Postmodern Rant on Camgirls!

In a nutshell, what I've learned is that camgirls' sites generally revolve around a webjournal, frequently updated webcam pictures, and a wishlist or way to donate money. Most of the girls are in their mid-teens, though there are older and younger girls as well. A lot of girls include provocative photos or content, but not all (or even many) include nude photos. Cam sites are of interest to the girls' real-life friends, but authorities worry that they're too potentially pedophilic, and a lot of girls don't take proper precautions to protect themselves from perverts that might want to stalk them. The sites are fairly Lolita-esque in nature, which probably draws a lot of middle-aged men looking for masturbation material.

As far as agency and feminism and objectification and sex and power go...

I'm all for the camgirls doing whatever they want. The Internet is a free medium, possibly the first to allow such freedom of expression to women. However, when a woman puts her image or her words online, they're no longer hers. The rights may belong to her, but she has limited control to who can access her material, and it is possible for her picture to be abused. So as long as camgirls understand that once they put a picture online, it's out of their control forever, I think it's okay for them to assert their individuality through provocative photos, etc. However, this issue of control is really important: as long as a woman is objectifying herself, she's strong, but once her photo is lifted from her site and put on a portal full of nudie pics, she's being misrepresented. It's a tough issue.

And furthermore, a lot of these girls are considered whores or modern-day prostitutes who feed off of their sexuality. First of all, who determines what constitutes the definition of "whore"? Generally, men do. "Whores" are often women who are sexually liberated, and this is threatening and appealing to men at the same time. And second, why is using one's sexuality wrong in a modern context? I don't have concrete answers, but I think a lot is to be learned from these camgirls.

My own site, that broken girl, is not a traditional camgirl site, though I do include photos of myself, because I don't have a wishlist. But my site is a vanity site, which I keep because I like writing and I like the attention. That makes me a "whore" of sorts as well...I write and post pictures, I get hits--it's a quid pro quo. But because my compensation isn't monetary, I'm not looked down upon the same way camgirls are. So there's a lot to be said that women who put their pictures up for free aren't considered whores to the extent that (smarter, more enterprising) women who put them up for money are. Another way for women to be subjugated, I say!

The bottom line is this: Women should be able to do whatever the hell they want, without some nosy feminist such as myself poking around in their business. Want to put pictures of yourself online for men or whomever to look at? Do it. Want to make money off those men? Do it! All this talk on power and such depends on the speaker. As a woman online myself, I'm going to support the fact that these camgirls have a lot of control and are exercising their natural right to free speech. And anyone who says otherwise is missing the big picture of entrepreneurship and liberal speech that is being exercised in this medium.

Lots and Lots of Sources!

ABCNews: Girls Online

The Guardian: Camgirls on the Internet

Rush Magazine: When Camgirls Attack!

Salon: Live! From my bedroom

Salon: Jenni's in love

Street Cents: Interviews

Hate the Mainstream: On the subject of "camgirls"

Internet Gossip

The Sources, and Then Some: My Findings and Analysis of the Camgirl Phenomenon.

After looking through cam sites, familiarizing myself with the cam world, and reading up on perceptions of camgirls and thinking about the concepts of "appropriate" and "inappropriate" and how those things limit women (or don't...and who sets those concepts), I've come up with this stuff. I didn't look at feminist theory, I didn't look at essays about porn, because I have done a bit much of that kind of reading and I wanted something new; I only looked at things specifically related to cam girls, and I found plenty to work with. I followed the artistic inclinations of the Russian avant garde neo-primitivists, Larionov and Goncharova--they were into the transvaluation of values. "High art is low and low art is high"--I took that idea and applied it both to my sources and to this paper, using popular magazines and websites, because I'm assuming they're more in sync with the cam world anyway. This isn't a traditional research paper. If I were to categorize it, I think this is more an opinionated reference site--a launchpad for anyone who wants to learn about this camgirl world. I throw in my two cents, which makes it an essay, sort of, and makes it interesting to me, but I've added lots of links and quotes from articles and hope this is helpful to anyone trying to make sense of women on the internet.

There are quite a few articles and other sources online, and I thought I'd share a couple I found useful. Here's the rundown:

1. Girls Without Borders, by Jose Lourenco. (Shift Magazine. January 2002)
This article focuses on the amazing web design a lot of cam girls have going on. But the beginning of the article is most interesting; I've copied and pasted it here for convenience and boldfaced the best parts:

"You hate camgirls.

Because they are glorified whores. Because they receive gifts from strangers. Or is it because they're pretty and popular and they would never waste their time talking to you in high school? No? Wait -- it's because they're stupid. That must be why you have such a hate on for them. So how come their sites look better than yours?

For the unaware, a camgirl is a girl or, more rarely, a boy who has created a vanity website that includes some combination of the following: a blog-style journal, a bio, a list of links, a wishlist, and most importantly, webcam photos of themselves. Fluff content. Very rarely will the text on a camgirl site edify or educate -- but oh how they entertain! The darlings of throwaway content, the princesses of caprice, they update their writings with sweet, sweet nothing. This is to be expected. Anyone approaching a camgirl site expecting more than a grainy image of a halter-topped teen talking smack about this boy or that bitch will feel like Charlie Brown on Halloween."

It seems that the writer has projected a lot of the feelings about camgirls that his audience would express. "Glorified whores" is what some people think of camgirls, especially because nudity is a big part of some camsites (though not part of any of the sites I've linked above. Many sites, such as Mindy's, do include porn links or links to nude camsites because it's a way to make money). And the reaction the author of the article got when researching confirms the "glorified whore" perception. He writes:

"Before writing this article, I had seen very few webcam sites. Research for the piece included sifting through hundreds of camgirl and referrer sites; the invariable launching of blazing porn ads as a result of my camgirl exploration, the camgirl sites themselves, and the comically massive Mariah Carey promotional poster for the one-week wonder film, Glitter, placed above my desk by some anonymous coward, have combined to prompt the nickname-giving of "that pervy new intern" to me, at least among the understandably ennuyé at the photocopier positioned so near to my desk."

Assuming these girls are whores, what's so bad about being a whore, when there are so many benefits? Amazon wishlists, Paypal donations...some say the girls are prostituting themselves (the song "Lady Marmalade" comes to mind). If we want to get technical, the Merriam-Webster definition of whore doesn't apply to these girls because they're not having sex for money. They're using their sexuality to get hits, attention, etc, yes, but calling them whores is pretty harsh. Except, interestingly enough, a site that features a lot of nude cams is called CamWhores (warning: lots of nudity and pop-ups), but this is basically a site that is mostly pornographic, and I would hesitate to lump it with the typical camgirl site, which the Shift.com article above does a very good job of describing.

So I conclude that at least in the camworld, "whore" is a social construction, one that some use to demean these women for using their sexuality. One has to ask: how is the idea of women using sexuality to their benefit different from men using violence? They're just two different sources of power, and why is broadcasting provocative pictures on the Internet less acceptable and "normal" than a male-oriented activity, like say making war in the Middle East? And furthermore, I think CamWhores uses the word "whores" in the same way that black rappers use the word "nigger"--defiantly, ironically, as a kind of victory cry. Because, after all, these "whores" are making money and receiving gifts, and they enjoy showing their bodies. So what's the big deal? And why should they care if other people consider them whores?

On to the next source:

2. Candy from strangers, by Katharine Mieszkowski. (Salon.com, August 2001)
The byline reads: "Teen girls flash some skin on their "cam sites," and fans shower them with gifts. Who's exploiting whom?"

This issue of exploitation is what I initially wanted to tackle, and this article raises the very interesting point that

"in the search for online sugar daddies, young or old, it's the kids who understand what power they have -- through what they choose to reveal and what they conceal -- to titillate and suggest, with just a smile, or a bit of a tummy, or more."

However, it assumes that most of the girls are interested merely in the material benefits a wish list will provide, whereas Mindy told me that she's more interested in sharing her opinions and having a voice.

And more interesting, it mentions that

"It's the occupational hazard of being a cam girl to have your image stolen without your permission and put into a vast database of cam images without even your name on it. That's the contradiction of the cam girl world -- the technology that gives the girls a place to be themselves and show off is the technology that can strip them of their identity and reduce them to a nameless database of images."

So...the girls control what they put on their own sites, but can't do anything about having their images stolen. That is indeed a contradiction: the Internet is their forum, but it's also a place for other people to take advantage of that. Does that lessen the power they have? Yes, I think so: objectifying oneself is okay, but being objectified can be degrading, humiliating, and makes one vulnerable.

And last but not least:

3. Camgirls: Empowerment or predator enticement?, by Erin Anderssen. (The Globe and Mail. October 2002)
This article was concerned with the potential stalker aspect of being a cam girl versus the power women hold as camgirls.

Here's another definition of a cam site:

"Most of the women and teenagers behind these Web sites see it as a sweet gig: gifts and fawning attention from strangers to whom they can choose when and how to talk. The sites vary in complexity and detail, blending blatant sexual references and consumerism with teenaged angst about homework and boyfriends. They almost all contain the same elements: pictures, diary postings, chat sessions, and the wish lists."

and...here is the analysis of power:

"The camgirls see themselves as holding the controls. 'These women are not passive employees,' Susan Hopkins, the author of Girl Heroes: The New Force in Popular Culture, recently wrote in the Australian newspaper The Age. 'They are their own media empires. They have taken commodified girl power to its logical extreme -- they have objectified themselves.'"

As media empires, camgirls aren't much different from Madonna or Cher or Britney Spears. And I would argue that these women are immensively powerful, in charge of their own bodies and the extent to which they objectify themselves. (Except, as mentioned in the "Candy from strangers" article, when camgirls' photos are used without permission by mass databases on portals. But this would be comparable to a female celebrity's photos being altered for a tabloid or on Internet porn--it's an "occupational hazard.")

See the top of the page for my final conclusions, and a big fat list of links so you can do some of your own reading, you big bums.

The Answers

I sent the questions to four cam girls last week, but only one replied. Her site is here.

1) Please state your name, the name of your site, your age, and how long you've had your site.
---- Mindy, 5ilver.net, 20 years old, had the site for 3 1/2 years

2) Why did you decide to do the whole cam thing? What do you like most about it? What do you hate about it?

---- The reason I wanted a cam was to let the readers put a face with the words. I never intended it to be such a big deal but eventually, it grew and grew. What I like the most are the compliments, I won't lie. It's nice to hear good things every one in a while. What I hate the most about it is people thinking all I do is sit online all day on cam. I barely get on cam anymore but yet, the stereotype seems to be any girl with a cam is a loser with no life.

3) Who are the people that pay to see your cam pictures? What do you know about them? Does it matter to you?

---- No one pays to see my cam. :)

4) Do you pose nude? Why or why not?

---- No, I have never posed nude and never will. I have really low self esteem so posing nude would not be an option for me. :)

5) Do you think there's something powerful about being a cam girl? If yes, what?

---- The power of speech. It's crazy how many people come to my site just to read about what I am doing and listen to my opinions. I can reach a lot of people around the world this way.

6) Do you feel objectified in any way? Does it bother you, if you do?

---- I feel labeled as a camgirl a lot. That word has so many horrible stereotypes that go along with it. It bothers me to be referred to as that sometimes but I am getting used to it.

7) Have you ever been stalked or otherwise harrassed by anyone because of your site?

---- Yes, I have and due to certain circumstances, I am not allowed to discuss it. Sorry.

8) How do you feel about the cam girl community? I'm not in it at all, so please be really specific.

---- I like the majority of the girls out there with cams. Mostly those girls that have been on the scene long and know what is going on. The "new camgirls" are the ones who sometimes get on my nerves. All they care about is hits and becoming popular. I don't think the camgirl community should be competing to be popular online. That is ridiculous.

9) Do your family and friends know about the site? If so, how do they feel about it? If not, why not?

---- Yes, all of my family and friends know about my site. Most of them agree while the others just don't understand why I would do it.

10) Do you make a lot of money with your site? How (porn links?, etc.)? Do you get a lot of gifts from your wishlist because of it?

---- Yes, I make money on my site through cam links and some porn. Yes, I get gifts off my wishlist every now and then from a fan. :)

11) What are your limits when it comes to posing or allowing access to your daily life? Why have you decided to set these specific limits?

---- I really have no limits except when it comes to my friends who wish to not be discussed on my site. I will respect their wishes then. But other than that, anything goes!