What to Know
Some people can’t understand why OnlyFans model Ari Kytsya was invited to give a lecture on a college campus, but others think it makes a lot of sense. Dr. Nicole McNichols, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington, invited Ari to speak to her students about “sexuality, labor, and the realities of today’s digital landscape.”
Given that Dr. McNichols teaches Psych 210 – The Diversity of Human Sexuality, some people could see why she invited an OnlyFans model to speak on campus.
After all, the 24-year-old OnlyFans content creator, who has 2.6 million followers on Instagram and 4.9 million followers on TikTok, surely knows quite a bit about human sexuality and adult content creation.
The professor explained the decision in an Instagram post.
In her caption, the professor acknowledged that Ari’s work “understandably sparks mixed reactions,” but also, that’s kind of the point. As Dr. McNichols pointed out, Ari brought her “lived experience” to the conversation, which is absolutely necessary when talking about sexuality and labor.
“Conversations like this expand empathy, challenge assumptions, and remind us that sexuality, relationships, and labor are always more complex, human, and nuanced than the stereotypes we inherit,” Dr. McNichols wrote. In addition to speaking about her online presence and adult content creation, Ari explained how OnlyFans differs from mainstream porn.
“Ari explained how she sees her work as fundamentally different from the mainstream 🎬🔞,” Dr. McNichols explained. “Much of commercial ‘🌽’ still portrays women in unrealistic, scripted, and at times even non-consensual scenarios. OF, by contrast, often features real people with real bodies creating content on their own terms.”
But the talk garnered a lot of backlash.
Ari’s appearance on campus started circulating on social media, and it really bothered a lot of people. Some seemed to assume that Ari’s talk would normalize adult content or encourage students to pursue it themselves, while others seemingly couldn’t comprehend why an OnlyFans model’s perspective would be valuable to students.
In response to the professor’s Instagram post, one critic wrote, “The normalization and platforming of 🌽 is one of the most damaging things that could ever be taught to young adults.” Many people bashed the lecture, saying it’s “not normal” and “f—ing weird.”
The lecture also attracted lots of critics who seem critical of what is being taught on college campuses. One of them said, “Sad what college has turned into,” while someone else wrote, “Imagine using actual tuition dollars on a class like this. Yall need help.”
But others argued it’s really not that weird.
“This was a class on human sexuality, so yes her doing a lecture is relevant,” someone pointed out. Another person explained exactly why this kind of talk can be valuable for students.
“In my human sexuality class, the prof had a local retired sex worker come and give a lecture, as well as the local sex shop that passed toys around,” they wrote. “Sex education is so multi-faceted and all experiences and knowledge is valuable.”
As one person on Reddit put it, “Her job is literally sex, and you can’t comprehend that she might have some knowledge and experience relevant to a sex class?”
Ari addressed the criticism on TikTok.
@notburnttoasthehe putting together some key points for yall❤️
♬ original sound – Ari Kytsya
For those who still didn’t understand why she was invited to speak at the university, Ari explained that she was not speaking in a math or English class — she was speaking to a human sexuality class, in which students talk about the industry that she works in.
She also provided some more details about the nature of her talk, which lasted for about two hours.
Her explanation made it pretty clear that she wasn’t pushing other women to pursue sex work.
“We talked a lot about my personal experiences, how I got into the industry, and the cons — how the industry has been and still is damaging,” she said, adding that she was just sharing her opinions and experiences and not presenting any of that as factual information.
She also addressed the critics who questioned why out of all the options, the professor chose to invite an OnlyFans model instead of a psychologist or another “real expert.”
Ari said, “I’m not the only guest speaker they’ve had.” Besides, people know what OnlyFans is and talk about it all the time, but they “rarely talk about the realities of the industry,” Ari argued.
