“Initially, I considered masking some of my queerness for appeal,” says the artist and online dominatrix Noelle Buckhorne. A self-described queer femme goddess and disabled domme, Buckthorne sells photos and videos of herself wearing strappy lingerie and spiky jewelry and casts virtual “witch domme spells” on her willing fans.

“But quickly I realized not only could I be open about my gender and sexuality, but it would attract more interesting, better matched customers. With OnlyFans, I can be exactly as queer, femme, eccentric and unabashed as I want,” says Buckhorne, whose offerings range from sex education and relationship advice to financial domination.

Free porn sites and live-streaming platforms don’t typically have search categories for non-binary genders, which can be limiting to performers’ creativity and self-expression. On sitessuch as PornHub, performers who upload their own content often have to choose between just two gender categories, or a third trans category sometimes identified by a pejorative term. OnlyFans, however, lets creators self-identify and cultivate a viewership on their own terms. Non-white and gender non-conforming performers with loyal followers through their social media accounts can entice their followers to also engage with them on an adult platform and pay for a more intimate look at their lives (and bodies).

I find it magical to make porn with someone who is on the same path as me Xöe Nova

“We are not a marketplace and therefore every creator has the opportunity to self-identify as they wish and build a space that’s focused on their content for their fans,” founder Tim Stokely told me.

The Pittsburgh-based adult performer Luna Luz, who identifies as “a BBW Latina”, or big, beautiful woman, launched her OnlyFans page a few months ago to supplement her income from phone sex services and other sex work. She says the platform helps facilitate cross-promotion.

“I think that within queer, non-binary, trans, black and POC communities there is a really cool culture of promoting each other, which can pull in more people that are used to surfing the mainstream porn platforms,” said Luz. “People lift each other up by retweeting new models, giving shoutouts and creating content together to sell on our clips sites or to post on OnlyFans.”

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At just $5 per month for a subscription to her page, Luz can make her content accessible to more of her fans. For newer, less experienced content creators hoping to build a following on OnlyFans, lower prices allow for more potential subscribers and more exposure. Others, like the adult industry veteran Jessica Drake, charge up to $20 for a monthly subscription.

“One of the biggest benefits to platforms like OnlyFans is that I think it’s definitely taken some of the power away from porn companies’ hands and placed all the control with the performer,” Drake, who looks much like the epitome of “porn star”, told me.

Drake got her start the way many adult performers did two decades ago – as a stripper. She danced at a club in El Paso, Texas, that regularly booked featured dancers for themed shows and competitions that attracted porn industry professionals. There, Drake hit it off with an in-demand adult film director and his crew. “That is very much how people got into the industry, was by being recruited by people in person,” Drake told me over coffee at a Starbucks in Granada Hills, California.

Eventually, they brought her to an adult film set in LA. “I was the condom and lube girl,” Drake said. “I literally was standing there with a box of baby wipes, a bowl of condoms. There were some bottles of lube, paper towels, bottled water.” It wasn’t glamorous work, but Drake loved it. “I stood next to one of the most popular performers at the time, Jill Kelly, and I just couldn’t believe I was there,” she said. “I was feet away from someone that I had seen in movies, who I had masturbated to and had sex to. I really thought I was the luckiest girl in the world.”

Back when Drake got her start over 20 years ago, new porn actresses typically made their debut with a solo masturbation scene, then girl-on-girl, then boy-girl, before eventually ramping up to multiple scene partners. Drake jumped in with a boy-girl scene. The rise of a platform like OnlyFans turns that traditional ladder-climbing on its head by putting more power in the hands of performers who no longer need the approval of overwhelmingly white cis male industry scouts and gatekeepers to launch their careers.

Greater representation of queer performers and performers of color isn’t just good for audiences. In an industry where racism, fatphobia, and transphobia are common, the adult performer Xöe Nova believes it’s just as important for performers themselves to feel seen.

“I love showcasing raw and honest queer sexuality in all its forms. I truly enjoy the connections I have with the friends I perform with, and love showing the myriad of ways two (or more) people can have sex and express intimacy,” said Nova, who uses “they” or “he” pronouns. Nova creates an intimate atmosphere with clear, natural lighting, and every scene is unique. “One of the things I’m told often is that my work feels really fluid and real, like they just happened to be in the room to see me and my scene partner fuck. That’s what I generally aim for.”

While he enjoys working with performers of all genders, Nova said scenes with trans partners were especially meaningful. “It’s always extra special to work with other trans performers,” Nova said. “I personally find it magical to make porn with someone who is on the same path as me in that way, it’s healing.”

OnlyFans is like the Uberization of porn. Anyone can be their own porn star Avery Jane St Germaine

After becoming a single parent about eight years ago, Nova started performing on the live-streaming site MyFreeCams. There, Nova said he felt creatively stifled by the lack of trans-affirming content and “cookie cutter” performances. “For a long time, I just didn’t really see anybody that looks like me in porn, and I remember feeling that I’m not a sexual being for myself. I felt like my image and my body are not for me, sex was not for me. This is something that’s just for other people,” said Nova. “Being able to see people who are my size and my color, my ethnic background in these things, it makes you feel like you and your desires are valid, and your image is valid.”

The Los Angeles-based performer Avery Jane St Germaine is queer and black. “OnlyFans is like the Uberization of porn. Anyone can be their own porn star and collect their own fans. Anyone can make a living off of content creation,” said St Germaine.

Originally from Louisiana, St Germaine started her career in adult retail and later began sugar dating, or dating in exchange for financial support, and working as a cam model, stripper, escort and fetish performer. St Germaine started uploading videos to OnlyFans because it was easy – she didn’t need special equipment and earned an 80% commission on subscription sales from the platform. “A lot of marginalized folks don’t have access to nice filming equipment, so a site where phone-quality videos and day-to-day life content is preferred is huge for us,” said St Germaine.

St Germaine points out that platforms for independent creators won’t necessarily solve porn’s industry-wide problems with racism, homophobia and transphobia. “Cisgender and white content creators will always be the default to support, and will rake in big bucks more often,” she said. However, she believes OnlyFans is “a saving grace” for queer and trans performers of color, disabled performers, and non-traditional content creators. “It’s definitely the beginning of the future of adult content creation, in my opinion.”