Every day’s a good day to do porn! Ethan Hethcote’s transition from YouTube ingenue to OnlyFans harlot

ABSTRACT

This essay considers whether too much paratext can interfere with pornographic fantasy. While Ethan Hethcote's transition from G-rated YouTube celebrity to X-rated OnlyFans performer was supposed to be a moment for fans to celebrate the realization of pornographic fantasy, it turns out that the fans were not as satisfied as Hethcote might have imagined. Because only half of their fantasy was realized, due to Ethan transitioning to pornography without his ex-boyfriend, Mark Miller, who dated Heathcote for five years while documenting their relationship on YouTube. By analyzing message broads commenting on Ethan's OnlyFans work, I consider the how the denial of fulfilled pornographic fantasy might help us understand a new subgenre of pornography encompassing too much of the paratextual—the pornography of dissatisfaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethan Hethcote
• YouTube
• OnlyFans
• fan reception

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.