A Gay Male Porn Star Shares the Secrets and Sacrifices to OnlyFans … – Men’s Health

Jemaar Stennis lived a pretty normal day-to-day life. He was an ex-Army soldier turned part-time human resource manager. Then, one day, he and his partner had an idea he didn’t know would change his life: Start an OnlyFans.

At a $10 per month subscription rate, Stennis and his partner figured they’d make an extra $500 per month letting subscribers into their sex life. Instead, they ended up averaging $7,000-$8,000 per month. Since breaking up with his former partner and continuing his OnlyFans journey, the new-age gay male porn star has seen revenue as high as $16,000 in one month. It’s not uncommon to read success stories of gay male OnlyFans creators raking in six figures per year, especially since people spent an eye-popping $4.8 billion on the subscription-based platform in 2021.

The money is good, but is life as a gay male porn star simply sex and cash withdrawals? Far from it.

“I’ve seen threads where people will ask if one will date a content creator and see all the negativity. At the end of the day, we all came from sex, and it shouldn’t be taboo — we’re all having sex whether it’s on camera or not,” Stennis told Men’s Health.

Stennis has to navigate a world where, often, perception is misconstrued as reality. Dating can require everyday Stennis to compete with the sexual fantasy he promotes to his subscribers. There are also the homophobic misconceptions of gay male sex being a hedonistic playground of STDs and daily sex that have persisted for decades and led to the drugging, killing, and ostracization of queer people and sex workers who identify as queer.

Stennis creates content you wouldn’t watch with your parents. Think of the sensuality of Destiny Child’s “Cater 2 U” music video with a splash of the hedonistic playfulness of Nelly’s “Tip Drill” music video and HBO’s Real Sex….but with real sex. His work and life are acts of bravery. He’s pushing for a healthy environment for the LGBTQIA+ community as he elevates with his OnlyFans content, shifting the narrative of what an adult film star is along with the stereotypes and negative connotations attached to it for years.

For him, it’s time to set the record straight on everything from dating a sex worker and the sexual responsibility concomitant of the fantasy to what life after OnlyFans might look like for him and others.

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Men’s Health: As an OnlyFans content creator, there’s a stigma behind sex workers being deemed disgraceful and demonized by society. As you began this line of your work, was there a specific moment for you that was a challenge, whether family-related or comments on social media?

Jemaar Stennis: My parents were very accepting and loving—when I informed them of this career path, my mother supported me and encouraged me to be the best I can be if I’m going to go through with this, with my father feeling the same way. I was scrutinized by a few college friends who were surprised I was looking to do this. They felt I was going to run my own Fortune 500 company. I let them know I’m running my own thing in a different facet. Of course, I’ve seen threads where people will ask if one will date a content creator and see all the negativity. At the end of the day, we all came from sex, and it shouldn’t be taboo — we’re all having sex whether it’s on camera or not. It’s interesting to me when we negatively speak about sex, but if we were to search people’s search engines or look into their phones where they spew negative things about sex workers, I guarantee you’ll find sex somewhere. The question then becomes, ‘Do you want us to create content or not?’ I truly believe 90% of the population watches some sort of pornography or they’re sexually active in some way.

Much of the content shows unprotected sex activities, and lots of bodily fluids are shared, sometimes with one-on-one scenes to multiple partners in a scene. What does the vetting process look like when searching for other creators to work with? Are there medical background checks? How often are creators tested? Are any rules set to ensure a safe environment?

I will speak for myself—typically, I am very adamant about inquiring about statuses. I make sure to see the paperwork, and I make sure I take care of my health. Besides the sexually transmitted disease testing, I ensured I was vaccinated for Covid and monkeypox when it came out. Most content creators are honest about their statuses, whether negative, positive, undetectable, or other STDs. Believe it or not, a lot of content creators take care of themselves because of the work we’re in. I think it’s the biggest misconception because we’re having sex unprotected; we’re passing around all types of things. I guarantee you, we’re getting tested more than the average person having sex who doesn’t think they need to due to only having sex with one person or they had sex with two people for the month.

How often do you get tested?

Every six months.

I’m assuming you’re making content every week, whether someone new you’re meeting or an old person. Is it still the six-month rule, or are you changing that to being more frequent?

I’m glad you asked this because we’re going to address misconception number two—content creators do not have sex every day or every week. A typical film you happen to see was probably shot two years prior—I want you to apply the same logic to content creation. I might shoot a scene in January and February and release those two videos in March—you may think they were done back to back, but they were shot beforehand. There have been months where I’ve done two months in January, no content in February, and released the videos in March and April. I wanted to clear that up because it’s very important—creators call this storing content so we can take breaks.

As an OnlyFan creator, you’re creating a fantasy for the viewer, but with fantasy comes attraction, and many viewers may want to get to know you outside of work, maybe by dating. So how is the dating circuit for an OnlyFans creator?

Dating while being a creator is a cautious task, mainly for the creator, because I found people would only try to engage with me based on what they see. When they would engage with me, they would either tell me they want to do sexual acts with me, or I’ve been ghosted in the past because people will question why I’m not doing certain sexual activities with them, like what they see on my content. People will agree to date us and then want us to change certain things or want us to stop putting out content.

Any tips you can share with someone interested in dating a sex worker and the type of person they need to be mentally before sharing an interest?

If you’re not confident, you do not need to be dating a creator—let alone anyone else. Many content creators aren’t into sex work due to sex—our mind frame is to go to work and get paid. It’s about being on a mission, doing my job, and going home. Secondly, you need to have trust, especially when understanding my line of work and trusting the reasons why I’m doing this with no other factors. I would let my partners know ahead of time about the scene I’m looking to do before shooting—if you’re not honest, you have to communicate if you feel a scene may be an issue for you.

Are you dating at this current time?

I am dating, and he’s a creator himself. He’s very supportive of everything I’ve done so far, and we help each other choose our collaborations—we work together. It’s much easier than dating a non-creator because of that trust factor. I can watch him make his content without thinking he’s going to leave me for the person he shot a scene with,

A lot of OnlyFan creators have open pages on Twitter. As a creator who also has a day position, how do you make sure to keep those lives separate? Are you ever nervous your page is found?

I’ve never been nervous about that, especially when I was working full-time. I wasn’t worried because most people don’t know. If you check your employee handbook, you can’t get fired if you’re not wearing any apparel associated with your job or saying the company’s name. You can’t get fired for being a content creator. You have a few content creators who perform with masks on, and those are the ones who are usually nervous about their jobs or society in general. Most people who don’t have masks on either don’t care, or their jobs already know, or they know their rights. If I went back to corporate with all my qualifications, and they didn’t want to hire me because they saw me doing things on Twitter, that’s not the job I want to work for.

Any tips or advice for anyone interested in becoming a sex worker or OnlyFans creator?

You need to be confident, and you need to be consistent, especially if you want to make the money top creators are generating—work maybe 30 minutes, but you still need to put in the work.

Sex work is becoming normalized in pop culture and the world. Kehlani’s visual for “Can I” promotes sex work in a positive light, and Manhattan congressional candidate Mike Itkis is pushing to legalize sex work in addition to sharing his video. Do you think sex work will become normalized and be considered a line of work that won’t be taboo in the future?

Most definitely. There are a few countries that have already legalized it. It’s one of the oldest forms of work, with people having sex since the beginning of time, exchanging sex for favors, etc. It’s way overdue. Now, do I feel like there should be some regulations? Yes. I feel there needs to be more safety protocols in place, as many sex workers have been getting killed.

How do you think OnlyFans is redefining what an adult film star is? Do you consider yourself a porn star?

That’s a funny question because I’ve answered this before [laughs]. It’s redefining but also normalizing—you have superstars like Beyonce and Megan Thee Stallion referencing OnlyFans. If you watched porn in the past, you were only subjugated to what the porn companies gave you, typically white people. If they were Black, they had to have large appendages to be in the film. Looking at OnlyFans, there are different races, shapes, sizes, and colors—there is a market for everyone, and it’s accessible.

As you lean out of the 9-5 career and into the OnlyFans realm, are you finding more success from the latter?

I’ll break it down like this—I have a master’s degree, and I have a master’s in management, so I’ve worked in corporate positions for a long period of time. During the army and post-army, all I’ve ever worked in were corporate roles. I wouldn’t say I’m scaling back due to my OnlyFans content—I would say I’m scaling back due to wanting to own my stuff. I’m looking to produce more—sometimes you won’t see in the adult film as I will hire other people because I’m turning my [OnlyFans career] from content creation with myself and now involving different faces to make it more of a production company.

What does after OnlyFans look like for an OnlyFans creator and you specifically?

Any job you get, you need to remember that the job may not be there—we’ve seen this happen with Covid. With OnlyFans, you need to have another option: either have another job or invest in something with the OnlyFans revenue you’re getting. For me, I’ll be investing in real estate. I know a few people who have done OnlyFans for three to five years, and it’s more of a burnout versus people getting tired of us. Suppose you can push and do this for 10-20 years, giving you more power. I’m going to give it one more year and then let it go.

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