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Comment by joker_minmax | Hacker News Reader

It is not normalized to the extent you think it is, because like most trends it is overblown by social media, gaining more of a focus there and less in real life. However, this has still distorted reality enough that now young men ask young women if they have onlyfans, as if that is a casual or normal thing to ask someone.

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> It is not normalized to the extent you think it is

I live in the middle of the biggest bar/club neighborhood in a major (usa) city. I meet men and women with OFs at least weekly. It's nothing at all like it was back in the 2005-2010s when I worked in the porn industry. People don't hide it at all. I have Tinder dates that admit to being on OF openly. Even men and women who work at (strip) clubs are way, way more common nowadays. I have a lot of service industry friends and about 1/4 of them have worked at local clubs if not danced at them.

Like, who even are you to say this to me? Lol I worked IN the industry. Are you also in the industry? Are you a dad with 3 kids or something? I have NO idea what your frame of reference is here but it is the absolute opposite of mine. Nothing wrong with that but unless you're more familiar with the industry than I am I'm failing to see why you even commented. But hell, maybe you're Ron Jeremy.

Anecdote is not statistics. If you work in the porn industry, it’s more likely that you’re meeting people who share similar tastes…not a representative view of the general public.

I said 2005-2010. No shit. I literally said "worked IN," I don't work in the industry anymore but I still associate with service industry (bars/clubs) people. Far beyond what the usual hackernews person would.

Hackernews peeps coming in with their hot-takes completely irrelevant to the conversation because they can't follow threads. So embarassing.

No shit some javascript dad with 3 kids probably won't be meeting people with OFs. That's the entire point of my question. But they also shouldn't be commenting on a porn industry thread like they know anything. And sure as HELL shouldn't be telling someone FROM the industry about the industry. Show your creds, homie, explain why I should just listen to you. Herpaderp "anecdata isnt statistics" thanks Gallileo. You know you're on HN and not instagram right? Like, I know math, and programming?

Calm down champ, no one cares about your porn industry experience. "Not normalized" means not normalized in society at large.

you're just aruging past each other without defining "normalization". Some people would say Video games are normalized, while some still think people make fun of adults who play them. We'd need a proper lens before we start arguing if something meets the criteria.

It doesn't need to be defined at the outset, you can infer from the context. Claiming that something has not been "normalized" to the extent depicted, and responding "yes it has! In my small niche community!" is irrelevant. Small niche community is not society at large.

Again, we have to define "niche". Are video games only popular in a "small niche community"? Is being more popular on a website more normalized than being more popular in a traditional club?

The original rebuttal was that it was normalized in the porn and stripper community, yes that is a niche.

The original rebuttal asked for a source and the source was a personal experience. Thar doesn't mean it's the only area, nor does it prove/disprove it as a niche.

I saw an Onlyfans QR code at a gas station, I think it may be less niche than people give it credit for. It's just that westrn society, as usual, does a good job suppressing knowledge in the topic. so many circles are underground.

It just feels werid calling a multi billion dollar empire "a niche".

However I think we all agree that playing video games are significantly more normalized than having an OF account.

Not necessarily. Less stigmatized, sure. It's like how watching porn is normalized but no one talks about it in public. Especially in countries where it may not be fully legal to ("lewd conduct").

>I live in the middle of the biggest bar/club neighborhood in a major (usa) city

This is the modern-day equivalent of Sodom or Weimar. Most of the world, or even the West, is not nearly this far gone.

I don't know about Sodom... but the level of decadence in the Weimar republic was possibly over exaggerated a bit by the you know who.

Besides the widespread poverty and sexual exploitation (which was a pretty common thing in most places back in the day) I doubt even Berlin was that much more 'decadent' than many places in the west are now.

Even homosexuality remained illegal in Germany during the 20s (unlike in France or Belgium for instance) and since about 500-1000 men were still convicted per year being too public about it probably wasn't the best idea.

It might appear normalized in the bar and club area of a huge city. This gives a culturally specific context to where and when people would advertise or talk about onlyfans.

In my frame of reference you are too familiar with the industry to see how normalized it actually is for most people.

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