Experiences in online environments

[heyunsaid]

Hello everyone!
I am currently researching online sexwork for my BA thesis, specifically to see how online environments changed model's experiences, and I would love to hear what you think about this
I will gladly include your opinion in my research if you are happy to respond! Feel free to ask for any details if you are interested or would like to know more.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond if you do xx

How has being able to work online changed your/other model's experiences with sex work?

What are your thoughts regarding the platforms currently available?

Do you feel like opportunities are equally/unequally distributed for models of different races, genders, backgrounds, nationalities...?

Feel free to respond however you like as I would love to start a conversation that goes beyond these questions!
And thanks again for your time and knowledge xx

 

[AudriTwo]

 

[Nigerian Prince]

You are going want to clarify what you mean by "to see how online environments changed model's experience".

 

[Mila_]

You are assuming we were sex workers who switched to camming, but camming is a thing since like 2008 and since the majority of us are under 50, this is where we started and we have never done or known any other kind of sex work so the environment has always been the same. I am sure we can find exceptions on ACF but you got the vector backwards. For those who switch environments, generally speaking models are camgirls first and then a few adventurous souls will take the very scary leap into stripping/sugaring/escorting. This is like 0.0001% of the forum. Most of us started digital and continue to be with very little intention to switch environments unless you count phone sex as different. Idk, maybe write your paper on something you are actually familiar with

 

[MarieElise]

Hello everyone!
I am currently researching online sexwork for my BA thesis, specifically to see how online environments changed model's experiences, and I would love to hear what you think about this
I will gladly include your opinion in my research if you are happy to respond! Feel free to ask for any details if you are interested or would like to know more.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond if you do xx

How has being able to work online changed your/other model's experiences with sex work?

What are your thoughts regarding the platforms currently available?

Do you feel like opportunities are equally/unequally distributed for models of different races, genders, backgrounds, nationalities...?

Feel free to respond however you like as I would love to start a conversation that goes beyond these questions!
And thanks again for your time and knowledge xx

A lot of people come here asking for help with schoolwork or surveys (that only benefit them), not willing to pay (or offering peanuts) ... and want us to do their homework for them. Same with people who come here wanting to start sites where they make money or gain off of us, and want us to do their work for them too.

If you want to interview sex workers I advise offering an absolute minimum of $50 - $100 per hour for our time. Some may accept less, but may not be that experienced, and representative of models who have been doing this a while, who stay busy and have more specialized knowledge and experience. Personally, I still wouldn't do it for that, but I think you'd have a better chance of getting someone to, if you offer more than just the possibility to be featured in your BA thesis paper (lmfao - sorry to laugh, but it's kinda not our goal to be featured in rando BA, BS, MA, MS or PHD level papers ).

 

[InannahQoH]

How has being able to work online changed your/other model's experiences with sex work?

As has been mentioned above.

As a off/on agent, Guess you could say I've been doing this since 1992 with one of the worlds largest BBS's, a few years before the internet went mainstream.
So almost 30 years.

So hows things changed for those models?
Well i guess they changed genre's to #Mature, since then.

What are your thoughts regarding the platforms currently available?

I guess some people goto a particular jetty, and throw a hook over, and hope for a fish.
But usually to get a lot, you can throw hooks, nets, trawling vessels, pay people to get you more fish, etc etc etc, everywhere.

Do you feel like opportunities are equally/unequally distributed for models of different races, genders, backgrounds, nationalities...?

I don't fully understand this race thing.. But i do find a lot of the Colombian's, fucking hot.

 

[CornerStone_]

If you want your research to have any validity, you should build a real official questionnaire, not just ask questions in a forum.

Your questions are also poorly constructed. The first one has a gigantic assumption in it, the second one is way to vague and the third one is again too vague and a little bit biased.
I suggest you break them down into more than three and make them more precise.

You also need to have clear statements of the purpose of the research, how many participants are you trying to reach, what's your target audience, what's your research question, ethics statements, has it been approved by any board that overview doing doing sociological research involving human participants, what measures are in place if whatever you ask ends up triggering someone and they need support, etc.

If you want to do science, do it right ^_^

 

[InannahQoH]

If you want to do science, do it right ^_^

Should have a lot of field practice too..
Like maybe picking 100 models from this forum, and tipping them $500 each in chat/shows.

Just to get the research component happening.

 

[Nigerian Prince]

Should have a lot of field practice too..
Like maybe picking 100 models from this forum, and tipping them $500 each in chat/shows.

Just to get the research component happening.

Your average college student won't have funds like that lol. Best bet would be to make a questionnaire that isn't too time consuming and hope that some models might take the time to actually fill it out.

 

[InannahQoH]

Your average college student won't have funds like that lol.

Yeah I was playing / shitstirring a bit.
Sorry, I'll go crawl back into my box.

And have a nice day, Hugs.

 

[AudriTwo]

I'm tired of these college kids trying to study us like we are in a god damn nature preserve.

 

[MarieElise]

If you want your research to have any validity, you should build a real official questionnaire, not just ask questions in a forum.

Your questions are also poorly constructed. The first one has a gigantic assumption in it, the second one is way to vague and the third one is again too vague and a little bit biased.
I suggest you break them down into more than three and make them more precise.

You also need to have clear statements of the purpose of the research, how many participants are you trying to reach, what's your target audience, what's your research question, ethics statements, has it been approved by any board that overview doing doing sociological research involving human participants, what measures are in place if whatever you ask ends up triggering someone and they need support, etc.

If you want to do science, do it right ^_^

CornerStone you have a fine mind Refreshing.

 

[Danigirl]

First post and wants something. That's called "using". Not being part of a community and contributing.


Oooo maybe we'll get a copy of a paper we could have written better ourselves.

 

[Danigirl]

If you want to do science, do it right ^_^

Nah. They just want a justification for watching cam models instead of doing actual work.

 

[heyunsaid]

You are going want to clarify what you mean by "to see how online environments changed model's experience".

Yes of course! So what I am looking at is how digital environments (mostly platforms like camming websites) have provided a new place for models to work, hence restructuring the way they can and do work. For instance, what I found is that camming enables models to have a flexible schedule, decide their rates, decide where and when to work, do it "remotely". On the other hand, models often have to take onto more non-paid-work now, by self-branding themselves and creating online personas and much more. Additionally, while the possibility of physical harm is (most times) reduced by a digital divide, comments can affect mental health and harassment or phishing can happen. Long story short it is a brief comparison between online sex work now versus before the internet. Hope this helps clear things up!

 

[heyunsaid]

You are assuming we were sex workers who switched to camming, but camming is a thing since like 2008 and since the majority of us are under 50, this is where we started and we have never done or known any other kind of sex work so the environment has always been the same. I am sure we can find exceptions on ACF but you got the vector backwards. For those who switch environments, generally speaking models are camgirls first and then a few adventurous souls will take the very scary leap into stripping/sugaring/escorting. This is like 0.0001% of the forum. Most of us started digital and continue to be with very little intention to switch environments unless you count phone sex as different. Idk, maybe write your paper on something you are actually familiar with

Thank you for responding! Yes, my question is definitely was phrased badly, sorry! It is indeed true that the majority of the models have only ever done camming, especially in this forum, but I figured asking wouldn't hurt in case someone actually had experience coming from other situations/environments outside the internet or knew about someone who did, and has an opinion about it. But thanks again for taking the time to reply, what you said about most models having little intention to switch is very interesting

 

[heyunsaid]

A lot of people come here asking for help with schoolwork or surveys (that only benefit them), not willing to pay (or offering peanuts) ... and want us to do their homework for them. Same with people who come here wanting to start sites where they make money or gain off of us, and want us to do their work for them too.

If you want to interview sex workers I advise offering an absolute minimum of $50 - $100 per hour for our time. Some may accept less, but may not be that experienced, and representative of models who have been doing this a while, who stay busy and have more specialized knowledge and experience. Personally, I still wouldn't do it for that, but I think you'd have a better chance of getting someone to, if you offer more than just the possibility to be featured in your BA thesis paper (lmfao - sorry to laugh, but it's kinda not our goal to be featured in rando BA, BS, MA, MS or PHD level papers )

What you are saying is very true and what I would have definitely loved to do if I had the money to! Sadly none of us (maybe in a PhD) has any funds to back up any research, so it's a lot of polite asking, hoping that someone wants to talk about their experience. I realise it is asking a lot, and I am sorry I can't compensate those who have the knowledge to respond. I have just been reading previous discussions in this forum but I felt like this topic was never talked about so I wanted to try and ask to see if there was a general feeling about it
Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[heyunsaid]

As has been mentioned above.

As a off/on agent, Guess you could say I've been doing this since 1992 with one of the worlds largest BBS's, a few years before the internet went mainstream.
So almost 30 years.

So hows things changed for those models?
Well i guess they changed genre's to #Mature, since then.




I guess some people goto a particular jetty, and throw a hook over, and hope for a fish.
But usually to get a lot, you can throw hooks, nets, trawling vessels, pay people to get you more fish, etc etc etc, everywhere.



I don't fully understand this race thing.. But i do find a lot of the Colombian's, fucking hot.

Thank you for your response!

 

[heyunsaid]

If you want your research to have any validity, you should build a real official questionnaire, not just ask questions in a forum.

Your questions are also poorly constructed. The first one has a gigantic assumption in it, the second one is way to vague and the third one is again too vague and a little bit biased.
I suggest you break them down into more than three and make them more precise.

You also need to have clear statements of the purpose of the research, how many participants are you trying to reach, what's your target audience, what's your research question, ethics statements, has it been approved by any board that overview doing doing sociological research involving human participants, what measures are in place if whatever you ask ends up triggering someone and they need support, etc.

If you want to do science, do it right ^_^

Thank you very much for your feedback, what you are saying is indeed very useful and valid! The reason why I have asked on this forum is because I am not really trying to create a questionnaire, but rather open a discussion where people can have their take on this topic. The core of the research is actually not interviews but a review of current literature on platform labour in relation to online sex work; the aim of this post was to see if any model had a particular opinion about the digital environments that they work on, in a very open-ended sense. I know this makes the research less rigorous but since empirical data isn't my starting point I preferred to make it more open-ended for ease of response. This is also the reason why I haven't specified the research design and ethical implications, but you are indeed right! I should have been clearer about the research and the questions, it is just really hard to summarize without being boring and creating a wall of text, and I didn't want to be too demanding with a million questions. I realise what I have asked here is already a lot! Thanks again for this

 

[heyunsaid]

I'm tired of these college kids trying to study us like we are in a god damn nature preserve.

Sorry that this post made you feel like this, it is not my intention to make you feel like I am "studying" you but I definitely now see how it looks like it and how annoying it is. I am studying the platforms that are available to the workers and since people in this forum have direct experience with it, I simply wanted to ask if anyone had any opinions about it, and of course had to disclose that my interest is based on the thesis I am writing. Sorry again!

 

[Fatquack]

I'm tired of these college kids trying to study us like we are in a god damn nature preserve.

David Attenborough: And here we see the wild AudriTwo in her natural environment. Be careful approaching her, she has claws.

 

[MarieElise]

What you are saying is very true and what I would have definitely loved to do if I had the money to! Sadly none of us (maybe in a PhD) has any funds to back up any research, so it's a lot of polite asking, hoping that someone wants to talk about their experience. I realise it is asking a lot, and I am sorry I can't compensate those who have the knowledge to respond. I have just been reading previous discussions in this forum but I felt like this topic was never talked about so I wanted to try and ask to see if there was a general feeling about it
Thanks for your suggestions!

Yes I’m well aware you likely couldn’t afford it (and was when I made the comment) that’s why I said it. So you would realize how rude it is to even ask and try to impose on others like that.

I have a few degrees too, but I know I never felt entitled enough to pester anyone that I wasn’t compensating, while I was getting them. I guess that’s just me. Like was said earlier I see you people that come to the forum doing that, as total blatant Users. I think that was a great way of putting it.

And the idea that anyone who is or was a full service sex worker is going to want to share and discuss their experiences with a college student (a stranger who they don’t know, for the “glory” of being cited in a BA paper lol) strikes me as beyond naive. You obviously have not researched this field and the social stigmas surrounding it at all.

And to be 100% real with you I’m not a huge fan of people, in general, who want things handed to them on a silver platter without putting any work in. No matter what field or profession they are in.

 

[InannahQoH]

Yes of course! So what I am looking at is how digital environments (mostly platforms like camming websites) have provided a new place for models to work

Its not new though.

I am studying the platforms that are available to the workers

But there's mass platforms.

 

[Danigirl]

Here's a thought. Maybe actually try being a cam model. There's plenty of non nude and models who don't do anything explicit. Get your research in in a way more organic way. Live it. It that thought horrifies you then maybe you should change the topic of your thesis. At least be your original experience vs all anecdotal.

Plus, your first question about how being online changed sex work is ridiculous like others have pointed out. Cam sites have been around for practically 2 decades. Average shelf life for a new model is basically 6 months. No way in hell I'd risk full service sex work from a legal, mental, and physical point of view. No shade, just completely not something I'd ever consider doing for any amount of money. If it was 2008 for this research comparing before cam sites and after then maybe you'd have a more interesting paper.

 

[Trixxi_Love]

Do you feel like opportunities are equally/unequally distributed for models of different races, genders, backgrounds, nationalities...?

I feel from an audience point of view that sex work is based on certain groups of stereotypical “desirable” aesthetics so opportunities could be more available for certain models who have more stereotypical desirable characteristics. For example to take one stereotype “blonde” with another “big breasts” with another “college age” and by having the combination of 3 stereotypical desirable characteristics will be exponentially in favor of attracting customers to said model.

That said, there is still work to be done and though having more “beauty” stereotypes in one’s catalog has potential to draw more customers- one must still provide quality entertainment to have repeat business. Also, if one has less “beauty” stereotypes that does not work against that person as most individuals truly favor more unique characteristics : there is just a large amount of groups searching on the internet for certain “beauty” stereotypes.

I recently watched a poorly made documentary called “Hot Girls Wanted” that thesis was that in adult work it is well known that most porn stars have potential to make more money at the age of “18” and potentially decrease earnings afterwards.

I DISAGREE with the sentiment of that film but it is a STEREOTYPE that I bring up to illustrate how certain stereotypes have appeal and audience but the work still has to be done. I personally think at 18 one doesn’t have the experiential knowledge to make as much earnings as at an older age when one matures.

I just bring this up to say : well what do you expect? Have we not been watching TV for the past 40+ years and been fed the same lies of what is and what isn’t beautiful?

Thankfully the internet has enabled more unique characteristics to have value and being online means the audience that values those characteristics can now find you. That said: look at any porn site that has a ranking system and tell me if you do not notice a common theme amongst the top models. That is that it takes an awful amount of work to get into that top space and maintain it and at the same time have to be competing with other content creators. Those creators are creating content constantly and that is a feat to be congratulated and applauded.

However: the majority of creators still work equally as hard and are not in that top category: the demand for the content is still there, whether one legal age or another, one race or another, the internet has enabled more customers to be able
to directly connect with more content creators across the scope of what the media says is beautiful and everything that makes someone truly individually uniquely beautiful.

 

[Mila_]

Sorry that this post made you feel like this, it is not my intention to make you feel like I am "studying" you but I definitely now see how it looks like it and how annoying it is. I am studying the platforms that are available to the workers and since people in this forum have direct experience with it, I simply wanted to ask if anyone had any opinions about it, and of course had to disclose that my interest is based on the thesis I am writing.

part of the reason it comes across like that is you have formed a complete hypothesis in your head without doing any observation at all on how things actually play out. And it comes across as disingenuous for that reason. It’s not that you stumbled upon something interesting while engaging with the world, is you have chosen to study this without prior knowledge and you don’t even wonder whether this study is a even needed, wanted, or helpful. To me it feels like one more case of trying to be edgy and cool by proxy for choosing this “taboo” subject for your thesis.

 

[heyunsaid]

Do you feel like opportunities are equally/unequally distributed for models of different races, genders, backgrounds, nationalities...?

I feel from an audience point of view that sex work is based on certain groups of stereotypical “desirable” aesthetics so opportunities could be more available for certain models who have more stereotypical desirable characteristics. For example to take one stereotype “blonde” with another “big breasts” with another “college age” and by having the combination of 3 stereotypical desirable characteristics will be exponentially in favor of attracting customers to said model.

That said, there is still work to be done and though having more “beauty” stereotypes in one’s catalog has potential to draw more customers- one must still provide quality entertainment to have repeat business. Also, if one has less “beauty” stereotypes that does not work against that person as most individuals truly favor more unique characteristics : there is just a large amount of groups searching on the internet for certain “beauty” stereotypes.

I recently watched a poorly made documentary called “Hot Girls Wanted” that thesis was that in adult work it is well known that most porn stars have potential to make more money at the age of “18” and potentially decrease earnings afterwards.

I DISAGREE with the sentiment of that film but it is a STEREOTYPE that I bring up to illustrate how certain stereotypes have appeal and audience but the work still has to be done. I personally think at 18 one doesn’t have the experiential knowledge to make as much earnings as at an older age when one matures.

I just bring this up to say : well what do you expect? Have we not been watching TV for the past 40+ years and been fed the same lies of what is and what isn’t beautiful?

Thankfully the internet has enabled more unique characteristics to have value and being online means the audience that values those characteristics can now find you. That said: look at any porn site that has a ranking system and tell me if you do not notice a common theme amongst the top models. That is that it takes an awful amount of work to get into that top space and maintain it and at the same time have to be competing with other content creators. Those creators are creating content constantly and that is a feat to be congratulated and applauded.

However: the majority of creators still work equally as hard and are not in that top category: the demand for the content is still there, whether one legal age or another, one race or another, the internet has enabled more customers to be able
to directly connect with more content creators across the scope of what the media says is beautiful and everything that makes someone truly individually uniquely beautiful.

Thank you so much for this answer and for taking the time to respond! Extremely interesting and useful take, I agree with all the points you made