I couldn't do this but keep us updated on how much $$$ you make, I'm really curious.
I doubt it will be much, I don't put in the time
Seth, tell 'em you're a grow-er, not a show-er.
Do you think anyone transitioned to straight up porn from this? I'd assume that most porn stars just move to Porn Valley and go to apply at a porn company, but since creating your own website seems doable nowadays, I wonder if you could be "discovered" through this? Hmmm.
The problem Seth and I have found is not growing at the appropriate time.
Yes, people have definitely transitioned. I just read an article that talks about how many have transitioned in the other direction. Just like the internet is making newspapers obsolete, the porn industry is having to adapt to the two way connection of webcamming, and a lot of porn starts and production studios are trying to get on the bandwagon.
Hmm. This thread has got me considering this.
http://www.i-camz.com/agent/model.php?agent=4494 Mentioned it to my husband... he didn't seem super keen on it though so we'll see. It seems easier to get started than I would have thought and it could be fun. Plus good motivation to exercise!
Ridiculously easy, and surprisingly fun. And I am definitely working out much harder (of course, my motivation is live)
A quick question, is it only gay men or are there a few women watching? Just curious.
There are a few women. (although for all I know, some of those could be gay guys pretending to be women so that I am more enthusiastic - some gay guys prefer watching straight men for some reason)
This idea doesn't sit right.
ah, yes, I was waiting for this. The fun deep philosophical part. That's why I love this forum.
I understand from a business perspective, your body is an asset if it can make you money, especially while doing something you are going to do already (the Gym workouts), then why not. Its the same idea as renting our your car or house when you don't need them.
I think of it as being the same as ANY employment. You are renting the use of your hands and mind to your employer/clients, because they are paying you to do something that you wouldn't be doing otherwise. If you, say, write code, you are using your body - your hands - to type for someone else, and they are paying you for it. You are renting your body. A masseuse or physical therapist, or even a doctor, is using their body to touch other people in a way that makes them feel better, and getting paid for it.
I believe the only thing that separates literally any job from prostitution is moralizing against unsanctioned sex.
I'm not suggesting that this particular critique, or Totoro personally, is using the top-down rule driven "morality" of religion, but I think that ultimately this entire concept originates from attempts by religious and civil authorities to control individuals by controlling sexuality. It stems from a complex societies need to have a system of property and power distribution across generations which requires knowledge of paternity, which, thousands of years before birth control, could only be achieved by banning all sex outside of (religious or government sanctioned) marriage. Its been driven into the collective cultural consciousness for so many generations that now even secular humanists tend to accept the premise without question, much as a fish doesn't notice the water it's swimming in.
I won't go to much further than that, I've written about it extensively:
http://biodieselhauling.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-oldest-profession.html Then the big 'but' sinks in. It starts deep down in the awkward part of my body and then makes it to my brain as "But getting naked for strangers is bad?". However I can understand that this is mostly a cultural perspective and move on.
Next the "Would you let your son or daughter do this to make money?" gets asked. I'm not talking about your high school children, I am talking about the older ones.
I can't say this with absolute authority, since I don't have any, but yes. The only reason I'd discourage my (hypothetical, future) kids under 18 is because of the legal ramifications, not for any moral ones.
My mother was always upfront and straight forward with us about sex, and I think it was really good for us. She was honest and thorough - she told us about the emotional component, and we saw actual porn as part of (home) sex-ed. We learned about birth control and STDs, and we learned about her personal experiences. We were also exposed to LGBT culture, with all its subverting of gender norms and other cultural assumptions.
So I never had any of the hang-ups or prejudices so many Americans seem to around both sexuality and gender, (and unlike most of my peers, I was a virgin until I was 21 - I never learned to "properly" objectify women and chase sex)
I honestly feel that NOT exposing children to sexuality is very, very bad for them.
Does the idea of them getting looked at and visually used by strangers not make you feel pity and disgust?
I don't think getting looked at is being "used". Of course I've heard it before, but I Really can't wrap my head around it at all.
If, for example, a woman is sunbathing on a beach, and some guy is in a hotel above the beach with binoculars enjoying her, and she doesn't even know he is there, this doesn't affect her in any way. How can someone be "visually used"? That doesn't mean anything! Its not even like prostitution (or any job, for that matter), because it doesn't interfere with your life.
Should you not feel the same for yourself? However maybe this is just the way I am looking at it, maybe the pity should be for the people watching,
HA! That I do have!!! Why the hell are people paying for this? Its kind of sad and pathetic. If you just want to get off, there is SO much porn online for free. If you want actual human contact, you don't even get to touch a web cam model. But I understand, its not always so easy to find a real life lover.
either way... I have major reservation on the benefits to society of this type of activity.
The same could be said about chocolate cake, or amusement parks, or Angry Birds, or any of millions of things whose "only" benefit is causing short-term pleasure in the person buying the experience.
On the one hand, there is no substance or meaning behind moment-to-moment pleasures. On the other hand, life is nothing but a collection of moments, and what exactly is the purpose of building a "better" future if its one without enjoyment?
This dual-truth is why Mustashianism is not the same as asceticism. Its not avoiding consumption for the pure sake of self-denial, its avoiding that consumption which doesn't provide much pleasure anyway. As an economist would point out, the benefit is demonstrated by the fact that people are willing to pay for it. We don't get to make judgements about what is beneficial for other people.
Then I start getting philosophical. I think of the Categorical Imperative by Immanuel Kant.
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law. -Immanuel Kant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative
The simplest example of this I can give is, to determine if something is 'moral' or a good thing to do, we must apply it to everyone. First example if I want to know if killing is moral or good I say "What if everyone killed?" Well that would obviously be bad so we conclude killing is bad. However if I want to know if giving to charity is good then I ask "What if everyone gave to charity?" Well that would obviously be good. Moving on.
I disagree with Immanuel Kant (and not only on this).
It is good for one person to be a fire fighter. It would be bad if everyone was. It is good if one half of a couple is a masocist and the other half is a sadist. It would be bad if both were one or the other. It is very very good that some humans are female, but it would be bad if everyone was.
We then must ask. "What if everyone got naked for strangers online via webcams?"
Then we would have a much healthier more well adjusted society in which nudity was a non-issue and sexuality was a much smaller one. There would still be the complications surrounding how sex affects emotional connection (and vice versa), there would still be sexual jealousy among spouses, there would still be STDs and unwanted pregnancies (although fewer of both), and there would still occasionally be sexual harassment and assault - but these would be
overwhelmingly less). There would be much less sex crimes of all kinds (because much of them would cease to be crimes, and because there would be fewer repressed people who acted out), less fetishes, much much less rape, less sexism, less rigid gender roles - and women would be able to be much more comfortable on a hot day.
You don't have to take my word for it as a hypothetical - there is a clear anthropological correlation between how restrictive a society is with its rules around sex and how much sexism and sexual violence etc there is. Even just within the US there is a obvious correlation between a lack of real sex-ed in schools and high rates of teen pregnancy.
Trying to force people to be asexual when its one of the two most basic imperatives of all multi-cellular life works exactly as well as it would if we tried to repress the other one (seeking out and eating food) - i.e. not at all
On the other hand, then no one could make money from webcamming, so everything is a trade-off ;P
We should bring this back to Money, since that is the main point of these forums (Not the morality of a given job etc). I then start to think of depreciation of assets. Arguably our most valuable and important asset is our bodies. We use them everyday to earn a return. Like out cars they depreciate over time. We get older and less able to complete our tasks, we lose skills in one area while maybe gaining them in another area, our job security (the money making potential of our bodies) relies on our ability to "get the next gig" (To quote Dave Ramsey) .
How we use our bodies determines how our bodies as an asset depreciate over time. Like a car that has to drive stop and go traffic everyday, if you use our bodies inefficiently then it depreciates in value quicker.
Sure. But there is a major difference between the body asset and object assets. A car that is used a lot is worth less for its age. But a human who works out every day instead of resting in the garage of a sofa is more valuable and useful as it ages.
This applies, obviously, to physical work - if you exercise you will be stronger than if you don't. But it also applies to the mind - ongoing cognitive challenge and learning actually makes us smarter. And it applies to sex too. I have no evidence to back this up, but I'm willing to bet that if men had more sex during middle age that there would be a lot less viagra sold. Its like anything else: use it or lose it.
Also our ability to get work changes depending on how we maintain our skills and happiness. I would then argue that while easy money can be made through the web cam, the potential impact to future marketability,
I guess it may depend heavily on your local community and your industry.
Some primary school teachers get fired for it, some win their appeals to the school board or in court. I could see priests and pastors and politicians having problems. What other industries would this be relevant to? There is no reason you would have to disclose that you did it to a prospective employer, and, outside of teaching, you would almost certainly win a wrongful termination suit if someone tried to fire you for it if they happened to find out.
and personal happiness
???
far outweighs the benefit. The risk to the most important asset is very high. The return does not make financial sense.
I would like to end this very long winded post by saying, these are just my reactions. I am not trying to say your wrong, or immoral, this is not a discussion on religion. But these are the reasons that came to mind as to why I wouldn't try something like this and I would be very interested in others opinions.
I didn't take it as a personal attack, but rather as an opportunity to talk more in depth about something I actually feel pretty strongly about (our societies moralizing of sexuality).
Nothing on the MMM boards ever seems like a personal attack. That's why I like it so much here.