Still Have Cam Sex
On any given day tens of thousands of girls broadcast their erotic bodies to live audiences online. They are called cam models and work on websites where fans pay for remote synchronous masturbation or more intimate sessions. Despite the dangers associated with their work, these women find pleasure in it. Their pleasure shapes their ability to manage the dangers of the job.
As the name suggests, Sex Cam involves an attractive person in front of a webcam — a sex worker, often women — engaging in sexual activity with paying customers. This is often explicit, but can be non-explicit as well. Some performers wear masks to hide their faces. Many perform alone, but others work in pairs or groups, and may wear toys or other props.
These sites can be private or public, and they will generally require the participants to read the fine print, verify that they are of legal age, and jump through other hoops to prevent illegal activities such as underage or forced sex. Some cams allow dirty talk and masturbation, while others are more focused on full-on sex.
Do People Still Have Cam Sex?
While mainstream porn can feel fake, impersonal and demeaning, camming is inherently intimate and relationship-based. This shift in the nature of sex work is helping to destigmatize the profession, and it’s giving models a progressively greater stake in their business.
How does it work?
Women who perform on cams have many different motivations for doing so. Some of them work to earn money for their lifestyles, while others do it as a form of self-expression and are interested in gaining attention from men with whom they have a mutual attraction. Regardless of their reasons, all cam performers must deal with the pitfalls and dangers of this type of sexual work.
One of the most dangerous dangers is paedophilia, which is exacerbated by language such as “cam girl”, which infantilizes women. In addition, some cam girls have had to deal with stalkers and overzealous fans who bombard them with fetish requests or inappropriate comments.
The film Cam is a win for destigmatization because it shows that the women who work on cams are industrious and resourceful people. This is especially important given the common perception that these women are exploited neoliberal feminists devoid of progressive political imagination. But this view is reductive.
Using cam sex is one way for adults to explore their fetishism and kinks. But it should never be a substitute for healthy relationships with real people in the physical world. It should also never be used to manipulate or coerce people into engaging in inappropriate sexual activity.
A lot of cam models, particularly those in the sex industry, have experienced sexual trauma or exploitation. They’re often harassed and abused by their clients, even when they’ve agreed to do the work in exchange for money. And recent news stories about webcam sex trafficking busts (which usually involve underaged girls) show how easy it is for consensual camming to become exploitative.
It’s important to remember that the glamorous image of cam sex is just that: a fantasy. The reality is that it’s a gateway to mainstream pornography and can lead to a life of drug and alcohol abuse, underage sex and possibly sex trafficking. It also infantilizes girls, as words like “cam girl” and “working girl” already do.
For people in open relationships or those interested in polyamory, having cam sex may be a fun way to explore sex toys with a partner. Sweet suggests using a secure form of communication when doing so, “ideally something encrypted” to give yourself more control over where your private content ends up.
Many women in this sphere also report high levels of pleasure and empowerment from their work. However, a neoliberal logic that permeates this industry appears to undermine the feminist goals of these workers. For instance, models overwhelmingly use the individualistic logic of “if you get hurt, it’s your own fault” when discussing issues like capping and doxxing on this forum.
This line of reasoning reflects the idea that cyberspace is a realm of social experience that is somehow less “real” than face to face interaction in real life. This is an argument that is problematic for sex workers because it reduces the importance of collective justice.