Flora began stripping off and performing sex acts on OnlyFans at the end of 2020, but after just two years, it felt more like an ‘obligation than fun’.
‘I was doing everything – masturbation, using toys, creating custom videos, the girlfriend experience – whatever guys wanted, because that’s how I’d seen other creators in the space operate,’ she tells Metro.
‘But it really starts to affect your mind and how you relate to your own body and sexuality, because once you know something that’s meant to be sacred and personal starts getting monetised and taken for granted, it becomes depressing.’
Burnt out and at the end of her rope, the US-based sex worker decided to cover up and turn her back on explicit content, despite bringing in £4,471 to £7,452 each month.
She set up a new OnlyFans account with a very different aim: to sell her male subscribers mindful content, to reduce loneliness and decrease their desire for extreme porn.
Flora’s earnings quadrupled to £15,000 to £22,000 per month, as some of her loyal fans look to become less reliant on porn.
‘Most of my videos aren’t sensual, I film and do live streams around yoga, breathwork and meditation,’ Flora, who is in her twenties, says. ‘If they’re going to act on pleasure and the desire they’re feeling, I help them do it in a mindful way.’
She also reads her subscribers bedtime stories at night and shares her own journal entries to show men it’s okay to be vulnerable, ‘leading by example’.
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She does offer some nude content on her page because she wants to be ‘a bridge’ from full-on porn to intimate connection, so there needs to be an initial draw.
‘I’m trying to attract people stuck in this dark, toxic cycle to give them what they need,’ the sex worker says. ‘I’m like: “Hey maybe you were looking for a connection and you need a hug instead of this porn video?”‘
But what most of her subscribers stay for is her eye-contact content. ‘It’s a staple of what I do,’ Flora explains. ‘It’s just a video of me staring directly into your eyes, saying affirmations or giving a positive message.
‘Eye contact is something people are craving – it’s so rare in our society, and it’s how we connect.’ She’s had subscribers says these clips have made them cry because they ‘finally feel seen’.
As for why her content has been such a big hit, Flora believes it’s because of the ‘loneliness epidemic’. In fact, a survey on 21,000 people by escort directory Vivastreet found 24% of those using escort services hire a sex worker purely for company, while 65% of sex workers say they’ve been hired for companionship appointments which didn’t involve sex.
‘As OnlyFans creators we see it more than other because these men come to us and share their stories- they’re all just lonely,’ she says. ‘They go to work, come home, go to bed, then do it all over again – the worst part is they feel helpless and think it won’t change.
‘They think: “I have to go on OF and pay for girls to pay attention to me so I can feel something”.
‘So I teach them to find self love and connection with because they aren’t in a mental place to go out and get a girlfriend – they can’t be a good partner right now. Then maybe they can go out and build connections in the world.’
Flora is the first to say she isn’t a therapist, instead she’s offering men a more positive alternative mindset. She says the aim is for men to no longer need her, and unsubscribe – which has happened many times.
‘I have a lot of fans who come to me and say I don’t need to be here anymore, and they go on their merry way,’ Flora explains. ‘Some will still pay a subscription because they want to support me, or send me life updates – but I helped them and they moved on.’
One of her subscribers, who gave her permission to share his message, thanked her for all she’d done for him.
‘I’ve been struggling with porn for such a long time, and I want to get out of it,’ he wrote. ‘That’s why I started subscribing to you, because you talked about being “the bridge”.
‘I just want to say, thank you so much. I’m not completely there yet, but with your help, I learned the deepest part of why I go to porn, it’s to avoid the emotion of not feeling love. Now I’m learning how to cope with it.’
Flora’s parents are impressed with her work, too, with her dad telling her ‘how proud’ he is, and she feels the same.
‘What I do is beautiful, and it’s great, and I love it,’ she smiles. ‘It’s been really good to go from being burnt out to feeling like I’m living in my purpose and I’m doing what I’m meant to do on this planet.’
The men turning to sex workers out of loneliness
Michael, a 47-year-old who works in finance, first booked an escort in January 2023.
‘I just wanted some company to be honest,’ he told Metro. ‘I’d been divorced for coming up to two years, but I wasn’t ready to meet anyone else – nor did I have the time.
‘I felt lonely. I wouldn’t say I am a sociable person anyway, having struggled hugely with social anxiety since my separation, but not seeing anyone for days on end was tough… It was starting to take a toll on my mental health.’
‘There is still stigma around male loneliness – particularly when facing troubling times where you’re grieving or going through a divorce, as in my case,’ he added. ‘I felt like I had no one.
When Michael decided to book an appointment through an escort directory, he met up with up with sex worker Gigi Patsy that same evening.
‘I was nervous to begin with not really knowing what to expect… But she completely changed my life,’ Michael said of their first appointment.
He turned up to Gigi’s house and the pair sat in her living room with a cup of tea and chatted for 40 minutes straight, before he asked if he could extend their booking by another two hours, as he was enjoying sharing everything about his life – from his divorce to how lonely he’d felt.
‘Meeting with Gigi makes me forget that I’m alone and helps me vocalise how I’m feeling,’ he said. ‘It’s still not a sexual thing for me, which I know is something many people won’t understand, but I just feel comfortable with her.
‘I share more with her than I have ever told anyone else. I want to hear about Gi’s day, too. It works both ways for me and really gives the escapism that I desperately need sometimes.’
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