Somehow I doubt that. More likely they view it like being a YouTuber, streamer, or influencer, when in reality it's primarily video production and marketing. It's not just "film titties get money", you have to actually convince people to subscribe.

I think that the larger problem is that you probably aren't going to be an erotic actress for your whole life.

Like, what the authors seem to be focusing on is the degree to which teens might see this as an alternative to traditional work or being educated:

Another important finding was how strongly OnlyFans was associated with financial success. Teens repeatedly cited the platform as an easier and more appealing alternative to traditional work or education.

So, okay. Say you're a young woman and 20, and you make pretty good money putting on cat ears and licking a microphone or whatever's presently in vogue compared to most other things you could be doing at that age. But...are you going to be doing that at 30? 40? 50? Are you likely to make enough to retire off that in the time that you're successfully doing that? Because if you haven't acquired a skillset in that period for a lifelong career...like, if you forego education for that, that could be a really expensive exchange.

Now, in fairness, I kind of feel like some similar issues also apply to things like being a professional sports player. Short viable career for most sports, high risk of not being able to make it big enough to retire off earnings. But we also haven't had a radical recent shift in the pro sports industry.

I guess maybe pro gamers could be in a similar position. I don't know how many teens plan to do that (though I haven't seen a lot of material agonising about the number of teens who want to become pro gamers). I have seen a lot of material concerned about the wildly-beyond-what-can-be-sustained numbers who want to become social media influencers, though.

EDIT: Regarding influencers:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-influencers-86-of-young-americans-want-to-become-one/

86% of young Americans want to become a social media influencer

I can't give you a percentage of society that can be viably dedicated to trying to influence others on social media off the cuff, but I am very confident that it is far, far less than that. If anything remotely approaching that level tries to do the field full time and make major tradeoffs for it, that's going to potentially be very costly for society.

I don't think you can extrapolate that from this. Recognizing economic hardship and understanding nuanced sexual dynamics in society are very different.

It would be like saying a child understands the military industrial complex and systematic oppression just because they liked GI Joe action figures or want to be in the army. Lots of kids just think helicopters and explosions are cool. Then their opinions change as they get older and begin to understand the actual toll on human life that a war takes.

This is an insane fucking take. Yes 12 year olds should not be feeling a desire to make pornography.

100% this. I've been sexually assaulted, spat at, threatened with the police, had a snake pulled on me (???). None of these things happen to you on only fans ( I guess you might have another kind of snake pulled on you eyyy) and you'd make significantly more money.

Yeah, same thing with cam girls. A few popular ones can make a lot of money, but it's pretty common to see rooms that are mostly empty with a bored girl waiting for tips and slowly getting more and more discouraged.

There's so much free porn on the internet. Including theirs, because there's always people recording and wanting their own clout or money from sharing it. Though one plus side is due to the sheer volume of what's available, the "once it's on the internet, it never leaves" doesn't always apply. And even that which stays can be hard for anyone else to find due to the noise.

Though those who advertise their OF also advertise the search string to find it for free.