How camming with The ECC can be a bridge towards healing.
There is no universal style of camming, yet there seems to be a universal view of webcam models based on years of patriarchal oppression and the stigma of sex work. The general consensus seems to be one of pity or judgement – yet at The Ethical Cam Community we’ve seen so many women use this community and this job as a stepping stone towards healing. So what don’t most people understand about our industry and how does it truly change people’s lives? It would take us too long to fully answer these questions, but let’s open up this discussion!
Some cam girls are purely dominant and never remove an item of clothing, some make money by being online girlfriends, agony aunts, fantasy fiends, strippers or virtual playmates. Each ECC members journey is personal and unique yet there are some beautiful truths we all share and we’d like to share with you;
- We have overcome multiple hurdles to get to where we are.
To brave this industry we have had to overcome so much! We’ve often kept this part of our lives a secret to avoid the unkind remarks, judgement or uneducated pity. We may have given up friendships, family members or relationships. We have battled with the shame society feeds us around our own bodies, our own self expression and who we are allowed to be. We have worried about our careers and other roles as professionals, mothers, daughters, role models. Not because what we do is wrong, but because we are told that its shameful. We have risked, we have lost, we have been brave in the face of adversity, yet we do it because its worth it. And we should be damn proud of getting to this point.
- We have decided that our bodies and our time are ours to reclaim.
We have often come from a place of exhaustion, working long hours, being mothers, wives, carers. Being slaves to capitalism or to the men in our lives. Doing everything in the home and more, always striving to put others before ourselves. Worrying about taking time off, always thinking of our needs last. Never having enough hours in the day. Well not anymore.
We have grown up on diets, reading beauty magazines and seeing unrealistic airbrushed role models, trying to live up to impossible beauty standards. We have a long history of looking for our imperfections, our view of ourselves being preyed on by men in boardrooms deciding which body shaming products to market to us, which insecurities to draw our attention to.
Yet here we are. Proud members of The ECC. Reclaiming our financial freedom! Deciding when and how we work and learning to prioritise ourselves. Slowly reclaiming our time and learning that all those things we were told to hate about our bodies are utterly ridiculous. Coming together in our mission to love our bodies again and learning no one is perfect. We’ve all been conditioned to think we aren’t good enough, but together we can change that narratives for ourselves.
- We have a little corner of the internet where we are SEEN.
Society hates a self-assured woman. We have grown up fearful of being in our own corner, fearful of being SEEN. We have been emotional chameleons, identity shapeshifters – blending into the background or diluting our expression to suit others. Yet here we are standing in all our glory! It may only be a little corner of the internet but it’s ours and it’s space in which we have the freedom and opportunity to be whoever we want to be whilst online! We can be our truest selves, we can get playful with our identity. We can say all the things we never got to say, be all the things we never got to be. We exist in our own little online space to please ourselves and no one else. It just so happens that when we begin to please ourselves, this also pleases others! So much so that they crave us, they want us, they pay to be in our virtual company. We have a place to be SEEN, and damn do they want to see us.
- We have a space for more honesty, authenticity and vulnerability than ever before.
The ECC is a community of real women, run by women who care. We consistently show up as our most authentic selves and in doing so encourage others to do the same. We share our struggles, we share our truths. We laugh and we cry at the good the bad and the ugly. All we ask for of our members is for you to keep your heart open and keep our community safe and loving. This is nothing short of magic, and really changes lives!
- We’ve glimpsed behind the curtain of the beauty industry.
Those lies we’ve always been told about ‘what men want’. Long story short we now know its total bullshit. Camming teaches us that we are all beautiful, we are all sexy, we are all divine.
- We have facilitated freedom, playfulness and fantasy for many people.
A good cam girl can not only become healed, but can share that healing with clients. We are their safe place, their rest, their break from reality, from the shackles of expectations or stigma. We are sometimes the only true thing in their lives.
- The stigma we face, only makes us stronger.
We begin to understand, with a loving community behind us that any judgement of us comes from fear. The woman not wanting to be associated with us? She’s fearful of the goddess within her, she doesn’t know it exists. She thinks it’s a choice between being respected/valued or being free – but we know better.
Whatever roles we have in life, us ECC members know that this community that has raised us up and facilitated our healing will never be fully accepted. But change begins with love, and the love we’ve built for ourselves and each other makes us stronger every day.
