Webcam model: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:21, 16 September 2023

Revision as of 08:21, 26 September 2023

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===Payment systems and earnings===

A camming website acts as aan middleman[[intermediary]] and talent aggregator by hosting hundreds of independent models, and verifies that all are at least 18 years old.<ref name=Richtel/><ref name=McGehee>{{cite news|last1=McGehee|first1=Cate|title=Camming Is Not Like Any Other Kind of Sex Work|url=https://www.thestranger.com/features/feature/2015/06/10/22360297/camming-is-not-like-any-other-kind-of-sex-work|access-date=19 January 2018|work=the Stranger|date=10 June 2015|archive-date=5 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105055315/http://www.thestranger.com/features/feature/2015/06/10/22360297/camming-is-not-like-any-other-kind-of-sex-work|url-status=live}}</ref> Camming websites typically fall into two main categories, dependent upon whether their video [[chat room]]s are free or private. Viewers in private chat rooms pay the performance by the minute. However, inIn free chat rooms, payment is voluntary in the form of tips, thus providing the model with an income at a minimal cost for the viewers of the model's chat room's video stream.<ref name=Rachel>{{cite news|last1=Stuart|first1=Rachel|title=Webcamming - The Sex Work Revolution That No One Wants to Talk About|url=https://theconversation.com/webcamming-the-sex-work-revolution-that-no-one-is-willing-to-talk-about-69834|access-date=17 January 2018|work=The Conversation|date=19 December 2016|archive-date=19 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119120146/https://theconversation.com/webcamming-the-sex-work-revolution-that-no-one-is-willing-to-talk-about-69834|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Tips'' are electronic tokens that viewers can buy from a camming website, and then give to the models during live performances to show appreciation. Tokens can also be used to buy access to private shows, operate a [[Teledildonics|Teledildonic]] device that a model may be wearing, or buy videos and souvenirs from a model. The website provides the transactional platform and then collects and distributes a percentage of the tips to the models. For public chat rooms, the model's portion of a tip ranges from 30% to 70%, depending on the cam site.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://readysetcam.com/blogs/camming-101/best-cam-sites#comparison-table-heading |title=Highest Paying Cam Sites of 2020 |last=Haze |first=Moon |date=10 Aug 2020 |website=readysetcam.com |publisher=Ready Set Cam |access-date=12 November 2020 |quote=Model's Revenue Share: 30 - 70% |archive-date=16 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116154213/https://readysetcam.com/blogs/camming-101/best-cam-sites#comparison-table-heading |url-status=live }}</ref>

A July 2020 survey found the average webcam model in the United States works 18 hours per week, and earns $4,470 per month. Webcam models who work full-time (40 hours per week or more) earn $11,250 per month on average. Top-earning webcam models have a self-reported income of over $312,000 annually, while bottom earners take home as little as $100 per week.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://readysetcam.com/blogs/camming-101/how-much-do-cam-girls-make |title=How Much Do Cam Girls Make? (2020 Cam Girl Salary Report) |last=Haze |first=Moon |date=30 July 2020 |website=readysetcam.com |publisher=Ready Set Cam |access-date=28 October 2020 |quote=The average webcam model earns $1,043 per week from an 18 hour work week... The top-earning cam models in the United States earn as much as $6,000 per week, while beginner cam models can earn as little as $100 per week... models who cam for 35+ hours per week typically make $2,500 per week or more. |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027172640/https://readysetcam.com/blogs/camming-101/how-much-do-cam-girls-make |url-status=live }}</ref>

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===Personal connection and interaction===

Performances can be highly interactive in both public and private video chat rooms., as Customersviewers and performers can communicate with each other using a keyboard, speech, and two-way cameras.<ref name=Rachel/> Within public chat rooms, the audience can see tips and viewer comments as scrolling text next to the real-time video stream. Camgirls will frequently read and respond to the scrolling viewer comments.<ref name=Richtel/> The chatter is constant and is often led by a small band of regular fans.<ref name=Bartlett/>

This is not the first time conversational interaction has become a boon for the erotic entertainment industry. In the early 20th century, [[Sociology|sociologist]] Paul Cressey noted that within the hundreds of [[taxi dance hall|taxi-dance halls]] of America, "the traffic in romance and feminine society" would become available when [[taxi dancer]]s would offer their companionship and "the illusion of romance" for ten cents a dance.<ref name="Cressey1">{{cite book| last=Cressey| first=Paul| title=The Taxi-Dance Hall: A Sociological Study in Commercialized Recreation and City Life| date=1932| publisher=University of Chicago Press| ___location=Chicago, IL| isbn=9780226120515| pages=[https://archive.org/details/taxidancehall00paul/page/10 10–11, 129]| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/taxidancehall00paul/page/10}}</ref><ref name="Wright">{{cite news | last1=Wright | first1=Evan | title=Dance With A Stranger | url=http://www.laweekly.com/news/dance-with-a-stranger-2130263 | access-date=6 February 2018 | work=LA Weekly | date=20 January 1999 | archive-date=19 January 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119224627/http://www.laweekly.com/news/dance-with-a-stranger-2130263 | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre]] strip club is credited with the invention of the [[lap dance]] in 1977 when their new stage, New York Live, pioneered customer-contact shows with [[stripper]]s that came off the stage and sat in the laps of customers for tips.<ref name=McCumber1>{{cite book | first=David | last=McCumber | pages=78–80, 155 | title=X-Rated | ___location= New York | publisher= Pinnacle Books | year=1992 | isbn=978-0786011131}}</ref> Enabled with this new revenue stream for strippers, the [[strip club]] industry went through a period of extreme growth during the 1980s.

MuchThere ofis thea successlow ofbarrier camming owes to its ability to move beyond the borders ofbetween erotic video performance and into the everyday social lives of camming customers. Webcam performers are often highly entrepreneurial and use mainstream social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Skype, and Tumblr to build and maintain [[Parasocial interaction|relationships]] with their customers.<ref name=Rabouin/> Some fans communicate multiple times a day with models through social media.

Unlike traditional pornography, the interactive nature of the camming medium titillates with the promise of ''virtual friendship''. [[Princeton University]] sociologist and author of ''The Purchase of Intimacy'', [[Viviana Zelizer]], states of camming: "they're defining a new kind of intimacy. It's not traditional sex work, not a relationship, but something in between."<ref name=Richtel/> In addition to performing sex work, cam models also perform through their hosting duties, conveying authenticity, creating and animating fantasies, and managing relationships over time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nayar|first=Kavita|title=Working it: the professionalization of amateurism in digital adult entertainment|journal=Feminist Media Studies|volume=17|year=2017|issue=3|pages=473–488|doi=10.1080/14680777.2017.1303622|s2cid=151835520}}</ref>

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==Legal issues and risks==

===Laws===

Due to the controversial nature of pornography, camming, like most sex work, is not considered a legitimate form of labor in most [[Developed country|developed countries]]. As a result, cam models don'tdo not receive the same benefits and rights as other employees since they are technically [[independent contractor]]s. This offers cam models some freedom not offered to other laborers but prevents them from demanding better treatment from the websites that host them. However, in-person sex work is treated more harshly since it is illegal in many Western countries, including the [[United States]]. Camming is considered slightly different, since it is considered pornography as a virtue of being filmed.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal|last=Azhar, Dasgupta, Sinha & Karandikar|first=Sameena, Satarupa, Sunny & Sharvari|date=March 25, 2020|title=Diversity in Sex Work in India: Challenging Stereotypes Regarding Sex Workers|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-020-09719-3|journal=Sexuality & Culture|volume=24|issue=6|pages=1774–1797|doi=10.1007/s12119-020-09719-3|s2cid=216299163|via=Springer Link|access-date=January 6, 2022|archive-date=January 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106234650/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-020-09719-3|url-status=live}}</ref>

Regulation would be beneficial to camming, since it would prevent cam models from being exploited for their labor. However, regulation could also potentially take away cam models' independence, such as sexual freedom and bodily autonomy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Barrett-Ibarria|first=Sofia|date=2020-01-14|title=Cam girl reality: an enticing illusion leaves many models poor and defeated|url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/14/cam-girl-webcamming-porn-industry|access-date=2021-05-12|website=the Guardian|language=en|archive-date=2021-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513005312/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/14/cam-girl-webcamming-porn-industry|url-status=live}}</ref> Although in-person sex work such as prostitution can be regulated by policing the streets, online sex work is hard to regulate, due to anonymity, and risk of encroaching on content that is risqué, but not necessarily pornographic.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Sanders|first1=Teela|title=Policing Online Sex Markets|date=2017-09-19|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65630-4_5|work=Internet Sex Work|pages=121–151|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|isbn=978-3-319-65629-8|access-date=2021-12-24|last2=Scoular|first2=Jane|last3=Campbell|first3=Rosie|last4=Pitcher|first4=Jane|last5=Cunningham|first5=Stewart|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-65630-4_5|archive-date=2023-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327180530/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-65630-4_5|url-status=live}}</ref> In a study on sex work in [[East Java]], [[Indonesia]] where a specific district decriminalized sex work while its surround districts did not, researchers found that anti-prostitution laws decreased the use of [[condom]]s, which in effect increased the transmission of [[Sexually transmitted infection|sexually transmitted diseases]] such as [[HIV]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cameron|first1=Lisa|last2=Seager|first2=Jennifer|last3=Shah|first3=Manisha|date=2020-09-26|title=Crimes Against Morality: Unintended Consequences of Criminalizing Sex Work*|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjaa032|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|volume=136|issue=1|pages=427–469|doi=10.1093/qje/qjaa032|issn=0033-5533|access-date=2022-01-06|archive-date=2023-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327180451/https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/136/1/427/5912394?redirectedFrom=fulltext|url-status=live}}</ref>