Written in Partnership with Amir Bakian
Amid promises of an increasingly open and progressive world, sex work undeniably continues to be considered taboo and heavily stigmatized. Platforms like OnlyFans and Reddit, while promising a more egalitarian approach to the industry, cannot prevent their users from experiencing the challenges and obstacles that come along with being in the adult content industry.
As someone who grew up with parents who immigrated to the United States from a conservative middle eastern country, Persian online adult model Jazmen Jafar knows these challenges better than most. Her family heaped many of the usual traditional expectations on Jazmen. For her part, Jazmen delivered all they wanted and more – graduating college summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, getting a top score on the LSAT, gaining a full-tuition scholarship to a first-tier law school, and passing the bar exam her first time around with flying colors.
However, once it was all said and done, she realized that she had set herself up to live a life that others expected of her and not the life she truly wanted for herself.
Initially, Jazmen took up OnlyFans to make a bit of extra money while she studied for the bar. The side hustle was a pleasant surprise for Jazmen when her Reddit account (and OnlyFans earnings) started soaring.
“The plan was to go back to a traditional legal career after doing OnlyFans for a little bit,” says Jazmen. “And then I started making good money on it mostly through Reddit, with my account quickly getting into the top 1000 or so on Reddit. Once I passed the bar, a job fell into my lap right away that was ideal for me and my lifestyle. I thought that this was as good as it is going to get and could not justify not taking it.”
Her initial decision was to live a double life – spending most of her week at the law firm and filming on evenings and weekends for her OnlyFans.
“My life was tough to balance at the time, I had no social life, and it just became difficult to do both,” Jazmen says. “I saw my online career continuing to skyrocket while I continued to waste the majority of my days behind a desk I didn’t want to be at. Eventually, I just asked myself what stopped me from committing to OnlyFans. My parents? Society? What other people thought? I never had a moral opposition to Onlyfans. Other people might, but that’s reflective of their values – not mine. When I would express this to those around me, they would ask what I planned to do in ten years if I strayed from the traditional path of a young attorney for a career that many believe to be short-lived. In my mind, all I knew was that if I didn’t take the chance, I would be stuck behind this same or a similar desk in ten years doing something I didn’t like.”
Eventually, Jazmen decided to leave her law firm and commit full-time to her OnlyFans career. Since then, her income has doubled. More importantly, Jazmen now feels like she’s working towards something she wants.
“I’m working towards a lifestyle that’s conducive to my happiness and aligns with my values,” Jazmen says. “I’m happy not working a traditional job simply because it is considered more prestigious or ‘normal.’ On top of this, it’s nice to see that I’ve gotten a big enough following that I now have a fanbase that’s interested in me personally and the person behind the pictures and the videos. I believe I can make a bigger impact on people than I ever could in a traditional law career.”
Aside from becoming part of the top 0.1% in OnlyFans, Jazmen also recently started a weekly Twitch podcast where she talks about her journey and a slew of random topics she’s interested in. Her mission is to empower others to be sex-positive and challenge societal norms by being an example of what it means to break stereotypes and live life on her own terms. She has also started a Youtube channel to dive further into these topics and showcase the realities of being an Onlyfans star.
“Despite not practicing law the way I used to, I still enjoy intellectual stimulation and discussing complexities in law and society,” says Jazmen. “This was why I started my Twitch streams and recently decided to branch out to Youtube so I can continue to showcase my personality and make an impact. While I may not be able to do Onlyfans forever, it gave me a way out that I am extremely grateful for. For the first time in my life, I have the confidence to believe I can do anything I want, and I am so excited to see where life takes me next.”
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