“I never even received a thank-you from all those who made millions off a nude Marilyn photograph.” — Marilyn Monroe
EDITOR’S NOTE:
In the 21st century, nothing spreads faster than a celebrity nude. A leaked sex tape can rewrite a career. A bare-all magazine cover can ignite culture wars, spawn think pieces, and turn fame into a billion-dollar brand. Call it scandal, empowerment, or plain old capitalism — the erotic image has become a career strategy. And it works.
But this phenomenon didn’t start with Instagram. In this new episode of OnlyARTfans, we follow the fame-nude-money triangle through the lens of art, porn, and pop culture — from iconic Playboy centerfolds to Hollywood stars turned sex tape royalty. What do Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Kim Kardashian, and Cardi B all have in common? They’ve weaponized nudity, blurred art and porn, and owned their image in ways that shocked, seduced, and changed the media game. If you want to break the internet, don’t drop an album — drop your pants.
Fig.1 Bert Stern, Lindsay Lohan with diamonds, from Lindsay Lohan as Marilyn Monroe in The Last Sitting for New York Magazine 2008
Fig.2 Bert Stern, Lindsay Lohan with diamonds, from Marilyn Monroe-tribute in The Last Sitting shooting for New York Magazine 2008. Credits Holden Luntz Gallery CA
Fig.3 Alberto Vargas, Legacy Nude The Vargas Girl illustration, first Playboy issue, 1957
Fig.4 Alex et Flora art du sex - Hegre Porn
Fig.5 Bibi Babydoll Feat LC GARCIA , MC PR - ME ARREPENDI DE NAO TER DADO ANTES, via Soundcloud
From Playboy to Post-Porn Aesthetics
The evolution of Playboy mirrors the cultural journey from centerfold to self-publish. From Marilyn’s lost control to modern autonomy over image and revenue — a shift fueled by the digital revolution and pornographic democratization. Today, the nude isn’t just sold — it’s streamed, subscribed to, and self-curated.
What Playboy was to the 1950s, OnlyFans is to the 2020s — a platform where sex, fame, and money mingle like sweaty limbs in a velvet-lit room. But this time, the girl gets paid.
Of course, the questions remain: Is it liberation or performance? Is monetizing your own desire empowerment or exploitation with better PR? If Monroe never saw a dime from her erotic capital, today’s creators can at least cash the check — but at what emotional cost?
Fig.6 Cardi B naked 2 by Mateo57862 on DeviantArt.
Fig.7 Blac Chyna & Trippie Redd, Cash Only Single Music Collaboration 2020 art cover.
Fig.8 Charles Copeland, 1924-1979 - Money, Pulp Magazine illustration
Fig.9 Carmen Electra became top creator on OnlyFans, revealing 'wild obsession' from followers
Fig.10 Charles Copeland, 1924-1979, Pulp illustration
The Naked Economy of Desire
Marilyn Monroe’s ghost still haunts the marketplace of sex and fame. Her body — commodified, mythologized, and embalmed in celluloid dreams — became a symbol of the erotic transaction: visibility in exchange for vulnerability. When Hugh Hefner used that long-forgotten nude to launch Playboy, he wasn't just selling sex — he was selling a fantasy of power through possession. A pin-up as prophecy: the female form as currency in the capitalist shrine of desire.
The irony? Marilyn didn’t pose for Playboy. She posed for a car payment.
And yet her image became the erotic genesis of a publishing empire, her $50 nude snowballing into a billion-dollar brand that shaped 20th-century masculinity, redefined the aesthetics of the female nude, and, whether we like it or not, seeded the cultural DNA for Instagram baddies and OnlyFans sirens.
Monroe was the first — but not the last — to be consumed by the golden triangle of Money, Sex, Power.
In the very extended Premium edition of this 3rd episode, you can find, among other things:
- Sex sells — but not always for the person who’s naked
- Feminism, Fine Art, and the Subversive Centrefold
- Celebrity Nudes, Sex Tapes, and the Art of Going Viral
- Celebs Who Became Pornstars (Sort Of): Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian
- NAKED FAME – The Viral Timeline of Celebrity Skin
- 56 additional images
- and MUCH more...
Click HERE for episode 1 of the "OnlyArtFans" series or here for an article on the fetish erotica throughout art history.
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