurity and challenges forming friendships, and the validation of having boys ask her for pictures and complimenting her on how she looked was a powerful driver. “So when I was 14 the boys would say, like, ‘Send me a picture, I like you’ and they’d convince me that they liked me. Obviously at the time I was so naive. And it got a bit addicting because they’d compliment me on it.” “The boys were pressuring me – but it wasn’t like horrible pressure, they were like ‘Oh, I’d love it if you did this, or I think you look amazing, you look beautiful, wow’.” “I got bullied a lot. I was insecure at the time. I was the not-so-good-looking kid. It just made me feel liked and accepted.” Jasmine described frequently sending nude pictures to boys who asked her for them throughout years 9 and 10. She said she developed a reputation at school for being willing to send them to anyone who asked. When she was still 14 she described a scenario where an explicit video of her was shared about school and she was badly bullied by both boys and girls at school in the aftermath. “The boys were, like, begging for videos and stuff. I sent a video of me fingering myself. “It didn’t happen straightaway when they got shared around the school, it took about two weeks and then all of a sudden I’m walking through school [at] 14 years old and my nudes were on everyone’s phones, and then within two months they were put on all the school iPads.” When Jasmine was 16 she had an argument with her mum which resulted in her leaving home. She spent a period of time sofa-surfing and staying with different friends, but also had some nights where she was stuck without anywhere to stay. When she was 17 Jasmine started selling nudes via Snapchat to local men to make a bit of money, pretending she was 18. “I was still 17. I’d go on the Facebook group called ‘Snapchat Add Me’. I’d pretend I was 18, link my Paypal to it too. Loads of guys were adding me and then I’d sell them my nudes.” Now 18, Jasmine lives in Wales in supported accommodation for young people who have experienced homelessness. She runs an OnlyFans page where she posts videos of herself stripping, pole-dancing and performing sexual acts for subscriber fees. “I stopping selling on Snapchat when I turned 18, I thought I can’t be arsed with this. But I’ve always posted sexy pictures of myself and I’ve always sexualised myself as a way of taking power back, and people said to me ‘why don’t you start an OnlyFans, get money for it’.
At first I just posted normal nudes on it. And people subscribed like mad because it was me and I’m already known for pole-dancing and all the things people say about me. Then I started doing videos once I plucked up the confidence, and now I’m just desensitised to the whole thing.

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