Abstract
Winner of the American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on the Sociology of Body and Embodiment Best Publication Award (2022), Angela Jones’ Camming: Money, Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Work Industry is the first academic book dedicated to analyzing the erotic cam industry. And what is more, Jones does so by championing a pornographic imagination.
“The pornographic imagination” was coined by Susan Sontag (1967) to challenge assumptions that pornography intrinsically lacks literary value. Jones resurrects this concept to argue that “sociologists can write explicitly about sex without compromising the quality and value of their empirical and theoretical contributions” (p. 13). Indeed, Jones contends that “(o)nly through the presentation of pornographic data can I thoroughly analyze the complex forms of pleasure that cam performers experience” (p. 13).
Even in the field of contemporary sexuality studies, centering pornographic data—including screenshots of cam performers in action—is a bold move. I am reminded here of Caught Looking: Feminim, Pornography, & Censorship (Jaker et al., 1991), the classic text which juxtaposes historical and feminist analysis alongside pornographic photos. In both Caught Looking and Camming, the images are not simply titillating but fundamental for understanding the author’s points.
In Camming, Jones’ points are derived from 5 years of extensive empirical methods, including: “web analytics, participant observation on cam sites, statistical analyses of data collected from cam-model profiles, content analyses of web forums for cam models, survey data, in-depth interviews, and autoethnography” (p. 5). Below are five of my own take-home lessons.
First, using their analysis of erotic webcam performers as a case study, Jones argues that pleasure deserves to be at the center of sociological analysis. In so doing, Jones seeks to advance a new sociological theory of pleasure which “emphasizes that societal institutions, social norms, culture, and social context all shape how our bodies experience pleasure, and that pleasure is an understudied motivation for social behavior” (p. 9). In making the case for such a framework, Jones asks: “If people say their work is not pleasurable, this raises revealing questions. Why is so much work not pleasurable? Why and how do different aspects of worker subjectivity also compound the experience of displeasure in work? … Capitalism necessitates the sacrifice of pleasure. For scholars who study work, studying pleasure – even its absence – is essential” (p. 17).
Second, Jones finds that cam models in their study “overwhelmingly found the work less alienating, more rewarding, and more pleasurable than other jobs available to them” (p. 243). The key here is the “both/and” truth: The work of camming can bring more pleasure to workers than other jobs and there is often a dearth of equally pleasurable jobs available to these same workers. For readers who are fundamentally opposed to sex work, this may be the most important finding: Want to encourage more people to voluntarily leave the sex industry? Organize to make other kinds of pleasurable (and profitable) work options. Want to make other kinds of work more pleasurable? Take cues from how cam models are able to manage their personal freedoms, working conditions, and wages—and integrate those same personal and structural principles into straight work.
Third, the strategy of “progressive stacking”—used by activists such as those in Occupy Wall Street to prioritize the voices of people historically marginalized by systems of oppression—is also a valuable intervention in presenting empirical data. This method of reverse hierarchization is an especially powerful theoretical tool when prioritizing individuals subject to the highest levels of stigmatization, systemic discrimination, and criminalization in the sex industry. In Camming, Jones thus prioritized quotes from “people of color, people from Latin America, trans people, queer people, and people with disabilities” (p. 10). The resulting story about camming is important both from a standpoint of equity (resisting narrative pulls to center White, cis, able-bodied subjects) and from a goal of critically theorizing pleasure. Namely, if people who are most systemically oppressed are reporting high levels of work satisfaction, then it becomes harder to dismiss the reported benefits of cam work.
Forth, Camming provides a holistic overview of the macro, meso, and micro level factors contributing to the rise of camming as a global phenomenon. Chapter 2 provides an introduction to camming, including describing the interconnectedness of the camming industry with the growth of internet pornography and the sex-toy industry. Chapter 3 provides rich descriptions and photographs of physical studios, noting the economic significance of camming studies in geographic locations such as Eastern Europe (Romania) and South America (Columbia). Chapter 4 summarizes global motivations to cam, and subsequent chapters cover the ways that cam work exists in a space which can simultaneously subvert and reinforce racist and sexist systems of oppression. On balance, Jones finds that individuals work as cam models as a rational strategy to make ends meet within systems without safety nets and with enormous financial and discriminatory barriers for many groups of people.
Finally, Jones pushes scholars to re-consider blanket condemnations of neoliberalism, explaining: “we need less theorizing around what neoliberalism does to people and more theorizing around what people do with neoliberalism” (p. 249). The result is a paradox: While cam workers create fissures in capitalism by resisting their own alienation and claiming their own pleasure, the individualized nature of this work also places them firmly within the boundaries of neoliberal systems. As Jones summarizes: “While this new form of digital sex work creates an opportunity to develop resiliency, sexual empowerment, and sexual pleasure … I found widespread use of indivualistic logic to explain the dangers of camming, mirroring neoliberal responses to many social ills, such as poverty” (p. 132). But even with this challenge to collective liberation, Jones calls on readers to “not frame neoliberalism in solely negative ways” by recognizing the ways that cam workers, and sex workers in general, working within neoliberalism to both “survive state violence” and “remain on the frontlines of the struggle for human and sexual freedom” (p. 249).
In sum, Camming contributes to multiple scholarship spheres—including those focused on sex work, political economy, and epistemology. I look forward to watching how its pornographic imagination and attendant sociological theory of pleasure influences and advances future studies.
ORCID iD
Kari A Lerum https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1276-9111