A hairy OnlyFans creator has had huge success after she decided to stop shaving and normalise body hair for women.
The 22-year-old, who goes by Cherry The Mistress (@cherrythemistressofficial), said she began posting on the site two years ago while she was in college.
Cherry told the Irish Mirror: "It took me a few months [to decide to create an account]. I was like, okay, I'm going to really think about this because I'm putting my naked body out on the internet, so maybe I should give it some more thought, and I think one day I was like, let's do it, and it's been an incredible decision."
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She explained: "The main reason why I started one was because I was in college and I was pretty broke.
"I was going to school full time, and I was also working at a coffee shop. I was working part-time there, but I mean the cost of living is so expensive. So I was like, okay, I need to figure out another way I can get some money in."
For the first month, Cherry, from the South West region of the United States, was still shaving, but she soon decided to give up her razor for a more natural look.
She said: "When I started OnlyFans, I did shave for about a month or so and then when I stopped shaving.
"It was something that I decided to do on my own, and I was like, well hopefully, I'll still be able to do OnlyFans with it. Hopefully, some people will find it attractive."
She added: "I definitely decided to stop shaving to kind of help normalise body hair for women.
"I was taking a sociology class in college, and they were teaching gender norms and stuff like that, and shaving was one of them.
"It really got me thinking, like wow, I've been shaving all my life. It's something I've been told to do. It's something I've been taught. Like, okay, this is something that I have to do as a woman, and so yeah, one day, I was just like do you know what? How come men don't have to shave, and it's totally fine, and women have to shave, so I just stopped one day."
Cherry has had huge success on the platform after quitting her barista job and moving back to her home city.
She said: "At my barista job, I was making $1,500, maybe a little bit more like under 2k USD and then I was moving because my lease was up, so I was moving back to the city that I'm originally from because I was in a really small town going to college.
"I think I was making around like three or four thousand dollars from OnlyFans, and I was like, okay, I think this might be more sustainable than working in a coffee shop somewhere else.
"So I was like, do you know what? I'm going to quit, and… hopefully, it will continue to grow."
Cherry has received immense support from her fans, who have praised her for promoting positive body image.
However, she said she has also been at the receiving end of hateful comments about her appearance.
She said: "From my fans, their reaction has been extremely positive. They love seeing my body hair. They think it's really rare to see nowadays, and they think it's amazing, and they always tell me how much they love my hairy armpits and my bush.
"Their reaction is really supportive. They really do enjoy it.
"From social media, on the other hand, the reaction from people there is definitely mixed."
Cherry explained: "I think people aren't really used to seeing women with body hair for some reason.
"I think for the longest time the beauty standard for women is to shave, to be hairless for some reason, and I definitely do get responses from people saying 'This is awesome', 'I love that you're normalising body hair for women', 'This is so empowering', 'You're inspiring me not to shave, and I'm a woman', and I love seeing comments like that, but I also do get a lot of 'This is disgusting', 'This is nasty', 'This is so unhygienic, unfeminine', 'What are you a sasquatch?' so I get a lot of different kinds of comments."
After two years in the industry, Cherry said she has now developed a thick skin and doesn't let the negative comments upset her.
She said: "Now they don't really upset me or annoy me.
"Definitely, when I started posting on social media a couple of years ago, it definitely made me really sad, but I think now that I've been making six figures and I know that there are people out there that enjoy it, and I'm happy with myself it doesn't really affect me anymore.
"If anything, I just laugh at the comments."
Asked how long she will continue to do OnlyFans, Cherry said: "I used to think about this a lot.
"I think after I've maybe put a lot of money into retirement and I've bought a house that I'm really comfortable with my living situation, maybe I'll stop, but I don't know.
"I've seen people, OnlyFans models in their 30s, 40s and 50s still do OnlyFans, so I might do it for a long time."
She added: "It's definitely my favourite job ever. It can be really stressful sometimes, and my work days are like 13 to 14 hours, but it's 100 per cent worth it."
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