DO YOU CONSIDER NON CONTACT SEXUAL SERVICES TO BE PROSTITUTION?

[milfymouth]

So these threads ARE in relation to your PHD then.

Is that a question or statement or a question? As a statement it is incorrect as a question the answer would be this: In the next couple of years I will be conducting a series of interviews with webcam performers, customers, legislators and members of the general public about their views on webcamming. Before I can do that I have to first draft the questions and then present them before an ethics committee. Nothing that has been discussed here would be either academically relevant or admissible. Trust me your musings aren't of any interest to anyone unless they are recorded in response to a series of questions that are okayed by the university's ethics committee. I asked because I wanted to see what people thought. Not through any desire to exploit anyone. Probably wouldn't use this forum anyway as most people here belong to the same group and tbh I would prefer to have a wider cross section of cammers. Having said that if anyone wants to be interviewed on how they perceive what they do for a living that's all good. But at this very early stage of my PhD I was just asking to get a feel of what people's opinions are. I'm not out to exploit anyone and if you go and check my profile I have been active on AW for some years now. I am just interested in eventually presenting a balanced and fair paper on how webcamming feels for those who chose to make their money that way. The more balanced a picture of webcamming there is all the better for when it attracts the attention of those who would seek to view it as a form of exploitation. You sort of come across as hostile if I have offended or upset you in some way I apologise but I can assure you of my integrity that I would never use anything unless I had gained permission first and I would do it in a very different way than just asking on an open forum like this.

[Ana_X]

I'm not hostile, I'm Glaswegian, just a generally tough cookie

The reason I've brought it up twice now is that it felt like there was some transparency lacking. Your opening post sounds like something a researcher/newspaper would come out with when fishing - it was lacking any personal human tone or reasoning besides 'just wondering'; you didn't express your own opinion on the question which made it sound less of a conversation starter more of a one question - questionaire.

[milfymouth]

I'm not hostile, I'm Glaswegian, just a generally tough cookie

The reason I've brought it up twice now is that it felt like there was some transparency lacking. Your opening post sounds like something a researcher/newspaper would come out with when fishing - it was lacking any personal human tone or reasoning besides 'just wondering'; you didn't express your own opinion on the question which made it sound less of a conversation starter more of a one question - questionaire.

Actually your right sounded like a total fishing trip. Thanks for that, I really should look at that!! I really am just at this stage just interested in how people view what they do. When I do get round to writing my paper I will have a lot to say about what a lot of hard work camming is before you even get in front of a camera . Its a whole exercise in public relations which I don't think that any of the recent media even came close to examining. But at the heart of my interest is this. I think because webcamming couldn't exist without the internet it doesn't get bought into the debates that surround prostitution and pornography and which have been raging for around 150 years now but I think this is not incidental. At a time of what Bauman called liquid modernity the consumer becomes the product. Post industrialisation capitalism is happy to make money from us selling ourselves cos they aren't making money from our physical labour and for this reason I don't think we have to worry about legislation outlawing webcamming. It would have been really easy to include webcamming in The Audio- Visual Media Services Regulations (AVMSR) which came into effect on the 1st December 2014 . The justification which the government has cited for the introduction of this act was that anything that is available on Video on Demand (VoD) services that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors must be available only in ways that they will not be able to access This has been introduced despite the Office of Communications (OFCOM) previous findings that ‘there is no empirical research that proves beyond doubt that exposure to R18 material seriously impairs the mental or physical development of minors’. The introduction of this act has significantly lowered the threshold of the materials that it is permissible to upload to an R18. It does this by using the dated statutory definition of what is obscene which is set out in the Obscene Publications Act 1959. The acts that have been prohibited are not illegal to perform and access to them is still widely available from websites that are hosted outside of the UK. The AVMSR applies to Video on Demand (VoD) services which are regulated by the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD), and restricts the types of sexual content that UK VoD providers can provide for their consumers to BBFC R18 classification level. ATVOD's regulatory authority is conveyed by the European Audio Visual Media Services (AVMS) Regulations, which pertain to 'TV-like' services. The ATVOD has applied their interpretation of what constitutes a TV-like service in the UK far more restrictively that virtually anywhere else within the EU with the exception of The Irish Republic. This has allowed the ATVOD to bring within its regulatory ambit any website which it deems to be TV-like.

So far the legislation has disproportionately resulted in the prosecution of women who supply niche content especially those who are purveyors of bondage and sadomasochism. Mistress R'eal is a professional dominatrix whose scenes on Clips4Sale.com were the subject of a recent ATVOD probe and determination. Currently, she faces a £10,000 fine and a ban on streaming online although she has appealed the U.K. video-on-demand regulator's decision that she breached the AVMA. The action was bought about because the full video was open to any visitor who paid a fee and could be purchased using debit cards which can be theoretically used by under 18's. The very same payment methods are made available to those wishing to access a webcam show and yet there has been to date no legislation that pertains to women who broadcasts live using a webcam. If webcamming had been deemed to be TV like they would be liable to prosecution using the CPS guidelines.

They could have easily added webcamming but they didn't because its such a money maker, every single transaction that gets made benefits the banking system so they cant diss Camgirls as victims like other sex workers have been portrayed in the past and that's what really interests me. How we are perceived and how we perceive ourselves now that the banks are able to make money from sexual commerce

[Nova70]

As I was married to a Glaswegian for many years I can confirm that aggressive appears to be their default setting.

I fear that I would be of little help to you as I'm not a virtual punter but a hands on one (no pun intended), I wouldn't completely rule out the idea of approaching some members of this forum though as don't forget there are some very experienced and well known cammers such as Katie Evers not to mention the living legend KDB who has worked in all three of the areas mentioned on this thread, and who knows if you ask them very very nicely............

Well Capitalism has never concerned itself with moral dilemmas when there's a profit to be made so I think your suspicions about what has and hasn't been covered by legislation is probably spot on. From what I've read since becoming a member of this forum camming does seem to be something of a cottage industry but your right even when the unscrupulous operators of studios become involved the fact that it's a virtual service is probably enough to label it as just exploitation rather than the far more emotive sexual exploitation.

I wish you the best of luck with your Phd, although since the General Election the campaign to criminalise those of us who pay for sex has been put on the back burner I fear that any claims that it has been a success in combating human trafficking as far as NI is concerned (regardless of whether or not that can be proved) will see pressure increase for the Swedish model to be introduced throughout the UK, I believe that independent academic research which has by and large been absent from the debate so far could prove to be an ally to those of us who oppose such legislation and instead want to see a properly regulated industry.

[Ana_X]

As I was married to a Glaswegian for many years I can confirm that aggressive appears to be their default setting.

Bit rude to mark all people on your experience of your ex wife. About me, I've said before, I'm not attacking, hostile etc - I'm assertive, there's a difference.

[milfymouth]

As I was married to a Glaswegian for many years I can confirm that aggressive appears to be their default setting.

Bit rude to mark all people on your experience of your ex wife. About me, I've said before, I'm not attacking, hostile etc - I'm assertive, there's a difference.

I took a look at your aw profile very impressed with the range and the sheer imagination of your equipment . Hats off babe xx

[sarahxxx]

As I was married to a Glaswegian for many years I can confirm that aggressive appears to be their default setting.

Bit rude to mark all people on your experience of your ex wife. About me, I've said before, I'm not attacking, hostile etc - I'm assertive, there's a difference.

She may have had good reason to be that way, but may be more easy going now...

Sarah x x x

[Nova70]

As I was married to a Glaswegian for many years I can confirm that aggressive appears to be their default setting.

Bit rude to mark all people on your experience of your ex wife. About me, I've said before, I'm not attacking, hostile etc - I'm assertive, there's a difference.

Aggresive, assertive very self confident a personality trait that has probably served her well particularly in terms of her career, I'm simply saying that sometimes the ability to display a little tact and diplomacy can be equally useful.

[Nova70]

As I was married to a Glaswegian for many years I can confirm that aggressive appears to be their default setting.

Bit rude to mark all people on your experience of your ex wife. About me, I've said before, I'm not attacking, hostile etc - I'm assertive, there's a difference.

She may have had good reason to be that way, but may be more easy going now...

Sarah x x x

LOL, oh very good.

[Simon]

I'd normally consider webcamming to be "a form of prostitution", though obviously not equivalent to "actual" prostitution - it is nevertheless classed as "sex work" after all. But from the definition given in the OP, it does seem to be prostitution, it would be difficult to argue that it isn't a "sexual service" despite the lack of sexual contact (just as BDSM is sexual despite usually not including sexual intercourse).