Research about the Working Conditions of Cam models

[jfowler]

Hey everybody,

my name is Jessica and I'm a journalism student at HMKW in Berlin.

Due to the fact that my sister used to be a camgirl which resulted in us having a lot of conversations about the camming industry I decided to write my term paper about the current working conditions of cam models.

The paper consists of term definitions, a brief history of sex work and an introduction into the ins and outs of the industry and - and that's where you come into play - an empirical research on the financial, creative, legal, health and safety aspects as well as the degree of stigma that is linked to it.

I created a completely anonymous survey consisting of 50 (mostly multiple choice) questions, so participating shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes. Plus, all of the more sensitive questions have an option for you to choose not to answer.

The goal is to establish what about the current industry is working quite well and which aspects might need some improvement (all from the cam model's perspective).

I would be super grateful if some of you decided to participate and help a girl out

Here is the Link:

Survey Working Conditions for Cam Models

I hope I didn't violate any board rules, if so I apologize in advance.

Thank you for your attention

Jess

 

[Derek_Zoolander]

How do you trust the data from your questionnaire if you have no way to verify the answers come from cam models? Also, you're not famous yet, so as a journalism student, shouldn't you go the sources rather than have the sources come to you? There is a treasure trove of information in these forums and Twitter where you can find lots of opinions from cam models any given day. If I were you, I would do my research there. But I'm not a cam model, perhaps you'll get what you want your way.

 

[AudriTwo]

Is it that time of year where we become subjects for college students' school work?


Journalism you say? Why don't you sign up for camming so you can get first hand experience instead of relaying on second hand. Just a suggestion.


And what do you mean by "work conditions?" I work from home like majority of us where we are in charge of work conditions. Is this under the assumption that majority of cammodels are in studios? I don't know how it works in Germany, but here in the states we don't have a lot of physical studios.

 

[JickyJuly]

I took your survey. Based on your Twitter, I thought the questions would be less cliche. You seem to have a pretty good sense of humor. But, same ol' same ol' stuff. Good luck to you. Hope your paper comes out more interesting than your line of questioning.

 

[SMuser69]

4 of the first 9 questions involve escorting and not even camming. What does any interest outside of camming have to do with your topic? You might as well asked how many eat cake or work a second job?

The mental health section of the survey is missing a critically important question, "Did you have a diagnosed mental health condition before you started camming?" This is very important when taking surveys of this type because it establishes a very important baseline. There's a difference in linking cause of mental issues when there's already a condition in effect vs if there's no preset condition and you can more link a mental condition to experiences while working. Without that you can just build all the bias you want.

The section on legallity should ask the basic question, "How do you rate your understanding of laws that might interact with the camming industry?" Again this establishes a critical baseline of knowledge to weight against the followup question of how scared or worried they are. A person very familar but still worried would have more weight than a person worried because they know nothing to begin with.

Anyways just my criticism because I hate when people build a story for an agenda vs have valid interest and concern for the industry as a whole.

At least it was gender neutral which was surprising since people love to forget the male models usually.

 

[jfowler]

First of all, I really appreciate all the constructive criticism and the number of people who have already taken the survey. Thank you so much!

I totally get that there are a lot of aspects missing, and if I was working on an article, of course, the research would go a lot deeper, there would be more of a specific focus and it would actually include interviews and a lot more digging. This research, however, is for a term paper with a limited set of pages, half of it delivering basic definitions and insights into the history of sex work in the U.S. to set the ground work. This is only supposed to establish a certain base for further examination, and will be based on numbers more so than on individual personal experiences.

Another piece I did this semester was a podcast episode, the first part of which consisted of my sister talking about her experiences, and the second part being an interview I did with a female rights activist who specializes in "online law". So, I am actually interested in the topic and in talking to cam models and clients etc., but yeah, we all have to start out somewhere, so of course I'll still make mistakes.

To answer the question about why I included the part about escorting (etc.): I was interested in finding out, how many of the people working in camming had any prior experiences in offline sex work. Of course, depending on the number of people taking the survey, this probably will not be representative of the whole industry. But at the moment, I have to work with what I got, and this potential lack of representative status will definitely be mentioned in the paper.

Concerning the term "work conditions": I meant it in a broader sense, so I wasn't referring to a traditional phyiscal place of work, but more so the conditions the platform providers supply.

I am also very thankful to SMuser69 for suggesting additional questions that I might have forgotten to include, because the criticism is very valid. So, I appreciate any further input and aspects that I might not have even thought about yet, that I can either include in my current work or even base future papers, articles or other pieces on.

 

[jfowler]

BiancaBaker I totally get that sex work consists of other branches that are not included in this survey and that they get just as stigmatized as cam models, but that would have to be covered in a much bigger paper (something I might actually tackle in the future, but for now, this is just about cam models). And you're completely right btw., I just realized how limited the answer part for the "type of offline sex work" was. Fortunately for me nobody has answered "Yes" yet, so I'll change that part of the survey and mention the change in the paper.

Derek_Zoolander & others I actually did contact a number of cam models directly and passed on the survey to them, but in order to get as much input (and by input I mean participants just as much as actual comments and discussions) as possible, I thought it might be a good idea to post it on a forum as well. I understand that I won't be able to verify whether all participants are actual cam models, which is why this aspect will also be mentioned in the paper.

As to you guys repeatedly mentioning the escort part: This was just meant as an example for what I mean by "offline sex work", I probably should've included stripping, pro dommes etc. in order to make that clear, so thanks for pointing it out.

 

[jfowler]

HiGirlsRHot I absolutely will

 

[jfowler]

Sorry, all of my posts need to be approved by the moderator, so it always takes a while before they are visible to you.

 

[BiancaBaker]

You should have had this survey for all sex workers, You missed out clip makers, pro domme's, sugar babies, strippers etc.. How come just cam models and 2 questions about escorting... I mean you do realize SEX WORK means all of us right? we all get stigmatized not just cam models.. I won't be taking this survey due to that and I'm sure your missing out on A LOT of girls who do other things than cam..

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

Since you have gotten more unsolicited advice from the social science research experts than you probably wanted, I'll just put in a request. Would you post a link to the survey result when you're finished?

 

[justjoinedtopost]

is the survey being edited on the fly?

 

[AudriTwo]

You should have had this survey for all sex workers, You missed out clip makers, pro domme's, sugar babies, strippers etc.. How come just cam models and 2 questions about escorting... I mean you do realize SEX WORK means all of us right? we all get stigmatized not just cam models.. I won't be taking this survey due to that and I'm sure your missing out on A LOT of girls who do other things than cam..

I still filled it out earlier, was disappointed that the only other mention of experience in sex work was escorting, FSSW, I don't want to tell you, or no experience this morning. It looks like she has since updated it.

 

[BiancaBaker]

Under sites there are NO clip sites listed along with just minor changes that again have nothing to do with us. These questions are ridiculous I still will not be filling this out.. I wish someone would come here with an actually good survey to represent our community. There is STILL no option for clip makers (I do not cam) so again you are missing out on so many things that are actual issues for us.

I just want to say "our working conditions" are what WE make them since we are the one's who work in our own space and you would know that if your sister was a cam model. I am not impressed.

 

[AmberCutie]

Sorry, all of my posts need to be approved by the moderator, so it always takes a while before they are visible to you.

Yes, sorry, and it posts them all out of order too.

 

[Gen]

ACF becomes the Academic Collective Forum whenever research students show up, lol. Props to you and the others who’ve taken the heat without getting defensive. Your survey seems to cover A LOT for such a small paper.

 

[jfowler]

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't aware of the fact that camming was such a popular topic for research papers. Here in Germany it has not been discussed as much. If this paper weren't for a strictly U.S.-centric course I might've focussed on the German camming industry, but that also might be something I'll tackle at a later point.

There's absolutely no point in getting defensive on my part. You guys are the experts on the topic and I'm only here to listen and take notes. I do want to learn how to ask "less cliché" questions and which struggles and benefits actually are part of camming.

 

[JickyJuly]

Under sites there are NO clip sites listed along with just minor changes that again have nothing to do with us. These questions are ridiculous I still will not be filling this out.. I wish someone would come here with an actually good survey to represent our community. There is STILL no option for clip makers (I do not cam) so again you are missing out on so many things that are actual issues for us.

I just want to say "our working conditions" are what WE make them since we are the one's who work in our own space and you would know that if your sister was a cam model. I am not impressed.

Manyvids was in there. I checked Manyvids, Other (for clips4sale) and the sites I have cam profiles for even though I just do clips now.

 

[BiancaBaker]

Manyvids was in there. I checked Manyvids, Other (for clips4sale) and the sites I have cam profiles for even though I just do clips now.

It must have been changed since I looked this morning (she seems to be correcting things) which I do respect!! It's not easy as a student coming here. I totally get it but I mean when you do come here and change/fix things without getting bitchy/rude (like she is) more people will respect that and maybe change there mind and take the survey. So again I do applaud you for coming here and not being a jerk.

 

[jfowler]

BiancaBaker I did not edit the provider section, Manyvids was always in there.