The problem with Channel 4 documentaries is, done right, they can be so utterly convincing they lead you to consider a fairly drastic lifestyle change. This is how I almost became a pedophile hunter in 2014, for instance. The long week in 2013 when I got on to the dogging forums.
So it is fair to say I went into How to Make It on OnlyFans, the new documentary about the boom in British creators making their livelihoods with sex work online, with a healthy amount of trepidation. Who would I be at the end of this hour-long? Or rather: what fruit would I be mashing with my feet for a paying audience?
Do I need to explain what OnlyFans is and what people do on it to you? Do we need to do this dance? Fine, fine: OnlyFans is a content subscription service where you can pay for premium access to certain
Photo: AFP
creators. There might be a golf coach you follow, for instance, who offers putting tips. Perhaps a musical artist you like will give previews of upcoming work.
But, realistically, 90 percent of the platform is sex workers selling nudes. Yes, you could follow the golf coach. Or you could follow the lad who does the piss content you like and takes custom requests. Right, I think we all get the concept now.
A good documentary like this one lives and dies on its casting, and How to Make It has really nailed it. (Is there a way I could articulate this point without the word “nailed”? Normally I wouldn’t think about this, but ?)
Photo: Reuters
It’s got Alex Sim-Wise, the lads’ mag favorite turned OnlyFans supremo, to act not only as the charismatic focal point but also a roving OnlyFans fixer, a fairy godmother-type who specializes in maximizing budding sex workers’ online presence.
So we meet Emily, a nervous first-timer hoping to build her audience of seven into something that can sustain her and her cats. Alex coaches her in how to take more alluringly angled selfies and how to turn a length of street market faux fur into a lush-looking background drape. We meet Will, a beautiful, soft-spoken builder who is more comfortable getting smashed on a sofa than posting a selfie video. And we meet Zoe, who is contemplating the semi-serious decision about whether to sell foot pics online; Alex helps her get her head round a kink she doesn’t fully understand.
All this is nice and, occasionally, exceptionally funny: I’ve already submitted a scene where Zoe watches foot porn for the first time to Bafta for their consideration. But it’s only with August’s announcement that OnlyFans would restrict sexual content that this documentary gets the required dramatic heft.
We watch Will fret about making his page more softcore, Emily worry about her early career being so dramatically derailed, and Alex ponder, guru-like, about the nature of sex and work when credit card operators can open a trapdoor beneath your feet whenever they feel like it.
“They’re deciding for everyone what they can and can’t buy,” she explains. “You just feel so powerless. Everyone’s like: ‘Oh, just do another job then.’ I like this job. I’m not hurting anybody or doing anything illegal. This is what I’ve invested my 10,000 hours into and I don’t think I should have to pivot to anything else.”
It’s here the documentary really comes into its own. With that perfectly neutral tone Channel 4 has about sex, it shows OnlyFans creators exactly as they are: going about their lives and working round
the parameters of the ( since reversed ) ban.
Emily has fully embraced her OnlyFans alter ego. Zoe has an incredibly straightforward chat with her dad about the uniform length of all her toes. And we see Will overcome his chronic shyness to post a good morning video to all his followers, wishing them a pleasant weekend and telling them briefly
about his Saturday night. Soon, his phone is buzzing with messages chirping with thanks.
“Happy Sunday,” one reads, “Can I lick your sweaty armpits?” Well, says Will. That got a good response. He seems oddly buoyed. I never thought I’d say this about a horny stranger threatening to lick someone’s underarms, but it might be one of the most charming TV moments of 2021.
Jason Han says that the e-arrival card spat between South Korea and Taiwan shows that Seoul is signaling adherence to its “one-China” policy, while Taiwan’s response reflects a reciprocal approach. “Attempts to alter the diplomatic status quo often lead to tit-for-tat responses,” the analyst on international affairs tells the Taipei Times, adding that Taiwan may become more cautious in its dealings with South Korea going forward. Taipei has called on Seoul to correct its electronic entry system, which currently lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan),” warning that reciprocal measures may follow if the wording is not changed before March 31. As of yesterday,
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must have been slaves, for the Portuguese dealt slaves across Asia. Though we often speak of “Portuguese” ships, imagining them as picturesque vessels manned by pointy-bearded Iberians, in Asia Portuguese shipping between local destinations was crewed by Asian seamen, with a handful of white or Eurasian officers. “Even the great carracks of 1,000-2,000 tons which plied
It’s only half the size of its more famous counterpart in Taipei, but the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature Science (NMNS, 國立自然科學博物館植物園) is surely one of urban Taiwan’s most inviting green spaces. Covering 4.5 hectares immediately northeast of the government-run museum in Taichung’s North District (北區), the garden features more than 700 plant species, many of which are labeled in Chinese but not in English. Since its establishment in 1999, the site’s managers have done their best to replicate a number of native ecosystems, dividing the site into eight areas. The name of the Coral Atoll Zone might
Nuclear power is getting a second look in Southeast Asia as countries prepare to meet surging energy demand as they vie for artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Several Southeast Asian nations are reviving mothballed nuclear plans and setting ambitious targets and nearly half of the region could, if they pursue those goals, have nuclear energy in the 2030s. Even countries without current plans have signaled their interest. Southeast Asia has never produced a single watt of nuclear energy, despite long-held atomic ambitions. But that may soon change as pressure mounts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, while meeting growing power needs. The
RSS