Q&A: OnlyFans (serious question, not a troll)
OnlyFans (serious question, not a troll)
Question
Has the Rabbi heard of OnlyFans? It’s a site where women sell pornographic “content” of themselves for payment.
My question is whether something like this is defined as moral. Obviously everything is done with consent, because the women don’t work for the site; rather, the site serves as a platform, and they choose / want to upload in exchange for payment. But still, something like this feels wrong to me even though in practice no one is being harmed and everything is consensual.
Answer
I don’t see a moral problem with it. Perhaps consequentially it is immoral to encourage pornography, because it harms people (who become addicted) and families.
Discussion on Answer
First of all, many things have been ingrained in us, and not all of them are correct. For example, in the past I wrote that polyamory and incest have no moral flaw whatsoever. Beyond that, there are human values that are not connected to morality (I once wrote a column about aesthetic values; you can search for it). Modesty is perhaps such a value.
There are also psychological and spiritual harms that may perhaps be caused to those involved in this and to the consumers (as I wrote).
So why does it feel wrong? Meaning, if I hear about a woman who chose this kind of “career” path, I immediately think to myself that it’s something wrong and bad. What I’m trying to understand is: if this isn’t the moral sense, then what is it? Is it just an emotion?