Lotte - Draft Thesis Outline

General introduction:

In recent years the main thematics in my work as a filmmaker and artist have closely related to identity and sexuality. More specifically the work I make investigates how we, as a society, view and shape our sexual identity through mediated spaces like the world wide web. I look at these spaces through different lenses, to create a distance from its explicit content, to re-contextualise it. The digital space as a space/place for sexual encounters has been the main focus of my past projects.

My interested in these subjects started with webcam site’s like chaturbate.com and myfreecams.com. These are website where webcam-models earn money by performing (sexual) acts. Visitor’s can tip them in ‘tokens’, which are converted to dollars. In my research and work I mainly focus on cis female performers and cis male spectators and moderators. Moderators are people that keep a chatroom ‘clean’, it’s a form of free labor, in return for private shows and/or ‘friendships’ with the performers. I emphasise the word friendship here because it is seen as a medium of exchange. During my research I came across performers that work from home (e.g. their own bedroom, living room, etc.) and performers that work for and from webcam studio’s. Cam studio’s are company’s that hire webcam models to work for them. They provide a safe environment and ‘sets’, colourful rooms set up with lighting, a webcam, a keyboard and a mouse, a screen and a high speed internet connection, from where the cam models can work. Sometimes theses companies also provide hairdressers and make-up artist. Most of these companies are situated in Bulgaria, Romania and Russia. The rooms that are created within these studio’s really intrigue me. A lot of rooms have names like ‘Los Angeles’, ’Hollywood’ and other names referring to the western world which probably sounds attractive to work in. The rooms are filled with kitsch and cliché ideas of what richdom looks like. They are in themselves liminal spaces, almost like you step into a virtual reality box. A room created just to exist in an online digital setting, for the spectator not one to be experienced offline or unconnected. Sometimes they are even provided with a green screen. At the same time these spaces are corporeal, they hide things in the corners that the webcam can’t reach, sometimes they even hide an ‘operator’; a person, often a guy, present in the corner of the room talking as if they were the webcam model. They also translate requests to the models and moderate the chatrooms.

Introduction  

1. Background:

The internet changed the way we have sexual encounters. Webcam website’s make a gross 2 billion dollars out of the 5 billion dollar porn industry. Webcamming creates a new form of intimacy. It’s not a traditional sex job, not a relationship but rather something within that. For this thesis I look at this online space as a liminal space and compare and draw parallels between these digital spaces and the corporeal spaces. In what way does the liminal digital world shape narratives that explore our sexuality and intimacy? What inhabits these spaces, how are they represented? What forms of intimacy arises from them?   

2. Thesis Statement:

The representation of corporeality create new forms of intimacy and sexuality. Engaging in online sex asks for us evoking a body (Waskul 2005). This is done through webcam images but also through typed words, speech and other forms. This online digital space also trickles down into the corporeal world. It determines the condition of these spaces. What relationships does this mediated form of representation create and what do the spaces they are set in tell us? To address these questions I will do a close reading of the different spaces where webcamming takes places, making a distinction between webcam studios and home spaces. I will investigate the relationship the performers have within this space with their clients and moderators. Furthermore I will look at the offline setting as well as the online setting.   

Working method 

These close readings of spaces, online and offline, will be the body of my thesis. Within these close readings I will investigate the differences between webcamming from a studio and from home, the relationships the performers have with their clients and what moderating means in these contexts. 

Chapters

A. Space

- What do these spaces say without the digital translation and context of a website. 
- What makes a space personal?

Home

Models that webcam from home put a lot of effort in their environment, wether it’s from their bedroom, kitchen or living room. Online they discuss the best webcam and lights. What kind of background they should use. Some cam in front of a green screen to playfully create different environments every time.
Decorations play a big role in the personal space of the cam-models. They can be seasonal decorations, like Christmas lights and attributes or playing with the role of the webcam girl, for example placing a lot of stuffed toys or other ‘teenage’ attributes in the room.

Studio

Models that work from a webcam studio share the studio’s with others. A standard set-up is always there; good lighting, good webcam’s, a computer, etc. Sometimes the space is shared with a translator/moderator, so there is another computer spot somewhere in a corner. The rooms are small and feel more like closet sometimes. They are themed rooms.
In what way do decorations play a role in the environment?

 The rooms are all decorated differently, from city themes like ‘San Fransisco’ fully embellished with matching wallpaper. Some rooms have a renaissance-like decoration competed with fake fresco’s. Other ones are decorated for role-playing like the office or classroom spaces. 

B. Digital Identity

Profiles

 What kind of profiles do the performers have? What do they have in common with other woman working for the same studio? How are the profiles of the cam models working from home different from the models working in a studio?
 The personal profiles on websites like myfreecams.com and chaturbate.com are very important to viewers. They tell something about the models they are watching; what are their hobbies? Where are they from? Why are they in the business. A lot these profiles are HTML / CSS based. The performers that work from a studio have the framework of their profiles made by the company they work for. They are not allowed to put any personal information on there, and if you look closely to the other profiles of the models working for the same company, they mostly look the same. Some models that work from home have put a lot of effort in their profiles. All the profiles are very girly backgrounds; pink, glittery gifs, photoshopped photo’s. Some are in a very ‘nerdy’ theme others are more serious. They often have personal messages on their thanking their highest tippers and listing ways to support them.

Chatbox

 What automated messages do the models use? How do they compare? 
The chatboxes are situated next to the girl’s webcam on their profile pages, showing the general chat of the people visiting the room. These chats are characterised by the automatic generated messages from the models. These can be decided in different kind of messages; welcome messages, rules, tip-menu, thank-you’s, gifs, and other messages like; this model is on a break and will be back in 5 minutes.

Rules 

How are these rules articulated and maintained?

Games & Sextoys

A lot of the models use games to seduce their clients in to tipping more and for entertainment. What kind of games are there? How are they designed?
Sextoys connected

Relations

Moderators

The division between moderators. Moderators who work as fans for the models who work at home. Moderators who work in direct contact with the models who work from a cam-studio, sometimes even in the same space, also double function as a translator.

Narratives of online encounters 

[q] The internet is a natural environment for liminality and ekstasis, a place where self and society must be made to exist in a process where both are translated into the convention of the medium.[/q] (Waskul 2005)

What are specific traits of digital spaces for sexual encounter? How do these attributes exist online?
In what way does the liminal digital world shape narratives that explore our sexuality and intimacy?
The digital world one that is eminently suitable for exploring our sexuality because of it’s liminal qualities.

Sources

Sites Used
myfreecams.com
chaturbate.com
ambercutieforum.com

1 The money generated by cam sites is hundreds of millions of dollars at least, and possibly upwards of $2 billion annually, according to industry insiders and analysts surveyed by Newsweek.
2 "They’re defining a new kind of intimacy. It’s not traditional sex work, not a relationship, but something in between.” The Purchase of Intimacy, Viviana Zelizer,
3 Waskul (2005)The looking glass