While some are getting rich off being virtual girlfriends, many others are getting ripped off.
The relatively new industry niche of live, on-camera porn shows are not the golden goose many performers expect, according to an exposé for the Guardian by self-proclaimed “bisexual cyber slut” Sofia Barrett-Ibarria. In reality, the women putting on the shows, known as “cam girls,” are dealing with demanding viewers, long hours and managers who force them to do increasingly humiliating stunts on camera.
“The set-up was, essentially, showing up for 12-hour shifts, during which I had to be ready and on camera the whole time,” now 27-year-old Katlyn Carter tells Barrett-Ibarria of her more than two years “camming,” beginning at a fetish modeling studio in 2014.
Carter’s full-time office job wasn’t paying the bills, and the Southern California studio gave her a workspace and a 60% cut of the revenue audiences paid for her broadcasts — and private shows.
But the conditions were deplorable: Management chastised Carter for not accepting all viewer requests, including ones for vomiting and urination, and she soon developed an eating disorder, began binge-drinking and felt generally isolated and exhausted.
“Camming was taking all of my emotional and physical energy, and eventually put a strain on all of my relationships,” she says, adding that it was far from a pleasant way to make quick cash, despite a small elite raking it in. “There is not a superior form of sex work, and I feel like that’s important to note.”
She left after two months and went to another studio — which took a 70% cut of her earnings — before quitting entirely.
Even for former cam girl Isa Mazzei, who, for a time, made $15,500 a month camming from her home, the money and attention weren’t worth the harsh reality of the job.
“I started to feel like I had lost control over my digital identity,” Mazzei, now 28 and working in film, told The Post in November of the decision to stop doing cam work. “I wanted to regain the feeling of agency over my own image.”