Studying cybersex

[LolasLiger]

Amber, if this is in the wrong sub-forum then could you please move it to the appropriate one please?

Dear all,

a couple of years ago I came across a paper that I found fascinating. Since then I've not really had the opportunity to discuss its contents with more than a couple of people. If Amber will indulge me, I would be interested in hearing what models (and members) think of it. It is rather dated (published in 2006) but I find it still contains quite a bit that is still relevant.

Lifeʹs a Movie in Which Sheʹs the Star - Situating and Surveying the Camgirl

Cheers

 

[mfcbaldie]

Argh. Too f*ing stuffed with lit-crit jargon. Did someone give her a pile of tokens for all that (intellectual) masturbation?. And I'm a PhD in the humanities so I should be sympathetic.

I think it would be interesting to survey cam models to understand their attitudes, motivations, life stories, etc. -in order to actually understand the range and diversity of their experience, identify common patterns. Then you can jack off with the speculations about "gazes" and such.

 

[UncleLewis]

Hmmm. Seems to me some people have attempting to do that for sometime now.
But new comments always welcome..
The finding seems to be that camming attracts lots of students and women with university credentials.
link: http://camgirlnotes.15.forumer.com/inde ... wtopic=122
link:http://camgirlnotes.15.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=1149
UL

 

[mfcbaldie]

Hmmm. Seems to me some people have attempting to do that for sometime now.
But new comments always welcome..
The finding seems to be that camming attracts lots of students and women with university credentials.
link: http://camgirlnotes.15.forumer.com/inde ... wtopic=122
link:http://camgirlnotes.15.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=1149
UL

Wow. Illuminating. That's real research. Small sample for the US models.

 

[LolasLiger]

Argh. Too f*ing stuffed with lit-crit jargon. Did someone give her a pile of tokens for all that (intellectual) masturbation?. And I'm a PhD in the humanities so I should be sympathetic.

I think it would be interesting to survey cam models to understand their attitudes, motivations, life stories, etc. -in order to actually understand the range and diversity of their experience, identify common patterns. Then you can jack off with the speculations about "gazes" and such.

Thank you for the response, though I am at a loss as to why you bothered. Considering this is an academic paper, published in an academic journal, I am interested as to why you found it so surprising that the author should use language appropriate to her field? Would it not been have a better use of your time and effort to actually provide a critical analysis of it, even if your conclusions are at odds with the author’s, or even better, save time by not bothering to reply at all? Qualifying your response by asserting your academic credentials makes your post no more valid, otherwise we would all do it (but just for your edification, <<<<PhD in Medical Anthropology and 20 years in academia)

The intention of the author (to whom I have no affiliation, nor to the institution) never claims, nor appears, to be a critical analysis of the perspectives, motivations or attitudes of the models themselves. It is an observational study, situating the phenomenon in a wider context.

I do not deny that a study looking at the psycho-social dynamics of the lives of webcam models, from their own perspectives, would be fascinating. However, that was not my intention when placing the link on the forum. I merely asked whether anyone had any (constructive) comments about it.

As for the "(intellectual) masturbation" comment, surely you as someone with doctorate, must know that all academic study is, to a degree a mastubatory act. Not only the fact that it is of solitary act but also because the end product is usually useless seed, soon dried and forgotten in the underpants of academia.

 

[schlmoe]

OMG, I've never seen a PhD pissing contest. This ought to be fun! One question: Do you guys follow "Marquess of Queensberry Rules"?

 

[LolasLiger]

OMG, I've never seen a PhD pissing contest.

:-D

We're not very good at it. The gowns tend to get in the way.

 

[schlmoe]

OMG, I've never seen a PhD pissing contest.

:-D

We're not very good at it. The gowns tend to get in the way.

To top it off, when you're struggling with your gowns, I bet your mortarboard and tassel ends up askew :mrgreen:

 

[bob]

a couple of years ago I came across a paper that I found fascinating. Since then I've not really had the opportunity to discuss its contents with more than a couple of people. If Amber will indulge me, I would be interested in hearing what models (and members) think of it. It is rather dated (published in 2006) but I find it still contains quite a bit that is still relevant.

Lifeʹs a Movie in Which Sheʹs the Star - Situating and Surveying the Camgirl

interesting paper, tho many of the points it makes (whether you agree with them or not) don't feel relevant to me in THIS venue, primarily because of the focus group of the paper....the 24/7 camgirl.....as capitalism is so fond of doing, what began for other reasons has become motivated primarily by its economic incentives, and so technically falls under the heading of work

which would seem to dovetail naturally with it's own evolution into sexuality....unless you're a black ops person or a PI, being a voyeur into another life is just another manifestation of reality tv....and the easiest way for most of to create mass appeal is with our sexuality.

so for me, she chose that focus group to delve into something she was predisposed to see as some sort of cultural necrophilia :lol:

hence the points she raises about empowerment, control and "game theory" for lack of a better word...which i see us all discussing from time to time in a variety of ways, but usually within the boundaries imposed by a more traditional view of work

was that ph.d enough?.....my robe has a plastic lining :tongue3:

 

[LadyLuna]

I stopped reading at "for the purposes of this paper I will be focusing on the 24/7 camgirl".

I don't know anything about those sorts of camgirls. I'm a cyber-sex camgirl.

 

[mfcbaldie]

Luna is right about text being misinterpreted. Boy did I look full of myself. Mostly I like the joke of intellectual masturbation for tokens.

That being said I prefer when scholarship tries to understand what things ARE before they try to speculate about what they MEAN. Reading this forum is actually good participant observation in that regard. On the other hand I suspect the models only forum may be very different...

 

[UncleLewis]

Actually Amber's forum and the "camming connection" on SW are the two best "open sources" of online for information about independent cam models who work the Cam industry in North America - and with threads like "The Life Of A Romanian Studio Model" for information on the Eastern European and Filipina studio modelss who compete with them on the "bigbox" websites like MFC. What impresses me is how direct and forthright so many models are about their experiences with members and web-site management in the public areas here.

These professional forums are a very important resource for anyone who wants to better understand the rapid growth of Adult Video Chat and it's capacity to recruit women from middle class backgrounds with some college education, students and university graduates. Needless to say, it provides lots of evidence to undercut the claims made by the "End Demand Campaigns" that most women in the sex industry are working under duress and the control of pimps..
Thanks to all your posters.

 

[lexmark402003]

I stopped reading at "for the purposes of this paper I will be focusing on the 24/7 camgirl".

I don't know anything about those sorts of camgirls. I'm a cyber-sex camgirl.

Wow, talk about a trip down memory lane.

Fire up the DeLorean, we're going back in time!

This was clearly a dated paper. It wasn't talking about MFC style cam girls so much as the ancient "Jenni" cam type girls - amateur girls who just posted themselves on cam doing random stuff 24-7 and rarely (if ever) did anything sexual.

The 2005 version of cam girl ain't the same as the 2012 cam girl.