Valery loves her body. In her semi-nude figure, her curly hair and the sensitivity of her features, she discovered an opportunity to earn a living by selling erotic photos and videos on the internet, which made her give up leaving Venezuela.
Like her, other young Venezuelans have found in the sale of sexual content a way out of the economic crisis that adds the country with the largest oil reserves in the world in seven years of recession and the highest inflation in the world.
“I was crazy to leave because I wasn’t living well (…). Now I want to stay in Venezuela because of OnlyFans,” Valery López, 20, told AFP about that social network, which was born as a platform for “Influencers”, but this has led to a kind of center for adult and pornographic content.
Launched in 2016 in the UK, OnlyFans works with creators who set the cost of a subscription and pay a 20% commission.
Valery found an attractive source of income there: “I can afford it [la mejora de] my teeth, buying clothes … “says this young woman who has just had orthodontic treatment.” Who earns $ 500 or $ 1,000 a month right now? No one”.
Its channel has over 50 subscribers, all foreigners. Each is charged $ 10 a month, six times the minimum monthly income in Venezuela, influenced by hyperinflation and the constant depreciation of the local currency.
This is a point highlighted by Abel Saraiba, psychologist and coordinator of the NGO Cecodap, focused on the rights of children and adolescents.
“In other countries where there is no humanitarian emergency, there has been an increase in consumption” of content on platforms such as OnlyFans, Saraiba points out. “But in our context we can give it an additional dimension (…), to what extent [una persona] Would you take this very risky approach if you had other work options? “
– “Gentle face” –
It all started for Valery with a “completely” nude photo on Instagram, with so many interactions that she discovered a business opportunity.
Her boyfriend, an architect with whom she has been in a relationship for three years, helped her open an account at OnlyFans.
“I participated in it because I like it very much (…) and I like money more, a good combination,” he says.
Many fans of this 1.50 m tall woman, with green eyes and sometimes freckles on her cheeks, think she is a minor.
“They think I’m a girl, I think I’m lying to them” about age, she laughs. “They like to see me tender and that at OnlyFans I am very perverted (…), with my tender face, that I don’t break a plate”.
This is not the case with Valery, but a documentary by the British BBC press found evidence that people under the age of 18 were illegally selling content on this network, which had a giant boost with the coronavirus pandemic.
The company told AFP that OnlyFans has 90 million subscribers and over one million content creators. Half of its creators, in April, generated materials for adults, acknowledged their chief operating officer (COO), Thomas Stokely, on the BuzzFeed website.
“It seems to be a safer way to generate income than more risky ones, such as prostitution,” Saraiba said. “But, in fact, you don’t think that once the content is published (…) you can lose control, that others take it over.”
It has already happened that OnlyFans videos reach platforms like YouTube.
The platform claims that it has mechanisms to verify identity, as well as the rule of “immediate” investigation of any allegation of abuse.
– “Look for alternatives” –
Brandon Mena, 20, took a break from his educational career because he could not afford the private college he attended the most – his income dropped with the pandemic.
A gentle, shy-eyed speaker, Brandon was a nightclub waiter. “But the pandemic hit us and lasted in our pockets and we had to look for other alternatives,” says this young man, dressed in jeans and a gray long-sleeved sweater, a very different outfit from his sexual photos.
His OnlyFans account did not take off, but several acquaintances “managed to form an economic plan” with this tool.
He wants to emigrate: “I don’t see myself here.”