Elites of the Whorearchy—OnlyFans Creators’ Power, Identity and Sex Work Stigma Negotiation

Swana Schuchmann

Gender, Work and Organization, 2025, vol. 32, issue 6, 2308-2321

Abstract: Despite the rapid expansion of the digital sex industry, little is known about how digital sex workers navigate identity and stigma, particularly in the German context. This study examines how German female OnlyFans creators (aged 21–28) construct and maintain positive social identities amid societal stigma and hierarchical divisions within the sex work industry. Drawing on five semi‐structured interviews and applying Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner 2004 [1986]) and stigma management strategies in dirty work (Ashforth and Kreiner 1999), the findings reveal four key strategies: (1) social buffer networks, (2) passing and strategic ambiguity to conceal one’s profession, (3) reframing work in alignment with personal values, and (4) social weighting (Ashforth and Kreiner 1999). This study extends the dirty work framework and whorearchy (see Toubiana and Ruebottom 2022) concept to digital sex work, illustrating how platform affordances, sex work mainstreaming (Brents and Sanders 2010), and the rise of supplementary erotic gig labor in neoliberal capitalism shape stigma management strategies and identity construction.

Date: 2025
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