A cam girl is a webcam porn model who streams sexually explicit material in exchange for money online. She performs in a private chat room or by appointment with paying clients. TheLeaksBay is an online pornography site that has a huge archive of recorded cam girls that will blow your mind.
Considering the recent uptick in regular camming and its associated stigmatisation by anti-porn crusaders, it’s not surprising to find more and more women turning to anonymous sex work. It offers a degree of protection against social media censorship, financial discrimination and further stigmatisation by anti-porn activists. It also offers the opportunity to avoid the risk of being sacked and being forced to leave the industry – an all too common experience for female performers.
In fact, a recent report by The Independent found that more and more women are taking up anonymous sex work, largely due to the lack of jobs in the mainstream economy. For a number of women, it can actually be more lucrative than their regular jobs in the retail and service sectors. In addition to offering a greater degree of security, anonymous sex work provides the opportunity for women to create their own schedules and pursue other interests alongside their camming – something that cannot always be achieved in the traditional workplace.
It is important to remember, however, that while anonymous sex work may seem less risky, it can still be dangerous. This is particularly true for sex workers who work in multiple markets, or those who have previously worked in the mainstream industry. As the number of women using sexwork as a career grows, it is essential that sex workers remain vigilant against predatory sexual exploitation and exploitation by those who seek to profit from their exploitative work.
The book Camgirls archives is a valuable resource in this regard. Written by Sarah Senft, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, it takes us on an in-depth exploration of the history of camming as well as its present and future. The book explores the different facets of the practice, from the early days of lifecasting (the precursor to cam modeling) to today’s virtual rooms and tipping system. It also examines how the notion of empowerment and exploitation intersect within a current context of commercialization and capitalism.
Moreover, the book considers how tele-ethicality can provide an arena for micropolitics, and how activism can be facilitated from sites not designed to facilitate political engagement but that end up facilitating it. It is to be hoped that Senft will continue exploring the possibilities of these sites in her next two books on microcelebrity and tele-ethicality, and that these books will be read together to offer an organic and more theorized vision of this new kind of political action.