The sex industry is also becoming increasingly digital
Brothel owners do not fear OnlyFans
The sex platform Onlyfans is booming. More and more women and men are presenting pornographic photos of themselves online. No problem for the brothels, insiders tell Blick.
1/6
Sex online sells: Melba Monti (23) from Balerna TI has been a creator on Onlyfans since July 2022 and earns many times what she got as a barmaid.
Myrtle MuellerOutside Reporter News
Sex at a bargain price. At any time of the day or night. Without obligation to consume at the counter. And you save yourself the trip to the brothel. Onlyfans delivers self-made pornography free of charge for a few Stutz per month. But apparently the British web service does not represent any real competition for the Swiss red-light district, insiders confirm to Blick. On the contrary.
Clementine has been renting apartments to prostitutes for 17 years. She currently has eleven apartments in eastern Switzerland. She knows the business inside out. “In the last two or three years, more and more girls have been moving their business to the internet. I think platforms like Onlyfans are great,” says the operator of sex-bijoux.ch. It is an additional offer for the prostitutes. However, the trade as such would not be affected. would still be purchased.
“Clementine” fights for more acceptance of the sex profession. “I support legal prostitution.” The youth, thank God, are already much more open. This can also be followed on the platforms. “I don’t see anything bad about it,” says “Clementine”, “I know many who did something different before and have been earning something extra on Onlyfans since the pandemic.” The platform also offers security.
“It is difficult”: This is how Melba Monti (23) deals with insults(01:48)
“Onlyfans leads to a great loneliness”
Roman Waser sees the digitization of eroticism less positively. “Users are not looking for physical contact. I find it all very impersonal and I think it leads to a lot of loneliness,” says the owner of the sex park in Oberentfelden AG, “but Onlyfans is not a competitor.”
According to Roman Waser, there are many lonely people in Switzerland, “It’s different in the south. Families play a big role there.” His guests would seek human contact.
Many prostitutes do not want to be recognized on the internet
The digital world has clearly arrived in sex work, confirms Rebecca Angelini, manager of the Prostitution Collective Reflexology (ProCoRe) network in Geneva. “Many channels are used to make contacts, for example.” The national network of Swiss counseling centers for sex workers would no longer only seek out prostitutes in brothels or on the street, but would also search the internet.
«Our classic target group are migrants. We provide health prevention, inform them of their rights. Not all of these women have the opportunity to officially register on Onlyfans, for example. Many also fear that they will be recognized on the internet at some point.”