Do not forbid me to be a webcam model because without sex we don’t even exist

First delivery of “The Camgirls’ Confessions”

“The Camgirls’ Confessions”, an excellent article presented by Carlos Sánchez Rangel, a Mexican journalist who, without signs of being prude, tells the stories of various characters of the Colombian webcam industry in the prestigious magazine: “Don Juan”.

The definition of “impossible” is to evade an erection while seeing Sofia work. Right now there are close to 100 people tuned to her channel on the MyFreeCams website. We all see her smile, she talks to us through her webcam and show herself in teasing lingerie. This hypnotic moment affects everyone. The details of her skin are visible thanks to the webcam’s high definition. We don’t know yet if she’ll get naked or touch herself. It would take hundreds of tokens -a virtual currency- for her to take her panties off. Meanwhile, I am thinking something I have never thought I could: “Someone pay for it, damn!”

 Despite my anxieties, Sofia talks about whatever with one of the members of the room. That someone -I tell myself- is probably already masturbating. In front of a girl like her -or some alike – who could judge him? The answer is a lot of people will judge. Where there’s sex, there’s polemic and criticism. And here there is a lot of sex. Dozens of pages show girls to the world from their webcams. They do everything there. And the industry is large in Colombia. According to Juan Bustos, one of the most recognized producers on the country, almost 30.000 Colombians could be working at this privately from their own bedrooms or in studios, where the models have a room to broadcast.

Although the webcam sites don’t have the traffic of the common porn websites, they are popular enough for a model to make between $3.000 and $7000 a month. The virtual currency, the tokens, are bought with a credit card -at a 200 tokens for $20 ratio- on sites like LiveJasmin, MyFreeCams, Chaturbate or Cam4. The homepages always show a picture of the model and the user can choose among hundreds of girls (or men or couples if he or she prefers) who broadcast from anywhere in the world at every hour.

 According to the web traffic measurement site “Alexa”, webcam sites are visited by almost 5% of the worldwide internet users. According to the marketing vice-president of “SexyJobs”, a premier employment center in adult entertainment, during an interview with the CNBC, at the end of 2013, the camgirls industry generated about 1 billion dollars a year. Since then there is no doubt the amount of money, viewers, and models hasn’t done anything but grow.

Since 2014 the Adult Webcam Awards have been celebrated in the US, where the most popular camgirls are awarded. The categories range from the “Best Webcam Model” to “The Best Dominatrix”, “The Best MILF” or “The Best Debutant Model,” among others. One of the models interviewed during this report, Stephanie Mwarnert, will participate in the 2016 edition which will take place in Las Vegas. Girls from all around the world will compete there, from Colombia to Romania, Spain, or Japan.

 In those chatrooms, where the conversation groups are in the live broadcast, you can find thousands of Colombians who do this for living: with or without clothes.  Talking about art or dancing, but also touching themselves live for their audience. And of course, how could that not be controversial?

 “The education we’ve received establishes some limits of “No touch” to our own body. The simple fact of explaining how a baby is created is a taboo. That’s why it’s not rare that many people don’t know or don’t analyze their own bodies”, says Camila de la Espriella, a 26-year-old girl who worked as a webcam model for almost 12 months.

 “I can’t think about a modern philosophy saying that sex is good”, says Dani Picas, a 22-year-old Australian girl who apart from broadcasting records private erotic videos alone or with her friends when requested. “They tell us that sex is bad since we are kids and that we should be virgins until the day we get married. Men, on the other hand, are said to be powerful, so they are allowed to enjoy sex, but never in public, never in freedom”. Dani moved to Bogota two years ago and is categorical in her vision about sexuality: “Sex is a natural desire. Of course, you should choose the person, but that’s not holding yourself back”. Someone gave us the power to enjoy it, why shouldn’t we do it? It’s natural. It’s this simple: Without sex, we wouldn’t even exist”. FloraBella, a 31-year-old camgirl from Bogota, thinks just like that and adds that our prejudices about sex have a lot to do with the church. “Religion forbids your rights to know your body because they don’t allow you to touch yourself, to enjoy yourself.