Outsourcing Sex.1

This same image appeared earlier on our sister site, Sidewalk Images. I just love it:

"Open to..."

Open to what?

On that site, my main goal is to capture what I think the streets around here are saying to me. Every now and again, like tonight, this street where I live seems to be screaming at me, and this is one of those times.

***

As some you know, dear readers, I spent a lot of years as an investigative reporter. You can take the boy out of the field, but you can't take the investigator out of the boy.

Following is a tale that may shock or offend you, though I hope not. It is a typical thing for someone like me to do. We like to probe the edges of society and figure out who's doing what to whom.

So: There's a thriving online sexual service industry that I have recently discovered. It is based in the Philippines, and consists of dozens (maybe more) of young women on webcams. They are dressed in skimpy clothes and visitors can "chat" with them for free.

These chats are predictable: "Show me this," or "Show me that." The visitors, almost all men, post in multiple languages, which is one of the most fascinating aspects of this business, from a web perspective.

Of course, there are sexy webcams here in the U.S. and probably all over the world, with women similarly displaying themselves.

But, intrepid reporter that I still am, I have managed to meet a couple of these webcam girls in Manila and environs. Here's the deal: Men pay $29.95 for the privilege of spending 15 minutes in "private" with these young women. The company that employs them takes 60% of that, so they earn about $.80 a minute for undressing and performing sexual acts with their paying clients.

Furthermore, if a performer does not reach her "quota" of private visits on any given day, her "boss" pays her nothing at all.

Exceptionally few of the men who visit these sites actually "take" them private. Most just badger them, beg them, to show some skin, to dance, to act sexy, to do whatever.

Each girl has a room with a bed, some personal effects (like a teddy bear), and a fan, because it is so hot there. Their long black hair is always swishing in the wind.

Some of the girls fall asleep online. If this happens, men show up and start getting mad at them. "Wake up, bitch," they say, or something equivalent.

Eventually, when they do wake up, the girls yawn, get a cup of tea, and get back to work.

Welcome to virtual sex, circa 2007.

One of the women I've met is 23 years old, a single mom, and she is doing this work to support her 7-year-old daughter. Another is 22, and she is helping her brother-in-law get the medicines he needs; he is seriously ill and in the hospital. She has a degree in Computer Science and hopes to find a job abroad.

She says business has been "slow" lately in the webcam world.

In other words, these are real people serving others with their bodies, or at least the images of their bodies. They are so surprised when a paying client shows up who is not interested in sex, but in who they are and why they are doing this, that it takes them some time to get dressed again, adjust their webcams, and get down to talk.

When they do, the result is wonderful, if sad and painful.

These are lovely young women. Is the best and only role our global economy has to offer them the role of sex object?

I hope not.

-30-

p.s. My quest continues. It's slow-going. This will be a process, but ultimately, I will succeed in slaying my dragon. Or I won't. Either way, the world will go on turning, with or without me.