Evening | column
Social networks are the new market for sex. But these days, sex workers are finding that their fans aren’t just interested in their bodies.
By Chris Stokel-Walker BBC news
Cortana Blue is in the oldest profession of all: sex trafficking. But the difference is that she now uses social networks to do business. Last year alone, more than 1,000 people subscribed to her Snapchat. So her fans can often enjoy nude photos of her. But her fans will also be curious about her daily life. “You can talk to me any time.” She said.
Social media is the new sex trade. But recently sex workers have found that their fans are just as interested in their shopping, writing jokes and keeping pets as they are in their nudity.
Some researchers are interested in this shift because they see it as a sign that social media is changing how people interact. “If you look at the changes and the details in the sex industry, you can see the changes in relationships on a broader level,” says Teela Sanders of the University of Leicester in the UK.
Even outside the sex industry, social media is blurring the boundaries of what is “real” in relationships. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian or Taylor Swift do have a large number of loyal followers on Instagram. But on apps like Snapchat, one-on-one messaging makes relationships more personal and interactive.
Sanders, who has studied the sex industry for 15 years, says the Internet has changed what it means to be a sex worker. At one time, prostitution meant paying for sex in exchange for money. But now, sexual interaction has become more diverse — from physical contact to screen interaction — and the shift has encouraged many people who would not otherwise be in the sex trade.
“People in the traditional sex trade are starting to make money from video and phone sex.” “Some people engage in all forms of trading, while others choose not to engage in direct physical trading,” Sanders said.
Internet video was the first. Many Camgirls have become Internet celebrities. Of course, there are male online video performers, but they are relatively rare.
Live sex shows took off in the 1990s and soon began to be compared to traditional porn. In fact, performers often interact with the audience during live sex broadcasts. Another reason for the rise, Sanders says, is that it’s much easier to have sex from behind a screen. “People feel less guilty and less damaging to their relationships.”
Over the past few years, the sex industry has slowly migrated to social networks with its customers. One of the most popular is Snapchat, where you can share videos and pictures that then disappear.
Snapchat’s owner, Snap, has a public valuation of $25 billion. True user numbers are hard to come by, but Snapchat claims to have more than 150 million daily active users on the App, 41% of whom are between 18 and 34 years old, according to Nielsen. Another survey showed that 51 per cent of UK users are under 35.
Momoka Koizumi was one of those 150 million users. The 23-year-old American became a Camgirl when she was just entering college. She was working in a bookstore at her university. “I used to love that part-time job, too, because I loved books.” “But I hated retail and reporting to my boss,” she says. “It was exhausting and a waste of my life.”
Her fiance suggested that she become an online model. “It’s good because I finally have control over my own time again, and it makes me feel like I’m finally being treated as I should be.” She said.
She soon found that her success depended on marketing skills — including social networking. “I looked at dozens of very successful Camgirls and found that they all have Snapchat accounts.”
Models in online videos sell links to their Snapchat accounts, where they post sex-related and non-sexual messages. Koizumi earned 10 percent of his monthly income from Snapchat subscriptions.
Koizumi felt that her comfort with sex work came from the protection computers and cell phone screens afforded her during their interactions. She recently tweeted a photo of herself in an embarrassing skirt, “I could sit naked in front of 100 people but I still can’t help pulling the hem down.”
In addition to sex, many people also seek the paid companionship of call girls. By the same token, people who buy subscriptions on Snapchat can get non-sex gratification. The App gives them 24/7 access to their favorite Camgirl.
“These business interactions that are enabled by new technology create an intimate relationship,” Sanders said.
Koziumi priced her Snapchat lifetime subscription at $45, which can be paid for with an Amazon gift card. She posts at least 10 messages a day to her followers, half of which are indescribable.
“My Snapchat is the best way for fans to get to know me.” She said. When she chats with fans on camera, she just sits in the room. “On Snapchat, you can see me at school, you can see me at home, and you can see my cat, which you don’t see on video. Cats are a big part of my life.”
Grant Blank, of the Oxford Internet Institute, concedes that Snapchat offers a more private connection than video because it is more authentic and natural. Of course, there are more complicated ideas.
There are two different views, he said. On the one hand, it’s so comfortable to post on a social account that you ignore the fact that you don’t have a real relationship with your followers. On the other hand, it can be said that people will always remember the audience to which they spoke, and that what you reveal is a performance that you have carefully tailored to each audience.
“All social media accounts are carefully crafted.” “You notice which followers you have and then provide them with specific photos and videos,” Blank says. Snapchat’s Camgirl just offers another, more elaborate performance.
And the continuity of the show required hard work, Koizumi lamented. Her video broadcast is a relatively rough job, taking only two days a week. Updating Snapchat is a nonstop job, seven days a week, even when you’re sick. “Since I started Snapchat, not a day has gone by that I haven’t posted anything.”
“I spend the best part of my day on Snapchat,” She says. “If I’m not Posting videos or photos, I’m responding to every comment, which is time consuming.”
Snapchat is 24-year-old Blue’s best-selling social media account. She also sells Kik accounts, including her mobile phone number. “I’d love to show my fans that I’m just a normal person living a normal life, not just a woman who gets paid to be naked.”
And that hard work is paying off. ‘At first most people wanted to pay to see my naked photos,’ said Blue. ‘But a lot of people would come back and say,’ Oh my God, you’re so easy. ‘
The success of sex workers on social media has attracted middlemen. These companies act as brokers, providing management work for people who want to sell their Snapchat accounts. One such company is UK-based SeeSnaps, which launched in July 2016 and has signed up 40 online models to sell Snapchat accounts for them. SeeSnaps takes a 20 percent cut of sales, and 30-day subscriptions to these accounts run between $19.99 and $37. There are many other sites that offer this service.
Selling the Snapchat account was done without Written permission from Snapchat, and Posting pornography is actually a violation of the site’s terms and conditions. But Snapchat’s reputation has always been about sex, so most of its 150 million users are violating their user treaties on a daily basis.
The BBC spoke to Snapchat about the account transactions. A spokesperson for the company did not comment directly, but rather explained the App’s user terms and conditions, which state that it can delete accounts that violate user rules.
Blue’s Snapchat account has been reported and shut down twice. Since January 2015, she has “rebuilt my account twice.” At the time of this article, some sex workers refused to discuss App use because they feared the content of the article would lead to their accounts being locked.
But many sex workers have been on the fringes of the law for years, and many feel that sex without physical contact should be encouraged, rather than outlawed, because it is a safer way to make money.
In fact, intimate and personal contact on the Internet has become commonplace. Daniel Miller of University College London, who studies the effects of webcams on human interaction, says that online video interaction can provide a level of intimacy that is at least as good as physical contact, and even better than face-to-face physical contact. “Snapchat can really open up this channel of interaction that you can’t do any other way.”
For Blue, the interaction works both ways. “I love the personal relationship between me and my fans without anyone else interfering,” she says.
She also likes to catch up with her fans and see what they look like and what they’re doing. “I love to let my fans know that I’m always available to chat with them about their day, and they can send me funny jokes or show me the games they’re playing or the cats they have.”