matti

I constantly see this kind of opinion online quite a bit (especially after the recent controversy surrounding OnlyFans model Lily Phillips sleeping with 100 men in a day) and it’s always frustrating how an opinion that to me just comes off as sexist can be so prevalent and even encouraged within the left.

Before I rant on I think it’s important to start with saying that I completely understand WHY people can come to this position. Historically, the porn industry has been one of the exploitative businesses in the world and for the longest time only survived off its ability to use women for their bodies in order to make a profit. This abuse still is prevalent in the mainstream porn production companies today, and should be opposed.

I’ve noticed, however, that since the popularisation of websites like OnlyFans and Fansly that the voices of opposition against porn have only gotten louder. This to me is ridiculous.

OnlyFans-esque websites have been one of the greatest evolutions in porn in the entire history of the industry. Instead of being bound to these large predatory companies, sex workers and porn actresses now have a viable option to produce their work in a way where they have almost complete control over their means of production. They get to say what kind of content they make, the prices they set as well as receiving the vast majority of the profits they make from their work rather than the set amounts they would make from contracts while the production companies would steal the rest of the profits.

So why do people still oppose, as well as actively hold hostility against these creators? To me I think there’s only two real answers: Misogyny and Antisexualism

When opposing voices explain why they are against OnlyFans and sex work in general, almost every point I hear can be applied to a different form of work.

Take the video above as an example. In this, OP states that OF creators “promote using women”. This is a common explanation for the opposition to this work, that it “uses women” or “uses women’s bodies”. This to me is ridiculous as almost every type of working class job uses the person’s body to produce the product. Would this person be opposed to a woman wanting to join the military, where we use people as effectively human weapons? How about if a woman wanted to become a factory worker? a surrogate? a clinical trial test subject? One might say they’re opposed to these too, but then how come we never hear the same level of vitriol and opposition to these? It’s because fundamentally the only difference between these kinds of work is that sex work and/or porn production involves open sexual expression.

I’d also like to point out how in the above examples I specifically used the idea of a woman going into these roles, as this sort of criticism is only ever perpetrated against women.

Here are just a couple of the top comments under the video shown calling out specific creators

Notice how in every name given, it’s a women or AMAB person?

Even before the creation of OnlyFans, this sort of criticism has always been directed towards women in the space. Mia Khalifa, probably the most famous pornstar at this point, has received an almost infinite amount of hatred for her content, especially after her move towards OnlyFans work, and yet men like Johnny Sins, Ricky Johnson or Alex Adams receive incredible positivity and praise for the content they create. There are thousands of people of all different gender identities and expressions who are OF creators, but these creators are almost never come up in these conversations as those against OnlyFans don’t care when they do it, only when women participate.

If you actually look into these people who seem to pretend to care about protecting women in these spaces, you can see that the only real reason there is opposition is because it’s women expressing their sexual freedom. The idea that women can participate or even enjoy being in the industry is an impossibility in the minds of these people, despite the fact that for these women creators there is no actual harm being done.

To those who are against OnlyFans and indie porn content creators, as well as SWERFS in general: you are not protecting women. All your opposition does is give a “politically correct” aesthetic to what is fundamentally a right-wing misogynist perspective. Maybe instead of spending your time fuming over women thriving on having control over their sexual freedom and their means of the production, you can actually point your anger to the still-existing abuses that exist in the mainstream production companies?

point me to actual abuse in the system and I will shoot them down like swine, but don’t pretend that you are actually uplifting women with these kinds of positions when in reality all you’re doing is shitting on women who do stuff you don’t like.

I will be the first to admit that I have an interesting music taste. I can't count the amount of times that I've had someone ask me "what do you listen to?" and I've had awkwardly squawk out some band or artist that I'd assume they know rather than tell them the random indie/midwest emo band (or god forbid yet another music) that i'm listening to at the moment.

Besides this, the question of "what is your favourite song?" has always been the same, and hasn't really changed for the past five years:

Frankenstein by disco inc. (aka fredo disco).

Before I do talk about this marvel of sound, it's important we understand the soul behind the sound.

While fredo disco hasn't put out any notable albums in quite a bit, the only album coming out under the fredo disco name being beats NOT to kill yourself to! earlier this year, their discography (no pun intended) is still some of the greatest indie music to come out ever. Being split under multiple different aliases such as i.am.orange and disco inc., all of their music explores the rich emotional depth of the artists' lives. The angst of missing someone you used to love in sadboysongs.jpg, the anxiety and lust for nostalgia in 2017 (junior-senior year) to the growth and acceptance of loving the fun of life in their magnum opus Very Cool Music for Very Cool People², it all compounds to show a window into the life and soul of Fredo Fosco, the main writer and lead singer, as well as the rest of its band's members.

In this beast of a discography, the EP The Boredom Keeps Me Up At Night was the first step into fredo disco developing its unique sound that its most well-known for. As Fredo Fosco said in this interview with WTBU Radio, "I started Fredo Disco, which was just like a solo project, just songs I was writing for myself, not the band, just acoustic stuff at first...[then] We went to a Front Bottoms concert, and we were like “Alright, we gotta get the full band back together.” We didn’t want to turn Fredo Disco into the full band right away, because Fredo Disco had a following as an acoustic project. We wanted to ease people into the full band idea, and also we wanted to have a way to experiment with a full band project without putting it under the Fredo Disco name right away,".

The whole of the EP can be best summed up to be the embodiment anger; anger at those the artist has been hurt by, anger at the artist themself for their own flaws, anger at how the pains of loss and heartbreak are so long-lasting and difficult. The EP serves as a shadow of fredo disco's later works; the "character development" that we all go through at some point in our lives.

And then there's Frankenstein.

The song starts slow, a large change of pace from the precursor song Don't Play With Matches. The lyrics follow the artist's struggles with being with someone in their life who just isn't compatible, the relationship itself being a Frankenstein's monster. It appears to be whole and fine on the surface but to the two of them (and especially to the artist) it's nothing but a knitted together infection of past mistakes and pain that the two cling two for no real logical reason, now only causing the degradation of the artist's self-worth and happiness.

The first verse explores their current situation; how despite the obvious negativity the artist is experiencing, their relationship still soldiers as if it's something they both default to out of ill-founded habit.

Staring at the wall Spacing out is one of my specialties You deny my call It's just another weekend

I walk to my car Look back but you're already inside The drive home is far I hope I make it

The second verse as well as the song's chorus then show us the truth behind how the artist feels about the situation, how their past is an unavoidable truth that, while not openly talked about, cannot be denied.

Apologies As good as a band-aid on a broken leg Try to hide the truth But I know you

It's plain to see I am not the person that you want me to be Smile, say cheese And I'll leave you alone

After this we get a brief interlude (with some of the most beautiful guitar playing) until we get the ending bridge. Oh my GOD this ending bridge.

It starts soft, with lyrics that could imply they've finally decided to split:

Saying that it's you, not me But now I feel like maybe you're lying

Then there's a distinctive change of pace with the building of the climax of the song, revealing to the audience a brand new, infinitely more hopeful meaning. All done with the repetition of one single line:

I like me.

As the song builds and eventually explodes into its high pace, high emotion end, the singer repeats this line with more and more intensity, as if desperate to get out its meaning. It flips the script and shows us the artist's final clarity on the situation; how they don't need to cling to this part of their life, that despite how pathetic and unlikable they feel, they can still love themself, no matter how stitched together they feel.

Another thing I love about the song is that it feels like the instrumental and the lyrics are made to represent his emotions and his objective views respectfully. Throughout the song, you can imagine the gradual changes of his emotions through this instrumental, how it stays low throughout, then goes to its lowest right at the start of the bridge until it eventually explodes at the end, battling against the repetitive lyrics. His repeating that he likes himself becomes not just a message but a desperate struggle to make it true; as his emotions crash down upon it, all he can do is try to keep himself up with the reminder: I like me.

This message has always resonated with me (and I'm sure plenty of you Tumblr nerds will). In a world where the need for validation and affection is tattooed into our bones this song helps to remind me that it's still possible to just accept me for me. It's still possible that no matter what happens, you can move past the things that hold you back and move forward knowing that not only are you enough, but you are worth something.

At the end of the day, I will always have the option to like me.

Please, please, PLEASE, listen to this song. Then listen to it again. Then again. Then again. At this point, if you don't like the song, you've probably had your headphones unplugged the entire time, so just plug them in correctly, then actually listen.

Let this song remind you that despite everything, you can still like you. I promise it won't disappoint.

This post isn’t targeted towards this person in particular but I see this same sort of tiktok come up on my timeline every couple of months and it feels me with a very specific RAGE because of how wrong it is about the core message of this show.