Really great piece. Nice to see sex workers portrayed in a positive way. Very happy to see these business women capitalizing on their ingenuity. One of my favorite stories in the Stranger in a long time.

Even before the end of the article, I was wondering about the dangers of this kind of thing for the models. Like "their guys" finding them IRL, stalking, etc. I wish you had touched on that.

@3 Kinda did, right at the end. Only she treated 'Told you I could find you' as a positive rather than a pretty creepy thing to say. I guess it's all in your perspective. I would not have been inclined to give the guy a running jump-hug.

@2 Couldn't find that address before, and it looks like your last edit to that page you linked was today...?
http://imgur.com/XAqRscZ

@3 None of the models I interviewed really had those stories, or I would have! I wouldn't want to sensationalize dangers I had no evidence of, but you can find those stories elsewhere online!

@2 Just talked to a programmer and realized that doesn't mean what I thought it did... Sorry I couldn't find your address! I really wanted to include Streamate's perspective.

I found Kate's entry into cam work so sad:

>> "I also got extremely drunk, because you know you have to, to suppress the terror, and then I made more money than I'd ever seen, and I remember going to the store that night to go food shopping... and I realized I could get everything that I needed. Like I could get a whole chicken if I wanted, and all the cans of food, it didn't matter. Definitely wasn't gonna stop then."

More money than she'd ever seen, and it meant she could buy a $5 chicken and some canned food?

Every time I think people are dumb to spend lots of money on stupid stuff like this I realize I would be better off getting excited about how I can too can make people part with their cash for ridiculous reasons

@catemcgehee I had an ex who did office work for Flying Crocodile/Sextracker.com/any of the other names the company's used. They did actually use to have real offices in that building in Belltown (right above a restaurant, right?) - I visited her there - but it wouldn't surprise me if they're just using that as an address now.

I don't know anything about their involvement in streaming, but I do know a lot about how they used to operate in general and I'm still in touch with another of the former office workers who might know more.

I have a friend whose ex has done this for years. It's more common than you think!

I learned about bell hooks and intersectional feminism from cam girls. No joke.

Let us treat all people everywhere as people. Let us reject all concepts that create an idea of other, less than person, unworthy, or acceptable to control or diminish or dismiss. Let us work for liberation and self-determination of all beings everywhere.

Also , @7, yes that is the fucked up world we live in, where being able to feed yourself is not a given.

i vaguely disapprove of this in a i-wish-the-world-didnt-force-this-option-on-people-especially -women way. it smells of anomie and exploitation. but there's a lot of stuff i disapprove of - burkhas, mp3s, the use of "jive" when you mean jibe, mispronouncing "kudos", the term "work/life integration". can't change those, either.

What strike me here are not necessarily the sexual aspects of cam sites, but rather the low depth (dare I say "shallowness?") the term "friendship" has sunk to in our facebook era.
Oh wow, the couple that names their daughter after the online "friend"...
Ms. McGehee, please don’t over glorify the possibility of actually meeting one of your online “friends.” The experience can be pretty risky.

I also find this piece to be too narrowly focused. My impression from a mainstream site like cams.com is that of strictly online sex, while employing a bunch of what I can only assume are not-so-rich eastern European women as well as some struggling Philippinas.

I may be missing something with this new “mostly-friendly” token-based cam sites, but I really have no desire to find what it is.

@14 How do you "force" an "option" on someone?

Streamate is a legitimate company and moved offices. A few blocks away. You went to the old office building.

I recently had an unfortunate experience with a model mentioned in the article.

In hind site I overreacted, but I was still conned pretty darn well as I look back on it. Like a hick country tourist visiting the big city for the first time. No one to blame but myself for falling for it.

The experience pointed out to me how some long time cam models can start doing things that aren't as sweet, caring or professional as has been presented in the article. Consciously or unconsciously I believe behavior over time can be negatively influenced by the desire to make as much as possible and the power to manipulate a gender that under specific circumstances will make decisions using the wrong part of the body.

Online modeling is a term for a lot of jobs, that's why girls should be very careful for whom they work for and if they really want to be webcam models to find a professional and legal cam studio, http://www.studio20.live/, that protect their identity and pay them what was promised to them.