Content Warning: this article contains accounts which some readers may find distressing, including descriptions of sex-trafficking and sexual assault.
The porn industry is being glamorised today like never before. Whereas historically feminists had opposed the sex industry as a hangover from the patriarchy, now the sex-positive movement celebrates ‘freedom’ and autonomy.
Content creators like Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips (who have hit headlines for sleeping with hundreds of men in a single day) are featured in tv documentaries. Platforms like OnlyFans give ‘performers’ the opportunity to monetise their sexuality in the online world, and supposedly promise a quick path to riches.
The reality of the pornography industry is often very different. At CARE, we have long campaigned on behalf of women and girls who are at risk of sexual exploitation. We have supported legislation that criminalises the purchase of sex, such as the Morrow Bill in Northern Ireland, and continue to advocate
for greater protections for those who are trapped in prostitution.
The porn industry is the next frontier in this battle. Many of the stories featured here first appeared as part of Reuters’ series of articles investigating OnlyFans in 2024, which contains many other similar accounts, and can still be found online.
As Christians, we believe that every person is of infinite dignity and worth. As we were preparing this article, one quote particularly jumped out at us: “[He] exposed my entire body for $5. I can’t even buy a full meal at McDonald’s for $5.”
The stories which follow expose the way in which the porn industry has put simple profits before people, made in the image of God…
When is it really consent?
Vanessa Belmond was a ‘performer’ in pornographic videos for around eight years, and filmed about 100 scenes. When she was in contact with ‘fans’, they thought that she really enjoyed her career. In reality, she regularly performed sexual acts she didn’t want to do in order to stay in work, and she could not afford to turn the work down.
She writes: “The porn performers I knew did it because they craved attention they never received growing up. They did it because they felt like they had no other options. They did it because they thought it would make them famous, and that maybe they could ‘cross over’ into legitimate movies. They did it because they had been sexually abused as children or teens, so when they became adults, having sex for money seemed like a natural progression.”
When is consent really consent? Is it consent if someone feels like they have no other options? And if a video has already been filmed and uploaded online, and someone changes their mind, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to get it taken down.
Vanessa Belmond is now an outspoken campaigner against the pornography industry.
Turned into a sex slave
Austin Koeckeritz met a young woman from Wisconsin in August 2020, and convinced her that they were in love, and to move in with him. Having isolated her from family and friends, he soon became violent.
A few months later, he began forcing her to perform sex acts online, which were uploaded to OnlyFans and several other platforms. She was compelled to work 60 hour-weeks, and was refused breaks when she was sick. If she wanted to end work early, Koeckeritz demanded oral sex. She said: “My body was
ready to croak. I wasn’t sure if I was going to die from the physical exhaustion and abuse of nonstop sex stuff or if I was just going to end it all on my own.”
Although her accounts earned $422,000 from selling sexually explicit content, Koeckeritz funnelled the earnings into bank accounts he controlled, leaving her with just $2,000. He also threatened to shoot her family if they tried to rescue her. Shortly after he poured hot grease down her back, she managed to
escape and went to the police. Her abuse had lasted for two years.
Sites which monetise sexually-explicit content provide sexual predators with the opportunity to create a fortune, simply by uploading footage of their abuse.
“They made money off my biggest trauma”
Sammy was a music production student in America. She met Bendjy Charles on a dating app. He invited her to a party at his apartment, but when they arrived (together with Charles’ friend, Michelson Romulus), no one else was there.
She described how the two men became sexually aggressive, and stripped, slapped, and forced themselves upon her, which happened repeatedly. She said: “I was disoriented, shocked, scared. I was just overwhelmed with how powerless I felt.”
All the while, the assault had been recorded on Romulus’ phone. He then posted it to OnlyFans, with the caption: “The full train video is here guys…Who wants it?” ‘Train sex’ is a term meaning multiple men having sex with one woman. OnlyFans have said that 100% of its content is reviewed by human moderators, helped by artificial intelligence. But in the recording, police said they could hear Sammy saying: “No, stop.”
In OnlyFans’ model, they keep 20% of the revenue earned, while content creators keep the remaining 80%. As Sammy put it: “A whole company has made money off of my biggest trauma.”
Filmed without consent
Adreiona Prater was an 18-year-old college student when she met and dated Anthony Scott. One time when they had sex, Scott asked if he could film them, which Prater agreed to. However, she asked him to delete the video afterwards, which he said he did.
A few months later, Prater discovered the video on Pornhub, and contacted the police. She dropped proceedings when Scott promised to take the video down. However, she then discovered it on OnlyFans, where it received much more attention. Later that year, he posted a clip from it on Twitter, revealing her face and naked body, along with the caption: “Check out my onlyfans with over 200+ girls.”
The video was also posted to Reddit, where someone identified Prater and posted her social media information. She received a message on Instagram: “That was you in that onlyfans vid?” She received unwanted attention from online stalkers, and felt compelled to install a home security system and change her phone number, as she felt so unsafe.
Scott later pleaded guilty to publishing intimate visual material without consent. Prater herself wrote to OnlyFans to complain about the video; the company promised that the video would be removed if it was confirmed to be nonconsensual. She never heard from them again.
Versions of the video remain online today, still featuring the OnlyFans watermark. Prater said: “I still get harassed about it to this day. It never ends.”
Trafficking gangs
Andrew Tate is well-known as a self-professed misogynist, whose form of masculinity has attracted a following among teenage boys today. Tate is a British and American citizen. In December 2022, he, along with his brother Tristan and two women, was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and forming an organised crime group, through which they forced women to create sexual content which could be uploaded to OnlyFans. Tate once described OnlyFans as “the greatest hustle in the world”.
In 2024, the investigation was expanded to include trafficking minors, amongst other things. It is alleged that the investigation involves 35 victims, and that the accused have made in the region of $2.8 million through sexual exploitation. The UK began its own proceedings against the Tates in May 2025.
According to cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, pornography is the 3rd-most common form of sex trafficking, after escort services and illicit massage businesses. Another report found that of 854 women in prostitution, across 9 countries, 49% had been forced to make pornography while being enslaved in sex trafficking.
Content featuring minors
Unlike some of the other categories featured here, we have chosen not to publish a story about children on porn sites: this is not because these stories do not exist, but because some of the details we encountered were so distressing.
The major and best-known adult sites all illegally host child sexual abuse content. No major website adequately verifies the age of people depicted in adult content online.
Although platforms like OnlyFans state that they have a “zero tolerance approach” to child sexual abuse, in their 2024 exposé, Reuters cited more than 200 explicit videos and images of children which had been presented to law enforcement in America from their site. It is likely that many more had gone
undetected.
Separately, Reuters identified almost 50 OnlyFans accounts for which the (non-explicit) profile pictures appeared to be childlike. Some of these profiles included words like “innocent” or “inexperienced”. Others included emojis like lollipops or teddy bears, to convey youth. Lori Cohen, the CEO of Protect All Children from Trafficking, said of one image: “She doesn’t even look 15.”
How can we respond?
The porn industry tries to market itself as harmless fun, a virtual world of pleasure where no one gets hurt, when it is a fundamentally damaging and misogynistic industry which leaves itself open to abuse.
Platforms claim that they have the most stringent checks, to ensure that everyone is over-age and is happy to be featured. This is often far from the truth, and consumers of pornography are unlikely to be able to distinguish between content which has been produced consensually and other content which has not.
We know that pornography and prostitution often go hand in hand. At CARE, we are campaigning to ban pimping websites, and for law enforcement to be provided with full access to websites like OnlyFans (which often shields content behind a paywall).
And we are trying to change the laws so that subscribers cannot commission customised content, where they pay people to perform specific sex acts for their benefit.
At CARE, we often come back to Proverbs 31:8-9: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
As Christians, we know that Jesus reached out to, and spent time with, those whose bodies had been sold for money, and our God is on the side of the marginalised and the oppressed. Everyone who has been featured in sexually explicit content is an individual who is known, valued and loved by Him. And we will continue to advocate on their behalf, until we see a world where evil is judged, and the powerless are protected.