OnlyFans controversy and OnlyFans and Education: Can Teachers Be Sex Workers Too? 9 Fired Teachers

The OnlyFans controversy and OnlyFans and Education debate has sparked intense public discourse around personal freedom, professional ethics, and societal double standards.

As more educators turn to platforms like OnlyFans to supplement inadequate salaries, schools are responding with disciplinary actions—often resulting in termination or forced resignations. This growing tension highlights critical questions: Should a teacher’s off-hours activity impact their career? Where do privacy rights end and institutional reputation begin?

The intersection of OnlyFans and Education not only exposes economic pressures within the teaching profession but also reveals deep-rooted stigmas around sex work and digital identity in the modern age.

Background

In an era where privacy is increasingly elusive, and side hustles are a necessity, an urgent question is emerging at the crossroads of labor, morality, and identity: Can a teacher also be a sex worker?

The OnlyFans controversy has brought this question to the forefront. Across the U.S., U.K., Australia, and beyond, teachers are being suspended, investigated, or outright fired for engaging in sex-positive content creation on platforms like OnlyFans. In some cases, their accounts were discovered by students or parents. In others, school boards responded to anonymous tips or media leaks.

But as we consider this unfolding cultural drama, one thing becomes clear: this isn’t just about teachers on OnlyFans—it’s about what we demand from educators, how we define “professionalism,” and what we allow women (and increasingly, men and non-binary individuals) to do with their bodies and labor.

From my own perspective as someone who’s both studied digital culture and observed education systems up close, I find myself asking: Are we policing professionalism—or just punishing autonomy?

OnlyFans: A Disruptive Force in Sex Work and Society

Launched in 2016, OnlyFans became globally mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person jobs disappeared, and people turned to digital platforms for income. It allows creators to share adult or non-adult content behind a paywall, making it popular among both sex workers and fitness coaches, artists, musicians, and influencers.

But its strongest association—and controversy—comes from its connection to sex work and society’s persistent discomfort with it. Despite being legal in most countries, sex work remains heavily stigmatized. When combined with professions tied to moral authority—like education—the backlash intensifies.

This is the battleground where the OnlyFans controversy plays out.

Real Cases of Fired Teachers on OnlyFans: Who They Are and Why They Chose This Path

1. Brianna Coppage (28) – Missouri, USA

Brianna Coppage was an English teacher at St. Clair High School in rural Missouri. She was earning a modest \$42,000 salary when she turned to OnlyFans to support herself and pay off student debt.

Despite trying to keep her online identity anonymous, a link to her account was shared on a local Facebook group. She eventually resigned from her teaching position.

What followed was even more shocking—after being hired by a health services company, she was let go within five days once they discovered her OnlyFans account. “They admitted they didn’t even Google me before hiring,” Coppage said. Despite setbacks, she stated she’s earned close to \$1 million through the platform and has no regrets.

Coppage has since embraced her new path and ranks in the top 0.01% of OnlyFans creators.

She later revealed she made over $2 million on OnlyFans within a year. But her story didn’t end there. Upon starting a new job at Compass Health, she was fired after just five days for violating the company’s social media policy, even though she disclosed her background. Coppage has since embraced her new path and ranks in the top 0.01% of OnlyFans creators.

2. Megan Gaither (31) – Missouri, USA

Gaither, a colleague of Coppage and a cheerleading coach at the same school, also maintained an OnlyFans account to help pay off student loans.

Though she used an alias and concealed her face, she too was outed and subsequently suspended. “You’re tainted and seen as a liability,” she lamented on Facebook. The ordeal highlighted societal double standards around sex work and the ethics of moonlighting in adult content while holding public positions.

3. Sarah Juree (40) – Indiana, USA

Sarah Juree was a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educator under the U.S. Department of Defense’s Starbase program, teaching fifth graders. A single mother, Juree juggled five side hustles just to make ends meet on her $55,000 salary. She joined OnlyFans after a friend’s success story, and within six months, she had made her entire annual income on the platform.

Her account was exposed by a local reporter, whom she accused of “weaponizing” her images to humiliate her. Despite the public shaming, Juree turned the situation into a lucrative career pivot, now earning six times her previous salary.

4. Kristin MacDonald (aka Ava James) – British Columbia, Canada

Kristin MacDonald, a teaching assistant in the Coquitlam School District, was fired after refusing to remove her adult content on OnlyFans. The school board accused her of “sexualizing the school environment” and violating multiple policies. As a single mother, MacDonald used her earnings from OnlyFans to supplement her inadequate TA salary.

Despite being issued a cease and desist, MacDonald defended her decision, highlighting how underpaid and overworked many educators are.

5. Elena Maraga – Italy

A Catholic nursery school teacher in Northern Italy, Elena Maraga was fired after a parent discovered her OnlyFans account under the name iambabye. The school cited a violation of religious values and trust. Though initially suspended, Maraga refused to delete her account, arguing that her personal life should not be subjected to moral policing.

She later disclosed that she could make her monthly teaching salary in just one day on OnlyFans, prompting a fierce online debate around personal freedom, privacy, and conservative societal expectations.

As revealed in multiple sources, Elena Maraga’s case captured widespread media attention not only for her dismissal from a Catholic nursery school but for her bold public statements afterward. Maraga, who refused to delete her account despite pressure, revealed that she made more in one day on OnlyFans than in a whole month teaching.

This statement, though provocative, struck a chord with thousands who resonated with the challenges of undervalued public service workers in conservative institutions.

6. Rachel Dolezal (Also known as Nkechi Diallo) – Arizona, USA

Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter president known for falsely claiming to be Black, had been working as an after-school instructor with the Catalina Foothills School District in Arizona, according to CNN. In early 2024, she was fired after school officials discovered her OnlyFans page, linked via her verified Instagram bio.

Her dismissal cited a violation of the school’s staff ethics and social media policies. Despite the backlash from her past identity controversies, Dolezal continued to post on OnlyFans, emphasizing her right to “creative content” and “intimate” life expressions. Her case reignited public debate over personal freedoms and the precarious livelihood of marginalized public figures.

7. Jennifer Ruziscka (50) – Ohio, USA

Jennifer Ruziscka, a veteran high school English teacher, was forced to resign from Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio, after administrators uncovered her adult content under the username jenniferssecrets on OnlyFans and Fansly. She had taught for 28 years, earning \$75,000 annually.

Ruziscka described the experience as a death of her identity: “I didn’t just teach students; I reached students.”

Financial stress pushed her into the platform, as she struggled with credit card debt, mortgage payments, and car loans. She said the content creation took just 30 minutes a night, a manageable trade-off for survival. Her firing came after a friend betrayed her by revealing her secret to the district.

8. Joe Gow (63) – Wisconsin, USA

Joe Gow, former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, was fired after it was discovered that he and his wife had uploaded explicit videos to their joint OnlyFans account, Sexy Happy Couple. They had originally recorded the content for personal use, but made it public in late 2023.

The university’s board declared his conduct “abhorrent,” citing reputational damage. Gow, a tenured professor, is now fighting back legally, claiming a violation of due process. He faces the loss of over $300,000 in health benefits if he loses the appeal. His case stands out due to his senior academic role and the involvement of spousal content creation.

9. Samantha & Dillon Peer – Lake Havasu, Arizona, USA

• Samantha – Middle School Science Teacher at Thunderbolt Middle School
• Dillon – Substitute Teacher (same district)

What Happened?

In late 2022, middle school students discovered explicit content online featuring their teacher, Samantha Peer, under the alias Khloe Karter. Some of the videos were allegedly filmed inside a classroom, albeit outside school hours, which led to outrage among parents and faculty.

Her husband Dillon also appeared in the content and was fired shortly after images of Samantha circulated among school staff. The content quickly went viral, reportedly shared by staff and even parents, despite being initially geo-blocked within Arizona.

Samantha stated that the couple turned to OnlyFans due to insufficient salaries. As a dedicated teacher and club adviser, she was already working extra hours:

“I don’t think it’s fair that I have to sacrifice my own children’s time because our professional salary did not pay enough,” she said in her defense.

She used an anonymous name and blocked the entire state of Arizona from accessing her profile, trying to keep it private. But after a community member tipped off the administration, she was placed on paid administrative leave, then resigned under pressure. Dillon was later terminated as well, due to his at-will status.

Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) banned Priscilla James, also known as Choi permanently banned from providing services to NDIS participants, which includes any personal contact, paid or unpaid, when her OnlyFans videos were found out by the authority, in the late May, 2025.

📉 Consequences & Fallout

• Lost Teaching Certificates
• Harassed online and doxxed
• Gym membership revoked due to underage members taking her photos
• Parents allegedly threatened to show her children revenge porn
• Still active on OnlyFans, leaning into notoriety with posts like:
  “Who’s husband am I stealing next?”

This case reignited debates over professional boundaries, online privacy, and whether schools should discipline staff based on off-hours activity not involving students.

In each of these cases, the issue wasn’t professional incompetence, misconduct, or breach of law—it was optics. A teacher’s sexual self-expression, even in their off-hours, became grounds for job termination.

Teachers Are Underpaid. Is OnlyFans Economic Survival?

Let’s not forget the economic context. According to the Economic Policy Institute, public school teachers in the U.S. earn roughly 20% less than similarly educated professionals. In many states, teachers work second jobs to survive—tutoring, retail, delivery apps.

So when a teacher turns to OnlyFans, are they making an immoral choice—or simply navigating a broken economy?

From a financial perspective, sex work on digital platforms can generate thousands per month—more than double or triple what some educators earn annually. For those facing student loans, rent hikes, and inflation, OnlyFans is not “extra income”—it’s economic lifeline.

Punishing teachers for earning money through legal, consensual labor sends a stark message: It’s okay to be poor and overworked, but not empowered and visible.

The Slippery Slope Argument: “But What About the Children?”

Whenever the OnlyFans controversy erupts around teachers, the most predictable backlash follows:

“This sends the wrong message to children.”

But let’s unpack that. What exactly is “the wrong message”?

Are we saying that students will discover their teacher has a sex life—and be irreparably harmed? Or are we suggesting that acknowledging the existence of adult sexuality is somehow damaging to young minds?

In most of these cases, the teachers’ adult content was behind a paywall, meant for consenting adults, and discovered either by hackers, journalists, or people actively seeking to shame them. It was never presented to students, nor did it impact curriculum, grading, or pedagogy.

Ironically, students today live in a hyper-digital world where sexual content is already one click away. According to the British Board of Film Classification, 51% of teens aged 11–13 have viewed pornography online, often before learning basic sex education.

The more appropriate question might be:

Why aren’t we teaching kids to understand sex in healthy, contextual, ethical ways—so they can distinguish between consent-based adult expression and exploitation?

Vilifying teachers on OnlyFans doesn’t protect children. It teaches them to equate sexuality with shame—and honesty with punishment.

What Is “Professional Ethics”—and Who Decides?

At the core of this debate is the meaning of professional ethics.

Are teachers expected to live by a moral code 24/7? Is there a clear line between public duty and private life?

Professionalism is often defined not just by competence, but by image. But image is a shifting, culturally biased standard—one often tied to race, gender, sexuality, and class.

Let’s consider this: A male teacher who bartends shirtless or competes in body-building contests likely faces fewer consequences than a female teacher who posts behind a paywall. Why? Because female sexuality is still seen as dangerous, inappropriate, or incompatible with moral authority.

As social scientist Dr. Heather Berg puts it in Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism,

“When sex workers are punished, it is rarely about harm—it is about crossing unspoken class and gender boundaries.”

And in the case of teachers on OnlyFans, those boundaries are clearly being crossed.

Sex Work and Society: Labor Rights or Moral Panic?

It’s time to call sex work what it is: labor.

Whether digital (e.g., OnlyFans) or physical, sex work involves time, performance, branding, emotional labor, and—perhaps most controversially—bodily autonomy. So why, in modern societies that claim to support personal freedom and economic agency, is it still taboo?

The answer lies not in logic, but in cultural residue. We’ve inherited centuries of shame-based frameworks—from religious doctrine to Victorian-era purity ideals—that tell us sex should be hidden, private, and owned only by those in “moral” unions (i.e., heterosexual marriage).

When teachers engage in digital sex work, they violate this script—publicly, proudly, and without remorse. And that scares people. Not because it’s wrong, but because it’s uncontrollable.

Sex work—especially online—doesn’t ask permission. It disrupts hierarchies and challenges ideas of who gets to speak, teach, and lead. In this light, the OnlyFans controversy isn’t just about education—it’s about whose bodies and voices we legitimize in professional spaces.

Can You Teach Algebra and Own Your Body?

The essential question underlying this debate is deceptively simple:

Can a teacher also be a sexual being?

Not in theory—in practice. Not in private—but on record.

The modern answer should be yes. A resounding, nuanced, and unapologetic yes.

Professionalism should be defined by:

• Respect toward students
• Commitment to learning outcomes
• Adherence to the curriculum
• Safe, inclusive environments

It should not be dictated by what a person does with their body in their personal time, provided it is consensual, legal, and unrelated to their role as an educator.

To assume otherwise is to blur the lines between personal morality and professional conduct, which opens the door to discrimination based on religion, appearance, sexual orientation, and more.

This conversation is not just about teachers on OnlyFans—it’s about whether we are willing to evolve our definitions of professional ethics in a society that now operates online, 24/7, in blurred spaces of public and private identity.

Historical Double Standards: Morality, Gender, and Hypocrisy

There’s a long history of society holding women in caregiving roles to impossibly high moral standards. From nurses to nannies to teachers, these professions are coded as pure, self-sacrificing, and non-sexual.

It’s no accident that when a female teacher engages in sex work—even legally and privately—it’s seen as a betrayal of her role. We’re not protecting children; we’re enforcing outdated notions of respectability politics.

Compare this to male celebrities or athletes with explicit sexual pasts who are celebrated or excused. They are rarely asked to sacrifice their careers. Women, however, are expected to walk a tightrope: desirable but not too sexual, empowered but not too visible, capable but not controversial.

This hypocrisy is glaring when school systems ignore:

• Teachers who drink publicly on weekends
• Coaches with violence charges
• Principals with racial bias records

But fire someone for consensual content? That’s a moral emergency.

Cancel Culture or Cultural Lag? Why Institutions Can’t Keep Up

Institutions like schools, governments, and corporations operate with immense inertia. They’re designed for continuity, not change. So when cultural norms shift rapidly—as they have around sex work and society—institutions often lag behind, clinging to outdated codes of conduct.

This lag creates contradictions:

• Schools promote digital literacy, but punish teachers for using digital platforms.
• Districts preach economic empowerment, but fire educators supplementing their incomes.
• Policies demand transparency, but collapse under the weight of honest self-expression.

Is this cancel culture? Not quite. Cancel culture implies spontaneous, crowd-driven backlash. What’s happening here is systemic. It’s a deep failure of institutional imagination—an inability to reimagine professionalism for a digital-first, identity-diverse generation.

Until systems evolve, we will keep seeing headlines like “Teacher Fired for OnlyFans Page” with little introspection and even less justice.

Where Do We Go from Here? Rebuilding Ethics for the Digital Age

So where should we draw the line between work and identity?

The answer isn’t easy—but it starts with re-centering consent, context, and competence:

1. Consent: Did the teacher willingly create adult content? Was it shared within the intended, age-appropriate platform?
2. Context: Did their digital work in any way involve students, the classroom, or compromise learning environments?
3. Competence: Did their performance as an educator falter? Were students at risk, neglected, or harmed?

If the answer to all three is no, then the OnlyFans controversy becomes a distraction from what really matters: quality education.

We need new professional codes that:

• Respect boundaries between personal and public life
• Recognize digital sex work as valid labor
• Affirm bodily autonomy without moral panic
• Prioritize impact over image

In short: we need a world where people don’t have to choose between being educators and being human.

OnlyFans Teachers Fight Back: Ethics, Law & Gender Double Standards

Legal Recourse: Do Fired Teachers Have a Case?

According to an in-depth AP News report , most school districts do not have explicit policies addressing adult content platforms like OnlyFans. As a result, teachers are often fired under vague “morality clauses” or accused of damaging the school’s reputation. This legal grey area has sparked numerous lawsuits across the U.S., especially from women who argue that what they do outside school hours should not determine their professional competence.

Sarah Juree, for example, argued that her contract never explicitly forbade what she did in her private time. However, institutions still rely on community backlash as justification for dismissal, rather than objective policy violations.

Gender Double Standards in Discipline

One of the most glaring issues highlighted in these cases is the gendered nature of punishment. Nearly all individuals fired from educational institutions over OnlyFans content have been women, even when male educators have engaged in morally questionable or even criminal behavior and received less severe penalties.

This was echoed in the case of Kristin MacDonald, a British Columbia teaching assistant fired over her OnlyFans work. She pointed out that her job performance and professionalism were never in question, and that no policy violation had occurred until her content was brought to public attention by someone else.

These stories reflect a broader cultural stigma: women in education are still expected to conform to outdated standards of modesty and respectability, while men often receive the benefit of the doubt—even in disciplinary hearings.

Psychological Impact and Workplace Ethics

Many of the fired teachers report severe emotional distress after their dismissal. Brianna Coppage, in a March 2024 interview, said:

“Not having to get up and go to a 9-to-5 has been tough on my mental health.”

The shame and humiliation of being “outed” online—often by students or parents—have long-term repercussions. Some, like Sarah Juree, turned the scandal into a career pivot, now making 6-7x her former teaching salary. Others are still trying to rebuild their personal and professional lives while dealing with public scorn.

Calls for Reform: Ethics Committees & Digital Privacy

Following the Elena Maraga scandal, the Italian Ministry of Education signaled it would consider introducing new national policies to address whether teachers can appear on adult sites. While intended to “protect children,” critics argue that such moves may further institutionalize morality-based censorship.

Digital privacy experts suggest clearer distinctions must be drawn between personal freedom and professional boundaries. Instead of blanket firings, proportionate disciplinary policies based on actual misconduct at work (not private online content) could prevent unjust outcomes.

Morality or Misogyny?

The OnlyFans controversy surrounding educators reveals far more than just the clash between education and erotic content. It exposes:

• a lack of clear digital ethics policy,
• deep-seated gender biases,
• and the economic pressures that push professionals to side gigs just to survive.

As society evolves, so must its understanding of professionalism, privacy, and the right to bodily autonomy.

Final Report: What the OnlyFans Teacher Scandal Teaches Us

✅ Summary Table: Teachers Fired for OnlyFans (Top Cases)

What This Scandal Reveals

The recurring pattern in these cases illustrates three key societal tensions:

1. Economic Desperation: The vast majority of these teachers turned to OnlyFans due to low wages, debt, or family obligations. Most were making less than $50,000 annually, and were working second or third jobs before entering adult content. This is a systemic issue, not a moral one.
2. Gender and Moral Policing: Women are overwhelmingly the ones punished, even when their adult content was anonymous or off-hours. Professional ethics, in these cases, seem to serve as a smokescreen for institutionalized misogyny.
3. Lack of Clear Policy: Employers consistently cite “social media violations” or “community trust loss”, yet few have formal policies covering personal online behavior outside of school. This opens the door to subjective enforcement and reputational mob justice.

As one fired teacher said:

“I wasn’t hired to teach your child virtue. I was hired to teach them math.”

At its heart, this controversy isn’t about sex—it’s about control, respect, and the invisibility of women’s labor. If society truly valued education, perhaps teachers wouldn’t need to monetize their bodies to survive.

Policy Recommendations

To address the OnlyFans-teacher controversy constructively, schools and institutions should:

• Adopt clear digital conduct policies: Specify what online behavior breaches ethics codes—especially when unrelated to direct student interaction.
• Include private-life clauses with consent: Rather than hiding behind vague “morality,” employers should allow teachers to sign disclosures about off-duty activity.
• Protect anonymity: Adult content that is anonymous or not advertised to students should be treated with greater nuance.
• Offer fair hearings: No termination should proceed without due process, opportunity to explain, and appeal rights.
• Update pay standards: Ultimately, educators shouldn’t be forced to seek OnlyFans or similar platforms simply to live with dignity.

Conclusion: The Price of Honesty and the Future of Professionalism

The teachers on OnlyFans debate is more than a tabloid scandal or a Twitter storm. It’s a cultural fault line—one that asks:

Can we handle the truth about the people who teach our children?

That they are workers. That they are adults. That they have bodies, bills, and identities that exist beyond the classroom.

When we punish educators for living complex, autonomous lives, we don’t protect students—we teach them to fear difference.

The future of professionalism must include:

• Queer teachers
• Neurodiverse teachers
• Disabled teachers
• Teachers who are sex workers
• Teachers who are TikTokers, artists, athletes, activists

Because the goal of education is not to enforce conformity—it’s to equip the next generation to think, question, empathize, and build a better world.

And we can’t do that if we keep firing the very people brave enough to live that truth.