If there’s any population that value their right to privacy, it’s cam girls.
Yes, you read that right-- cam girls prefer to keep their lives as private as they can;
much more than the average person; despite a not so private career.
Because of all of these precautions-- camming is actually a relatively safe profession.
With celebrity stalkers, it’s easy to “find” them because you can just google where
they are. Where they’re shooting their latest film, where they like to eat, if
they’re traveling-- celebrities every moves are made public and are very
susceptible to stalking. Stalkers can even plan preemptively if they know
that celebrity will be at a particular event. Singer Christina Grimmie was
killed at her own concert.
It is actually because of this career (or any career within the adult entertainment industry)
that they need to protect their privacy more than anyone (or most people). Celebrities
can afford security guards, police escorts, etc. Cam girls can afford to live just like anyone else.
A-Listers have their fair share of stalkers (Jackie Kennedy, Rebecca Schaeffer,
every K-POP idol), but what about the girl next door?
What about the girl you can pay to do what you want? Or the girls who income relies on when
you decide? The only girl who’ll ever talk to you (probably because of the fedora and
cheeto dust)? She’s the perfect girl-- but there’s one problem; she’s behind a computer
screen (as well as most likely not really interested in you, but that’s not a problem when
you’ve already created a fantastical romantic relationship in your head).
The girl who’s real life could be destroyed if it’s discovered what she does online for money?
You can see how it’s easy for cam girls to have stalkers and obsessive fans.
There’s too much (implied) power given to the person on the receiving
end of their services. It’s much safer to hide their real names, locations,
ages, boyfriends, etc from the audience as opposed to giving them any
true information about who or where they are.
A friend of mine who has made a career out of both camming and porn,
has had this happen to her. Despite having no relationship with the man
outside of the camming site, using a fake name and location-- doing all the
“right” things to protect herself-- she still could not avoid stalking.
The man sent very explicit photos and videos of her to her parents. While they
actually don’t mind the path she’s chosen in life after finding out, it was still
upsetting that
1) they were forced to see their daughter in a way that they never wanted
and
2) their daughter was in active danger.
He also revealed her relationship to the
internet-- that she’s not single and is actually married
(since the day she turned 18!), which is said to ruin a lot of the “fantasy” for customers.
She could not have a private life outside of camming and was violated
by a man who decided to doxx her and publicly post things she’d
otherwise kept secret.
Tell the average person this story and they’ll say “Well, what does she expect?”
or some other (probably more crude) slut shaming type allusion to her career choice.
These stalkers are by no means the traditional stalker, now with everything being online,
but can still actively ruin lives. There’s been similar stories as my friends, but that did
not turn out as “well”, not all stories turn out as such.
So here’s the thing-- we have no privacy. Only perceived privacy. Did my friend feel secure
when she began her career? No, and that’s why she took the steps she did to stay private.
But even those steps were not enough, because we have IP trackers, and other things
of that sort. Are these men violating her privacy when there is none in the first place
(the answer is yes, and it’s gross)?
“Privacy is more than the autonomy we exercise over own information,” says Siva
Vaidhyanathan. Privacy isn’t just what we do to protect ourselves, but how we
behave in different environments.
Our identities (yes, multiple) are formed and framed within different situations
in order to fit best. Identity work (Humphreys) is necessary to form our individual self.
So, our work identity and our identities when visiting friends vs families, etc,
are all completely different; as well as typically kept separately.
You ever throw a birthday party and invite all your friends? Your band camp friends
meet your pothead friends meet your weeaboo friends and it’s all disoriented
and awkward because you don’t know what identity to portray as.
I think you can see how the “adult actress” identity and the “beloved daughter”
identity should probably never meet each other and stay seperate, privately.
You shouldn't only be aware and protect your privacy from strangers, but aspects of your life and identity you keep private from people you do know. Privacy is a term that, without context, people see as suggested or implied, when it instead actually has to be enforced.
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