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webcam stuff? your opinion
i just had a friend who is a model on MFC just spend 3 hours trying to talk me into it what is your opinion? morality? $$$$? opinion on webcam modeling? Mar 05 18 02:26 pm Link Only you can decide that, morality vs $$$$ will be different, for everyone. You have to ask yourself if YOU will be happy, because as long as you aren't hurting anyone else what does it matter........Big jump from non nude modelling to webcam. Mar 05 18 02:35 pm Link Based on some conversations I have had with models I know who do web cam work, it is certainly more anonymous and potentially profitable than amateur free lance modeling. The difference, in my opinion, is that for art nude modeling in particular, the intent of the image is very rarely to stimulate a sexual response in the viewer. Some viewers, or even your photographer, may have a sexual response to the image but this is not your responsibility because your intent is not meant to provoke it. I also believe that while fashion, glamour, lingerie, boudoir and swimsuit often have the goal of being sexually appealing to the viewer, the intent of the image is not to provide the viewer with a means of sexual satisfaction. On the other hand, the intent and purpose of cam, porn and arguably some erotic stills is not only to provoke a sexual response in the viewer but to also to satisfy a sexual need. In addition to the social stigma that goes along with sex work, your decision whether or not to cam should include an honest appraisal of your own internal compass in regards to being a paid sexual object by intent. All models are objectified in some way so if you are cool with this, then I see no reason why you would not give it a try if earning income by modeling is your primary motivation. And most importantly, never do anything, in modeling or in life, that you are ashamed of or think you will regret in the future. I wish you the best. . Mar 05 18 03:08 pm Link WOW lisa- your input was so heartfelt and thought out thanks Mar 05 18 03:10 pm Link briterin wrote: Welcomes. Mar 05 18 03:37 pm Link About half a dozen models on my port are web-cammers with strong followings... and they make some substancial income. It's a totally difference mindset of work. Studio, location, website and print modeling requires little or no movement... while as a webcam model... you're not really a model at all... you're a serious 'entertainer' and actress. If you decide to go that route... I'd recommend brushing up on some people skills, take some psychology classes and look into some acting workshops...  Mar 05 18 04:55 pm Link First, no matter what you eventually decide keep in mind the MM rule about adult work: "Do not use Model Mayhem to network for or solicit any pornographic, sexual, or imminently dangerous content or activities of any kind." I think Lisa has given sound advice, and everyone's comfort level will be different. One of the very first things I was taken aside and talked to about when I first began modelling naked 30 years ago was that no matter what kind of poses you do, there will likely be someone, somewhere who finds them to be erotic and might use them for pleasure rather than seeing the artistic value of them. In order to do any nude, lingerie, swimwear modelling at all, you have to accept that fact and not let it bother you. I realized the wisdom behind those words coming from someone with many years of experience, and understood what others might think, or might do, when they saw my photos and artwork that I had posed for. And you must also keep in mind that it's not only men who might be affected in that manner, since there are also women who like other women. Now personally I have no issues with doing some very explicit and erotic poses for photos, and for artists to work from. In fact I am continuing to be amazed that someone my age is even able to do that sort of work and have followers who ask for more of it, which indicates they like what I have done. But I have never felt it acceptable to do adult type work myself, and I realize that for many people the line between artistic, erotic, and adult related is difficult to define and for some people may not even be an important consideration. To my way of thinking posing for photos and artwork even if I am naked and doing fairly explicit or erotic or fetish oriented poses is quite different from doing video, webcam or similar type work which is purposely intended to excite whoever is watching on the other end and seen by most people as being intentionally sexually oriented. My values say that is more trashy and less artistic, but still legal if you are over 18 and no one is being hurt against their will. For someone who is aware of all the possible implications and is 100% comfortable with doing that sort of work, there's certainly nothing wrong with it. Yes, you will probably have more than one friend or relative or parent who disapproves when they find out, which will eventually happen! It's never a matter of if they will find out but rather when they will. If you are comfortable doing adult oriented work and can deal with whatever issues come up as a result of it, then it should be no one's business except your own. Just remember not to mention on MM that you are doing adult oriented work, and don't network with other MM members to create that sort of work. Mar 05 18 05:53 pm Link It's not quick and easy money. You get a few days worth of being highlighted as a new model where you gain a little popularity but after that "NEW MODEL" banner vanishes from your avatar, you're at the bottom of the list and there will be days and days and days and DAYS of absolutely no profitable traffic to your room....and you have to take it all with a smile on your face because you're streaming live. Even though nobody is talking to you and nobody is tipping you and you're essentially just wasting time on camera, you have to sit there and appear happy go lucky and find SOMETHING to do or say to keep your room going, or you wont get the people who do talk and tip to come in. Once you DO make money...its literal cents on the dollar. the webcam sites take a cut, some of them wont even send you your earnings if theyre under a certain payout threshold, and then it takes a couple days for the payment to clear in your bank account. As a model on MFC you make 5 cents for each token spent. A pretty average rate for something like a tit flash is only 50 tokens. You make two and a half dollars. Sucking on dildos for a couple minutes goes for anywhere between 75 and 200 tokens for the average girls. Ten bucks? And on top of that, sure one person paid you ten bucks but 50 others who have been lurking your room without tipping got it for free and then they leave. And some other jackass is recording your cam stream and is going to post it to some camgirl tube site for the world to view a million times over for free. The girls who are super popular can up their prices of course, but it takes years to get popular like that. Or they spend literally all day every day in front of the camera to accumulate enough money to make it worth it. They're also not JUST camming, they're selling self-shot explicit videos, selling membership to their explicit snapchats, patreons, private skype dates, sexting services, etc. If you WANT to, if it sounds ENJOYABLE to you, if it sounds like something you're cut out for, go for it. But it's no get-rich-quick scheme for sure. Neither is nude modelling, of course. Mar 05 18 09:14 pm Link Laura UnBound wrote: This is all good to know Laura and wise advice. I suppose like most things that come to good, effort is required. Mar 06 18 02:43 am Link If you will pardon a photographer for commenting here, I have shot for several cam girls in the past. (It was great working with them, they knew what they wanted, they were self confident- we had fun shooting.) From the conversations I had with them: You need to re-read and understand everything Lisa, MatureModelMM and Laura had to say. They had good, no bs views of camming. The girls who make it ($$$$) work their asses off. It is NOT something you can do a couple hours a week when you get in the mood.... not if you want to be financially successful at camming. Morality- that is internal to you, but cam girls are sex workers. If thinking of yourself as a sex worker bothers you. STOP. Your friends will look at you with a new eye. Consider your family reaction. I would STRONGLY suggest you go online and spend some time lurking in a few rooms on MFC or any other cam sites you might know of- get a feel for the type of interaction you will have with your audience, and the range of comments they will aim at you. If you go into it with your eyes open, if you are willing to spend the time and effort to build a following, ---- if you learn to keep the negatives in perspective--- it can be a rewarding job. Its NOT for everyone. Mar 06 18 09:25 am Link briterin wrote: You have had three very good and very experienced models give you advice. Photographers with connections gave you advice. It is all solid. What I would like to highlight is that you are new to MM, you say no to nudes (there must be a reason for that), and someone spent 3 hours trying to talk you into this! I would say that you have exhibited a fair amount of resistance to the idea. You should talk to Mature Model about her experience in getting into modeling nude. It is an interesting story, good for reflection and which might help you further. Mar 09 18 06:28 pm Link from my limited knowledge (talking to a cam model once).. it's the icky talk/postings from the people you are making money off of that will creep you out and eventually sour your view of men and mankind Mar 12 18 11:24 am Link It depends on how you feel about sex, your body, being used as a sexual object, and how important money is to you. You are alone (assuming you won't have a partner), no one touches you, you are not having sex with anyone but you are considered a sex worker. The customers can get crude, don't care about you as a person, are using you for their needs, just ask any dancer in a strip club. And one other thing, their are problems that allow them to download your streaming viideo image and then either keep it or post it anywhere they want. Ten years from now videos of you doing yourself can pop up anywhere. But, other than the psychological effects its' easy money. You're working from home and you don't even have to roll out of bed to go to work. Mar 12 18 08:22 pm Link I have a few friends who do cam modeling, some love it, for some it’s sinply a job and a means to get to the next step in their life. If your friend spent 3 hours trying to convince you to do it, I’m going to assume you have quite a few reservations about getting into it so I’d suggest you look elsewhere to make a buck. Mar 20 18 10:17 am Link thanks everyone not sure what i am going to do, but i did order a good webcam from amazon, so who knows... Mar 23 18 08:57 am Link Sometimes experience is the best teacher. If you have carefully thought through all the comments offered so far in this discussion and can honestly state that you are OK with being objectified in a sexual manner by what you will be doing and being seen as a sex worker by family and friends, then perhaps you should try it for a period of time that you choose before starting. I'd think within a month or so, you should have a really clear understanding of how this works, and whether it works for you or not. At that point you should have enough first hand information to make a much more educated decision about continuing and you will have had an experience that you could not have gotten by any other means. Be safe in all you do. Mar 23 18 09:21 am Link briterin wrote: most of the time we dont just waste money not knowing what we're going to do. Mar 23 18 01:36 pm Link thanks- you are all too sweet Mar 30 18 06:48 am Link thanks Apr 29 18 11:07 am Link Something else to consider is taxes. You'll be an independent contractor and get an IRS form at the end of the year. Taxes are your responsibility and they can be very expensive. Self employment tax can easily be 30-40% of your income. I'd highly recommend looking into that before you do anything. I've known moderately popular cam girls with 5 figure tax debts. Please note "self employment taxes" equal a variable percent income tax based on earnings, plus a 15% tax to cover payroll taxes. Both combined generally equal 30-40% of income. Apr 29 18 09:04 pm Link Vector One Photography wrote: This. Apr 30 18 05:06 am Link A friend of mine did it and made quite a lot of money - but it definitely was not anything like easy. There was a lot stressful interaction, hard work, and investment of time and even money. And the stress wasn't just because of the job being sex related. Being a cam girl is a sales job - you're on commission selling yourself. That's hard. Apr 30 18 06:20 am Link I'm sure you don't have a problem being a considered a sex worker by some otherwise you wouldn't have considered it. You have to realize that there may be men who are ill-equipped to relate to women other than this scenario. One/more may fall in love with you and that may cause problems you didn't expect. What about stalkers? There always some brainiac network guy that figures out where you really live. Apr 30 18 08:50 am Link briterin wrote: I'd want to know how much she gets if she brings you in. How many people is she bringing in and how long have you been friends? Apr 30 18 11:45 am Link Whereas webcaming is not for everyone, some performers do very well. A close friend of mine started with one of the cam companies and within two months bought a new car (Chevy Spark) for cash. Apr 30 18 08:29 pm Link There are newer sites that have a new way of doing things than MFC. You get 80% payout for a subscriber to your room for the membership price of the site. And for any other talent you get to sign up you get a % of there payouts also.Forever! These newer "cam" like sites are becoming the new rage. May 01 18 12:44 pm Link briterin wrote: For most part, the people on MM will probably be more understanding that most crowds, probably second only to forums in camming sites. Nudity is normalized in here. May 01 18 01:43 pm Link Grouchy Retired Nova wrote: This is absolutely important. Ending up with a tax debt comes about when people spend most or all of the checks they get each month and fail to set aside the appropriate amounts, especially if they grow their viewership and fail to adjust the set asides as their earnings go up. May 01 18 09:39 pm Link Grouchy Retired Nova wrote: Self employment tax is 15.3% of income. How you come up with 30-40% is beyond me. May 02 18 11:44 am Link the following phrase in BING or GOOGLE leads to informative articles on webcam. not just re: $ amt but much other useful info: how much do webcam models make May 02 18 12:49 pm Link Fleming Design wrote: Self employment tax is around 15%. Self employed people also have to pay standard income taxes on top of that 15%. Depending on their tax bracket, that can be an additional 10-39.5%. It's basic addition from that point. May 02 18 06:42 pm Link Grouchy Retired Nova wrote: Correct, but that isn't what you said. May 03 18 05:54 am Link Another thing to consider is the new SESTA/FOSTA laws that the USA just enacted. This has resulted in some models social media accounts being shut down, their google drives to be shut down (for storage and delivery of clients' ordered images and videos), and in some cases now their bank accounts are being frozen. A lot of them aren't having a good time right now. Also you have to consider is that you would no longer be just a Model, you would be considered a Sex Worker, and cam models are having to fight that social stigma a lot. Jason May 03 18 01:19 pm Link Fleming Design wrote: Self employed people pay 30-40% in taxes. I'm sorry you don't like the way that I said it, but the point that I made is still correct and more so than your quibbling. May 03 18 04:10 pm Link Grouchy Retired Nova wrote: Where does the 30-40% figure come from? following is from the turbotax site, which cites to the IRS' site [emphasis added]: May 03 18 05:53 pm Link Eagle Rock Photographer wrote: That question was answered a few posts up... May 03 18 06:23 pm Link 
Model Posts: 6639 MacMurdo - permanent station of the US, Sector claimed by New Zealand, Antarctica Grouchy Retired Nova wrote: They can't see the forest for the trees. May 04 18 02:46 pm Link MoRina wrote: I know, right! Anything to argue, it seems... May 06 18 10:36 am Link funny thing is that - the discussion on taxes scared me out of doing it- thanks May 20 18 03:13 pm Link briterin wrote: Leave it to legislation to scare the bejeezus out of people. May 20 18 07:37 pm Link |
