Alicia Davis was working out at the gym when a stranger sent her a photo of herself and she absolutely “hated it.”
Ms Davis, 32, runs a successful OnlyFans account where she posts X-rated photos of herself and she’s amassed over 50,000 Instagram followers, but separating her work life from her everyday life has gotten more complicated.
She has found the kind of internet fame where occasionally, she’ll get stopped by a fan who wants to have a chat — but someone took it too far when they recognized her at the gym.
“I had recently joined a new gym and one of the other members found out who I was and what I did for work. While I was at the gym I started getting messages on OnlyFans from a fan I had not yet had much engagement with,” she told news.com.au.
“The messages were saying things like, ‘You look so good right now’ and ‘I love what you are wearing today.’ Plus other messages that were clearly coming from a person in the gym as they were describing me at that exact moment.”
The messages weren’t welcome; they were jarring.
Ms Davis was just trying to work out and didn’t like the feeling of being watched.
“He even, at one point, sent a photo of me to myself. I hated this! This was a major boundary crossed. It felt incredibly uncomfortable to know that someone was watching me and sending messages like this and I had no idea who it was,” she said.
“I told them to come up and say hi to me so I knew who they were but they didn’t. I asked them not to send messages like this while I was in the gym if they were not going to come and introduce themselves.”
The stranger ignored her, and the next day, when she attended the gym again, she got similar messages.
“I was starting to feel really uncomfortable and started considering if I even wanted to come to this gym anymore. And then thought, no. I’m going to put a stop to this! I told them to stop and think about how inappropriate and uncomfortable their messages would be making me feel,” she explained.
“I said that when I am not online, and I am here in my personal time, I expect a level of respect and more appropriate human behavior,” she said.
Her directness paid off.
“Surprisingly, they ended up coming up to me and apologizing. I think he was enjoying some kind of mysterious fantasy but forgot to consider that this would be quite uncomfortable for me as I am in my personal time,” she explained.
As her following has grown, Ms Davis has had to become more conscious of what she posts online for her safety.
“While I share a lot with my fans, there are boundaries to this to ensure my safety is always my number one priority,” she said.
“I will never disclose specific details on the area I live in, and tend to keep this information generalized. Other things like what gym I go to and things like this. Things that I do in my own personal life that have nothing to do with my online life are kept completely separate and as private as possible.”
For Ms Davis, this means she’ll never post social media content in real time to ensure her safety and privacy.
“If I was to go for lunch or dinner somewhere, I never post a story of where I am until after I have left or even the following day,” she said.
“This also goes for gym selfies, or any sort of public outing. I love giving my fans the chance to meet me, but always in a controlled environment and manner.”
The 32-year-old is always up for a chat but has had to create some boundaries.
“If I was out in public and a fan was to come up and say hi, I am always happy to engage, but I will not exchange hugs, or touching of any kind. I keep my conversations polite, short, and sweet and continue on.”
