The Metrics of Attention and the Dark Architecture of Platform Capitalism
A documentary about OnlyFans creator Lily Phillips’s 100-man challenge, and a discussion about the attention economy's double-edged sword
Those who know me know that words spill from me with the inevitability of tides. I love to talk. My curiosity about the world manifests as an endless stream of observations, questions, theories—all of them needing to be heard. I've probably talked through parts of every film we've watched together (my apologies). I'll talk to anyone who'll listen, but it's
who receives the full unfiltered cascade of my mind. And because he is my soulmate, he's forced to listen to all my meandering thoughts, which tumble out much like this: snippets from the current book I'm reading; that I'm hungry; my thoughts on Simone de Beauvoir's foundational text in contemporary feminist theory; the current temperature outside at any given moment; that we've run out of eggs and milk; that he really should text his brother back; my feelings on Lily Phillips's grim 100 man challenge after seeing Joshua Pieter's documentary about it; my feelings about men in general after said documentary (him excluded, of course).This brings me to this week's essay. After watching the documentary and reading numerous articles theorising about its themes—feminism, autonomy, culture, empowerment, sexual liberalism, women, consent, audience capture, and so on—I brought the subject up with P. What followed was an engaging and intellectual discussion that explored all these complexities. Later, when he put his reflections to paper, I saw that he had approached the issue from an unexpected angle, arguing that platforms like OnlyFans co-opt empowerment narratives while reinforcing exploitative systems—particularly by promoting a misleading form of autonomy driven by metrics rather than genuine creative expression. His perspective struck me as both compelling and insightful. You can find it below.
xo,
