The heart of the matter with Rain's followers on OF (as well as other participants in parasocial relationships) is not "sex"; it's "significance". Guys like Joe, who might be doing pretty good in life otherwise, still go through their days feeling insignificant or largely invisible to everyone around them; even their wives and kids. The culture men live in in today's America is very stingy with significance, + most men who reach 30-35 without achieving major distinction have pretty much given up on ever having any.
But if they can send a big chunk of coin to a young lovely like Rain, they can briefly be made to feel important; and significant, to her.
And that feeling of visible significance to a person known to be watched by thousands of other men, who might, for a second, see Joe as a "big shot" or "whale"; that feeling is more... precious than sex, to be frank.
Sex didn't "sell" so much; what sold before was the *suggestion* of sex, and suggestion doesn't have the juice anymore, to a 24-hour porn-on-demand world. There's no value in the "tease" like there once was; when one can skip right off to graphic video footage of whatever one's adult fascination may be.
But significance? That can still be teased; because it's largely "unobtainium" to Joe, and more importantly, the 100s or 1000s of guys who are clinging to scraps to stay afloat below him.
"Attention is currency", as the saying goes; and Rain is rich in that. She can afford to sell little bits of hers at a high price.
Easy to dismiss people who use OnlyFans as losers etc., but there is clearly a huge appeal so it’s fascinating to learn more about why this is and the increase in parapsociality (I’d never heard this term before?!) Cheers.
"Most have a hard paywall set at somewhere within the margin of error of $10. This is a low-barrier to entry: most of Rain’s fans can afford to spend $10-a-month to enter the Shangri-La of exclusive content." $10 a low barrier? Try telling that to anyone who has ever tried to sell a Substack subscription! Seriously though, great piece. The OnlyFans model is a truly fascinating one.
Remember the old peep shows where you put some change in and a window opened? A bit before my time but those women must be feeling like the missed out.
Parasocial, I've heard that word before but I'll remember it now. I notice it with my motocross podcasts, you can't help but feel you sort of know these people but of course they have no idea of the people listening.
I think if there was a reasonable monthly fee that got distributed amongst work you have read and weighted based on likes maybe? Keep in mind I'm paying $10 a month for NY Times so it's hard to pay everyone $10 each.
p.s. I feel like for proper journalism you should have paid to see what's inside the paywall at OF. Too much speculation.
The heart of the matter with Rain's followers on OF (as well as other participants in parasocial relationships) is not "sex"; it's "significance". Guys like Joe, who might be doing pretty good in life otherwise, still go through their days feeling insignificant or largely invisible to everyone around them; even their wives and kids. The culture men live in in today's America is very stingy with significance, + most men who reach 30-35 without achieving major distinction have pretty much given up on ever having any.
But if they can send a big chunk of coin to a young lovely like Rain, they can briefly be made to feel important; and significant, to her.
And that feeling of visible significance to a person known to be watched by thousands of other men, who might, for a second, see Joe as a "big shot" or "whale"; that feeling is more... precious than sex, to be frank.
Sex didn't "sell" so much; what sold before was the *suggestion* of sex, and suggestion doesn't have the juice anymore, to a 24-hour porn-on-demand world. There's no value in the "tease" like there once was; when one can skip right off to graphic video footage of whatever one's adult fascination may be.
But significance? That can still be teased; because it's largely "unobtainium" to Joe, and more importantly, the 100s or 1000s of guys who are clinging to scraps to stay afloat below him.
"Attention is currency", as the saying goes; and Rain is rich in that. She can afford to sell little bits of hers at a high price.
Really enjoyed this piece, Nick.
Easy to dismiss people who use OnlyFans as losers etc., but there is clearly a huge appeal so it’s fascinating to learn more about why this is and the increase in parapsociality (I’d never heard this term before?!) Cheers.
nice one!
"Most have a hard paywall set at somewhere within the margin of error of $10. This is a low-barrier to entry: most of Rain’s fans can afford to spend $10-a-month to enter the Shangri-La of exclusive content." $10 a low barrier? Try telling that to anyone who has ever tried to sell a Substack subscription! Seriously though, great piece. The OnlyFans model is a truly fascinating one.
Remember the old peep shows where you put some change in and a window opened? A bit before my time but those women must be feeling like the missed out.
Parasocial, I've heard that word before but I'll remember it now. I notice it with my motocross podcasts, you can't help but feel you sort of know these people but of course they have no idea of the people listening.
I think if there was a reasonable monthly fee that got distributed amongst work you have read and weighted based on likes maybe? Keep in mind I'm paying $10 a month for NY Times so it's hard to pay everyone $10 each.
p.s. I feel like for proper journalism you should have paid to see what's inside the paywall at OF. Too much speculation.