Two very interesting sex-positive opinion pieces vehemently defending the adult entertainment industry have been published recently and have been shared widely.
The first one was written by Mia Saldarriaga, accomplished cam model and COO of Colombian camming powerhouse JuanBustos.com. She argues against the focus of mainstream media comparing cam models with prostitutes, declaring a cultural revolution of sorts created by the cam world. The other article has been published by none other but the distinguished New York Times and has been written by Lux Alptraum, editor of the influential adult entertainment blog Fleshbot. His article is recollecting what Americans get wrong about porn.
The Cultural Revolution that is Camming
Webcam legend and COO of JuanBustos.com, Mia Saldarriaga, argues that for too long, the »focus of mainstream media attention on adult camming has been restricted to analysis of the webcam model profession in contrast to practices associated with more traditional forms of sex work, like prostitution, that have no relevant connection to camming.« Saldarriaga makes it a point that prostitution and especially exploitation and the cam business are very different things.
She highlights her own career working at every level in the adult camming business and vehemently counters wrong assumptions. »It’s intellectually lazy to decry web modeling as “exploitation” just because it fits the click-bait trends your lightweight news site happens to be following at any given moment without any understanding of the realities that male and female models actually experience each day of their careers.« And indeed thousands of models all over the world make a living within a safe environment of their own business, many of them from the comfortable surroundings of their own home.
Any notion that cam models might be exploited is strongly rejected: »In fact, the opposite is almost always true. In nearly every case it is the model exploiting society, by profiting from the inhibitions, stigmas and social taboos that society puts in place. That is the strange irony of becoming a successful cam model. On the one hand you would prefer to be openly accepted by society as a productive member who pays taxes, supports a family and brings joy to people – yet on the other hand, it is precisely that lack of acceptance that transforms the mundane acts of sex we have all experienced many times in our lives into a lucrative form of entertainment on a global scale.«
Saldarriaga highlights the fact that all these performers are entrepreneurs: »They have access to all the buttons; they run the show, develop a loyal audience of followers and become advocates of a better sex-positive society by educating society, one viewer after another.«
The cam legend goes on arguing that even minorities profit from the booming cam industry. She thinks the normalization of fetishes and LGBTQ-lifestyles have been helped by the varied offerings of cam sites. »When a viewer meets a trans cam model or pops into a gay chat room and discovers that the people in there are nice, or that they actually have a lot in common with them, or that their own gay tendencies or trans identities are perfectly natural — they learn they aren’t alone.«
Misconceptions and Prejudices About Porn
Lux Alptraum, the long-time editor of the influential adult entertainment blog Fleshbot, published an article in the New York Times explaining what Americans get wrong about porn. After years within the center of everything that’s happening in the world of online pornography, he is shocked how ill-informed the public discourse still seems to be – especially as the high consumption numbers of porn seem to suggest every participant in that discourse is in one way or the other regular consumer of adult entertainment products.
»In the 10 years since I wrote my first Fleshbot post, internet porn has skyrocketed in popularity. But even as porn consumption has become a commonplace habit, we continue to treat it as something exotic and inherently perilous to our health and happiness,« he says.
Read the complete opinion pieces
Mia Saldarriaga, Ethical Camming Inspires A Cultural Revolution
Lux Alptraum, What Americans Get Wrong About Porn