Is it realistic to earn a living through OnlyFans?

 Creating an OnlyFans account in the newsroom on a Wednesday afternoon felt pretty weird. A colleague had just snapped photos of my feet, while another poured chocolate sauce on them. Back at my desk, I logged into OnlyFans, which seemed like a deserted, clinical version of old Twitter.

This online subscription service is mainly used by sex workers who produce adult content. To sign up, I had to provide pictures of my driver's license next to my face for facial recognition. My chosen username, soleprincess, got the green light. Established in 2016, the app gained popularity during lockdown as sex workers couldn't meet clients in person. It takes a modest 20% cut and offers weekly payouts, making it a kind of gig-economy work.Unlike Uber or Airbnb, the service's details weren't clear to me. To ensure my feet were market-ready, I consulted podiatrist Elson Ng on what makes a foot aesthetically perfect.

Ng reveals that in December, over 60% of his clinic’s appointments were for cosmetic reasons. He explains that a perfect foot involves details like uniformly smooth toenail plates, rounded toenails with smooth edges, and a well-defined white lunar-shaped nail fold. To keep my feet top-notch, my nail technician, Camila Le, suggests moisturizing, especially around the heels.

Ng adds that perfect feet have aligned, hairless toes, a well-defined arch shape, and smooth skin on the back of the heels. A beautiful foot also boasts even, veinless skin textures. However, he notes that achieving this perfection is rare, as calluses, corns, cracked heels, and toenail deformities are natural.

But beyond aesthetics, I wondered if foot fetishes had more to them. Annaliese*, a mid-20s sex worker, explained that it's not just about the feet themselves but the idea of them stepping on someone. It can be linked to a humiliation kink, where someone wants to feel small and trodden upon.

For my OnlyFans debut, I posted a professional shot of a strawberry being crushed between my toes with a caption that read, "this could be you x." I followed up with whipped cream pictures, expecting upvotes on Reddit's r/feetpics.

Instead, my posts got flagged as spam, and my OnlyFans follower count suffered. By week three, I only had four followers, none paying, and one was a bot