Smile. Sip. Strip. Living of a Cal Poly college student working as a webcam version
College students often make ends meet using a part-time job in selling or food service. Others don’ t.
Cal Poly junior Julia strips for strangers around the internet. (Editor’ s note: Last name, age, major and online username have been disregarded to protect the source from potential harassment and to not influence her future job options. )
Julia started her career inside the sex industry five years ago in Dallas, Texas. Sick and tired of the $6. 13 federal government minimum wage for waitressing, she began stripping for a club to earn extra cash. Now, the student performs as a “ web model” on MyFreeCams. com, wherever she’ s paid to perform things like twerk, take her clothes off and enjoy wine from a wine glass. Regardless of the social stigma surrounding her work and the objectification she faces, Julia said her job is a passion of hers, one that the woman wants to stick with for a while.
A day in the lifestyle
Because of the shortage of strip clubs near San Luis Obispo, Julia shifted to webcamming once she transferred to Cal Poly in Fall 2016. It’ s an easier alternative than driving to the nearest strip club in Santa Helen, and it allows her to set her own work schedule. Once online, she may be asked to do anything from rub her own feet to have sex on camera, but it’ s up to her to call the images as to what she does.
“ Ever since I obtained into the sex industry, I’ ve mostly sold my own personality, ” Julia said.
She offers uplifting and “ confident vibes” via chat, your woman said, “ because there are lots of men who are lonesome, sad and just want that emotional connection. ”
Julia does accomplish sexual acts for clients, nevertheless never without a price. Her host website, MyFreeCams. contendo, allows clients to hint web models using digital tokens, each of which is worth 10 cents. Julia is known as an independent contractor for MyFreeCams. com, she’ s permitted to decide how many tokens every act is worth.
“ So , for example , at 500 tokens, I’ lmost all take my top off. And you can change that any way you want, ” she stated. “ Like, for 40 tokens, I will take a take in of my wine a glass … 10 tokens, I’ ll flash you. Anything really quick. ”
Because Julia received a full scholarship to Cor Poly, webcamming pays for her groceries and other necessities. MyFreeCams. com takes 50 percent of each and every web model’ s income and the amount of money she makes per session varies, depending on how long she’ s online and just how many tips she gets. For a three-hour webcam treatment, she said her salary can range between $30 to $300, but she typically earns $1, 000 biweekly.
“ I’ M MAKING MONEY DOING THE THINGS I WANT. I LOVE WORKING IN THE SEX INDUSTRY, ” JULIA SAID. “ AS LONG AS YOU DON’ T LET IT DEVOUR THE SOUL, YOU’ LL BECOME FINE. IT’ S EXCITING. IT REALLY IS. ”
Sex and tech
Julia witnessed firsthand how technology has changed the size of the sex industry. The girl said five years ago, it absolutely was easy to make $1, 1000 in the club on a Sunday. Now, because the web creates sex widely available for anyone with an internet connection, sex by itself is cheaper.
Guard Magazine reported that in 2015 alone, more than 5 billion hours of porno were watched on Pornhub. com, the web’ s largest pornography site. What’ s more, it’ s i9000 estimated that porn uses up approximately 37 percent from the internet. With sex thus easily accessible online, Julia said, it’ s harder to produce as much money in clubs, and web models are now more likely to do more for less.
However , sex industry workers still can and do use technology to their advantage. Utilizing social media platforms, cam models and other sex industry workers can easily attract and have interaction with solo male masturbation customers. It also helps them earn a little money on the side, an opportunity that wasn’ t available five years back.
Twitter and Snapchat are two of the largest social media outlets webcam products use to their advantage, corresponding to Julia. Web models primarily use Twitter to enhance themselves and charge buyers for access to their Snapchat username. Once a customer pays off, he or she will have access to most Snapchat content posted by that model, which includes nearly anything from private chats to naked shower videos.
Some models choose to charge for Snapchat on a monthly basis; for others, it’ s a one-time deal. Julia explained Facebook isn’ t since prevalent in her sector anymore, though the social media program definitely stirred up some talk in 2011 when it was found that sex workers were using Facebook to recruit customers.
Jane Lehr, associate teacher of ethnic studies and department chair of women’ s and gender analyses at Cal Poly, said there are both advantages and disadvantages to using technology in the gender industry.
“ In terms of camming, I think you can find excitement about that as an alternative because it does seem to lessen risks. It reduces risks of bodily fluids, risks relevant to being in physical environments that you might not have control of, ” Lehr said. “ Having said that, we know, even in web-affiliated interactions, horrible things can easily still happen … there’ s i9000 still the opportunity for somebody never to have control, or to have their emotional or mental limitations violated. ”
While Julia’ s experience of webcamming is overall fulfilling for her, she has experienced the internet abuse and objectification that comes with working as a web version.
“Some customers are just so blunt, like, ‘ Show us your pussy! ’ And if you say, ‘ No, you need to tip myself, ’ they’ ll end up like, ‘ I’ m not going to fucking tip for a great ugly bitch like you, ’ ” she said. “ That’ s frustrating to cope with and you get that a lot. Specifically more on webcamming. ”
Finding empowerment in the sex industry
Despite it being frustrating at times, working in the sex industry is fun for Julia. Even in the face of objectification and rude customers, she locates ways to keep herself satisfied.
“ I love it when a customer only makes me mad. Because then I’ m just simply going to fart on them and after that leave. That is the most gratifying thing ever, ” your woman said.
In the academic world of women’ s i9000 and gender studies, Lehr said there’ s argument about whether or not sex function can be truly empowering for girls. However , she said there’ s no way to come to an over-all conclusion; each individual case must be analyzed contextually.
For Julia, working in the sex industry is both equally empowering and safe. She stated she feels particularly safe employed in the webcam modeling business, and though some of her co-models have encountered issues with stalkers, she said she’ s i9000 never had that sort of issue before.
While her work might be empowering to her, other people oftentimes feel uncomfortable with her profession. She said as a result of stigma surrounding sex employees, it can be hard to start innovative relationships with people.
Olivia Proffit / Mustang News
“ Men are very insecure to handle a woman inside the sex industry, let me tell you, ” she said. “ Unless of course they’ re a pimp and then they’ re most for it. ”
In addition , Julia said her family doesn’ t find out about her part-time gig as a web model. Though the lady plans on telling them eventually, she said her family has a don’ t-ask, don’ t-tell attitude, and that hasn’ t come up in conversation yet.
“ I just can’ big t break it to all of them, ” she said. “ My poor grandma! ”
Still, Julia sees herself continuing to work in the industry, even after she graduates by Cal Poly.
“ I’ ll perhaps work at a club. It’ s just so fun and so empowering. Like, people pay to go out and drink up with their friends, ” she said. “ I reach go, all my drinks are paid for and I get to go back home with some money in my pocket. I like it. ”
Note: The age and on the web username of the student actually quoted in this story have already been omitted to protect the source out of possible harassment.