SEX TRAFFICKING IN THE WEB CAM WORLD?

Cate - I wanted to touch base on your article about "web cam isn't like other sex work".  http://www.thestranger.com/features/feature/2015/06/10/22360297/camming-is-not-like-any-other-kind-of-sex-work Almost every one of our members since the day web cam was invented has reported in many ways IT'S WORSE.  You can take a group of prostitutes who at the end of the day go grab some coffee and joke about their tricks and the fact they haven't "been laid in months". However, when you take the same hard core prostitute and put her to work on a web cam line - they report nightmares, flashbacks, and that it "gets into their head". Also, do not think for one moment trafficking does exist in the web cam world.  

Since I quit sex work myself back in 1985 I've had many different types of jobs. I've done a lot of freelance work within the sex industry doing website design and marketing because of my experience in the field and my knowledge of the customers as well as how to get them to step up and buy. One day in Las Vegas I went in to do some marketing consulting with a web cam company.  

I contracted to do a year long marketing campaign with them in fact so I was going onto their site day after day uploading new pictures of the same girls. This was like a freaky art project in that every day I saw these women getting paler, thinner, and getting more and more disconnected and sickly looking. By the third month I had no doubt these women were not leaving that room. The walls never changed. Their hair only got longer. They were very clearly being given drugs and not going outdoors. I started asking questions as to why these women never spoke themselves to the clients on the webcam. American actors were hired to pretend to speak for them so the client never knew. I was told it was "because they don't speak English". They finally confessed these women were Russian.  

As the story progressed it was very clear these women were trapped in those rooms and silenced by actors who only thought they were helping a Russian speak to English customers. I tried reporting this to the authorities who told me without knowing the address of the house where the women were physically at - there was nothing they could do. I had to come up with a lot of stories to find out where these women were being filmed from - and even then the Russian police refused to step in and free these women.  

Why? Russian mob scared the shit out of them. So I spoke to a man who said he knew what to do and I watched him get on a plane. Soon I saw photos of these women being freed from the house and the police taking credit. Who cares as long as they were free. Some pimps use the webcam to market underage girls and avoid detection by the police. I know of no trafficking task forces now currently patrolling the web cam world for trafficking victims yet. So one can not assume there is no trafficking, nor underage victims, involved in that world.  

If you ever do another story on the sex industry - give us a call. We are currently the only program I know that has an international hotline for people to call when they want help to leave the sex industry - not just trafficking victims. We are not faith based and are comprised of only ex-sex workers. Our hotline is answered 24/7 by someone in recovery. Thanks - Jody (702) 468-4529

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