Hot Girls Wanted is one of the worst documentaries, in my opinion. Almost a smear campaign, it was difficult for me to even watch the whole thing. I remember reading on the x biz forum that the people in the film had no idea that they were going to be painted in such a negative light. That's something to ALWAYS remember about documentaries, they will always have a spin and the people who take part don't always necessarily realize what they are partaking in.
I also always try to remember that people love to put things in a controversial negative light as opposed to the positive. I second the idea to watch the Cam Girlz doc if you haven't already. There are a couple other decent ones out there that don't paint all of us as naive, powerless women being objectified.
I've watched all three. After Porn Ends (the one Mojito watched), CamGirlz, and Hot Girls Wanted. They all have a POV (point of view). Camgirlz is the only one that really focused on camming as has been discussed many times on this forum, camming is probably safest/best option for a woman in the sex industry. The least likely of being exploited or assaulted.
After Porn Ends really focused of porn superstars. Most everybody they talked to that was an actor or actress was at top of the industry or box cover babes (as they use to say in the old days of VHS tapes and DVDs). Even then with rare exception, like Jeanne Jameson, the girls had short careers of a two to five years. The guys had far longer careers, but with much lower pay. In many ways, I found the documentary
optimistic; sure the girls and guys struggled to deal with no longer being a celebrity and substance abuse. But most found careers after porn, selling real estate, a private investigator, mother and housewife and these were very high profile sex workers. Which means that it shouldn't be that hard for much lower profile camgirls to find a career after camming.
I understand why girls don't like Hot Girls Wanted, it certainly was made with an agenda that sex work is bad. However, the one I thing I did like about it is it focused on the experience of the average girl in the porn biz, which is far more typical than the superstars. All entertainment businesses are looking for new talent, but probably none is more demanding of new blood than the adult entertainment business. I think their portrayal of a young girl entering the biz, finding some success, and then a year later out of the business with not a lot of money to show for it is the norm. I don't know if the wrecked family relationship and other problems they portrayed are what happens in the majority of cases but certainly, happens.
We know from mycamgirl.net that 75% of the new models on MFC quit within 6 months. But this forum doesn't really see these girls. They may post to one thread, begging for help, they get some good advice, but then they disappear and I suspect in the vast majority of cases they give up on camming. The thing I liked about camgirlz is it showed a wide variety of camgirls: the young, thin, and conventionally pretty girls, as well BBWs, and older models. They did give most of the screen time to the Aella, AwesomeKate, and friends, and VeronicaChaos with their unique camshows rather than the far more common cumshows, but all documentaries have a POV. I went back and looked at the credits for CamGirlz, I recognized around 1/2 the girls. I did notice that many of the lower camscore models had either quit camming or based on their twitter feeds are struggling, several of the higher camscore models had switched to sites like SM that don't particular like working at in order to make ends meet.
The important message of both After Porn Ends and Hot Girls Wanted is that it is hard to become a star in the adult entertainment, but it is even harder to stay a star. I understand that isn't a popular message, but it is reality.
Success in sex work is, to some degree, dependent on how attractive you are. I struggle with dysphoria and self-esteem, which can either be validated by the adulation I receive or my sense of self can be warped when it isn't validated. Your success as a sex worker then gets tied to your self-image. That's a pretty potent combo for spiraling into self-destruction.
I saw it a good number of years ago and had a very different reaction as well. It took peoples personal weaknesses and struggles and put them on porn, completely removing personal responsibility from those individuals.
This opens up two classic chicken-egg questions. Does sex work attract more than its share of people struggling with mental health issues, or does society just look more judgementally at sex worker? Second, does sex work aggravate or cause these issues or did they enter sex work with them?. Finally is camming different than other forms of sex work from a mental healh perspective?
