A comments option has just been added.

The Proposal

My research paper will explore the genre of “cam girls”—women who operate websites and include frequently updated webcam pictures of themselves (the webcam sections are often only accessible as paysites). The paper will discuss what the cam girl genre is, who is a part of it, and I will explore whether these women are being exploited, exploitative, or neither. My assumption is that most academics disregard cam girls as narcissistic exhibitionists, and no one seems to have written about them; I’d like to fairly represent what these women are trying to do with their cam sites, and then present what I believe they are truly achieving (and I’m not being partial to the two being polar opposites).

Based on my lack of success with finding academic sources, I’m going to base my paper on survey responses from cam girls themselves and cam girl interviews/articles from popular magazines and websites. I will present an introductory 2-page paper summarizing my results and conclusions, and the rest of the research will be in blog format at www.core112.blogspot.com (I might get a different url, but this works for now). Blogging the research paper will make it more authentic—a paper that is about the internet should be written on the internet. The final paper will have a comments option, so that cam girls or anyone else can agree or disagree, and that interactivity will cause the paper to grow on its own after I’m done with it.

This paper is less thesis-driven than it is curiosity-driven, as of now. I have my own suspicions about cam girls—I think they’re really more powerful than academics would think. I’m going to focus on finding out what the cam girls themselves say and then come up with my conclusions. I think that’s the only fair way.

Update!

I haven't posted in a long time, because I haven't worked on this in a while, but I've decided to interview as many cam girls as I can, through email, and blog the entire project. Links will be included, that way Sean can look directly at any quotes or sites I'm referencing.

Rock on, CORE 112 blog!