This is an interesting topic, and a complicated question, I don't know if I would define self-esteem and self-confidence as the same things, so I guess it depends, yes and no for different reasons.
At first it definitely got my confidence up, it's hard for it not to when you have people complimenting you all of the time and literally giving you money because of your looks/personality. I was never exactly insecure if I'll be honest, but certain angles and stuff I previously found unflattering, I realised were angles most men love *ahem* lying back with legs apart and pussy facing towards the camera *ahem*. It's pretty flattering when people choose out of thousands of girls, to spend their time and money on you.
But... As Amber said, this can take an uglier turn. For me, if I happen to have gained weight or am bloated and start getting bad sessions, I automatically blame my weight, or something else about my looks I'm insecure about at the time. I need to remind myself constantly that I have cammed very successfully at a range of weights and I managed top 100 during one of my heaviest times, and in reality, my success has generally been lower while I've been slimmer. But it still preys on my mind. It can also be easy to compare yourself with other models, there will always be the popular girls who fit current western ideals of female beauty in some way or shape, the kind of women who most women compare themselves to, camgirl or not. It can be easy to compare your position with theirs, which isn't helped by the fact that many members believe that it's only top 20/top 100 models who are successful cam models, when realistically any girl consistently in the top 1000/2000 is earning similar levels to most lawyers, doctors and many other qualified positions, with consistent top 100 girls well into the top 5% of earners. Top 20 MFC girls are the best paid girls in the porn industry.
So I guess if you spend any time watching top girls, checking out instagrams or looking at high ranking girls on twitter, then you are going to feel an impact on your self esteem, something similar to all the other non camming women in the world who look at gorgeous and apparently successful women online. Except as a camgirl you are thrown into an industry where you are working on the same site as women who are the very top of their game, and can view them in their workplace and directly compare yourself to them. In comparison, it would be like being constantly reminded of how successful all the CEO's are, or of any other tiny percentage of people who are hugely successful, and made to feel guilty for not being at that point.
It's all about your perception of success and your perception of self. At first camming for many is like, "wow, I just earned HOW MUCH?!!" after a few hours, which is a brilliant attitude to maintain (if you can). Eventually you may start to feel disappointed by that and will not understand why all these other girls seem to be doing so much better than you, even if you are still doing far better than the majority of the girls on the site. Sometimes a controlling micromanaging member will criticise you and make you feel lazy. I was once told by an old regular that it was pathetic that I only made about top 800 monthly with my camscore, which made me feel ashamed of what I had perceived as success.
It wasn't the first time I have been told stupid things like this, and all of these aspects of camming can take huge hits on your self esteem, because as far as you can tell, why should you not be as successful as such and such girl? You both started with a computer and a webcam. It can be very easy to make yourself believe you have failed, or you are just not enough. This isn't just camming, if you start a sport and you've got experts next to you then it can seriously limit your progress as you fear making a tit out of yourself. It's just harder with camming where just up the page a bit, while you're hearing crickets, there's a girl with 1000 viewers bringing in your weekly aim every hour, and getting crazy tips which would put a deposit on a house. All of this could be very damaging to your sense of self-worth.
Social media in general is becoming a big issue in causing mental health issues in young people, whether due to lowering self-esteem or causing addiction. At least one very successful and hard working cam model on MFC seems to have a genuine addiction to camming which is apparently put above her mental and physical health, I am certain there will be more, just in the same way you get with lots of social media stars. So while yes, it can be used as an amazing tool to help gain confidence, similar to sites like instagram, it could also easily lead to warping and lowering your self-esteem.
For any girl looking to get into camming, if you are prone to getting issues with self-esteem, I guess I would recommend protecting yourself in various ways, maybe by limiting how much you watch other girls (especially top girls), and by refusing to compare yourself to their success. Set achievable expectations, and reward yourself when you meet or exceed them. Set ideas in mind before you ever start camming of what you would be thrilled to make, then write those down and remind yourself of them to try and maintain perspective.
While this isn't exactly the topic, it is kind of related with the health element of self-esteem: Camgirls, please remember to take breaks and look after your health when you need to. Camming is physically and psychologically draining, and with it can come fears and insecurities that if you take a break or don't come online your followers will move on or will be angry/upset with you. This could lead to not taking enough breaks, or (like me), lead to being so insecure I fear coming back. Even if you're getting pressure from certain members, remember that your health and wellbeing is always more important than their sexual entertainment. Fortunately most members I have been close to have stood by this 100% and will be hugely supportive.
Other aspects of self-consciousness which are related to camming, which may be a good idea to keep in mind: Bear in mind what society thinks of your job. Not going to lie, it's not confidence inspiring when most people you'll meet in real life will judge and disrespect you when they find out about your job. It's not good on confidence if you are successful at camming and no one in real life gives a fuck about all that hard work you put in, and all those great ideas you put together. It's not great on the self-esteem having to lie to people about what you do for work. It's not great either if you decide to leave the world of camming and are unqualified in comparison with your peers, as all that time and energy put into the camming world no longer means shit. It's not fun when people who you thought were trusted friends (or partners) lash back in a disagreement by using "you're a camgirl" as the ultimate justification that you are wrong and a bad person and have no leg to stand on in other topics (like rape or sexual harassment).
On the upside it can be very good for self-esteem when you're earning more than most people from far less hours, so if you are clever and make the most of your earning potential in improving your life, then you could even gain a slight superiority complex.
None of this in any way is to say don't cam, camming is a great gig and I believe the pros tend to outweigh the cons, but the cons should be kept in mind while camming so you can ensure you don't run into them, or that if you do run into them, you know how to deal with it. While on the surface I would say camming has given me huge amounts of confidence in myself, being completely honest with myself, it has also removed confidence in other areas which are hidden under the surface, some of which only became apparent after leaving the camming world. For anyone thinking of using camming solely as a way to raise self-esteem, I would probably say it is not an effective treatment for low self-esteem. If you want to gain confidence and get better at speaking over webcam and feeling comfortable with people seeing you naked, then it would definitely help that. Not necessarily that you will feel any different in your sense of self-worth, but practice makes perfect.
I hope this made sense and maybe helped answer the question.
