The Influence Of Sex Work

Sex work has garnered a large amount of attention and debate because it touches the core of our beliefs about morality, gender, and human rights. Changes in technology in recent decades have enabled young women to easily participate in the growing and diverse online market for sex work, particularly webcam modeling. Through this medium, women can make a living by displaying their sexuality on the internet in a fashion similar to an online peepshow. According to Jones (2015), although there is no scholarly documentation of the current size or profitability of this industry, a simple Google search for a list of webcam modeling sites yields over six million results, an indication that it is clearly a large industry. Until recently, there has been

Unlike street work, indoor sex work serves as a safer alternative because indoor sex workers are less exposed to potential risks, such as arrest, that await on the streets. A study by Cunningham and Kendall (2010) found that nearly all arrested prostitutes are street walkers, thus characterizing the statistical advantage of conducting sex work indoors. In addition, Thukral et al. (2005) found that indoor sex workers rarely encounter law enforcement and thus are less at risk for violence or arrest because online mechanisms like the screening processes allow online sex workers to engage in lower risk activity by seeing a smaller volume of clients and more repeat clients as compared to street workers. However, indoor sex workers are not immune to violence or arrest as some indoor workers reported being forced to do something against their will. Despite the fact they are not completely safe, the belief that they are less susceptible to danger by conducting work indoors contributes to a perception that indoor sex work does not pose a risk to their well-being (Murphy and Venkatesh 2006; Jones 2016). This benefit seems to be amplified in the case of camgirls since they will likely never meet their watchers past the screen since there is no tangible sex

Because there are no paid fees or resumes associated to join, the models only need a space to work and access to a computer. By cam modeling, many young women can make a day’s work in an hour or receive gifts from their adoring fans in the comfort of their own home (Senft 2008; Mathews 2017; Drucker and Nieri 2016; Murphy and Venkatesh 2006). Jones (2015) drew upon economically determinist theories of sex work to explain that the lack of barriers to entry and the simplicity of reward makes webcam modeling the practical choice for the female sex workers. In addition, Drucker and Nieri (2016) found that online sex workers who want to stay in the industry do so because it enables them to live in luxury or save for other business ventures with an “easy” income. However, their study mainly assessed the desirability and factors of exit of online sex workers who advertised online to meet in person rather than on sample of