Third-Party Platforms and Adult Content Creators: Implications of Racial & Regional Stratification in (Virtual) Sex Work

East Tower 

Although the sale of virtual erotic content has become largely democratized (Stardust
2024), erotic content creators depend on third parties (live streaming platforms, social
media, subscription platforms) to transmit their content, advertise, and collect payments.
On the one hand, the ability to sell virtual sexual services anywhere in the world offers
opportunities for content creators in lower income countries to capitalize on higher
income clients globally. On the other hand, disparities between the buying power of

high-income clients and low-income content creators creates opportunities for
exploitation, either by clients or agencies who facilitate entry into the industry for a large
proportion of creators' earnings (Jones 2020). Drawing on content analysis of webcam
modeling sites, social media platforms (X), and interviews with erotic content creators,
this paper examines models' strategies for navigating these platforms and compares
variations in their earnings. We find earnings on the platform MyFreeCams (MFC) vary
significantly by race and location (N = 1326). Although content creators strategically
navigate platform structures and market demands through their presentation of self. We
find significant disparities in earnings on MFC by race and location with Hispanic and
Black models' earning significantly less than their White and East Asian peers and
models in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe earning significantly less than their
North American and Western European peers. We conclude the paper by discussing
the causes and implications of these racial and regional disparities in earnings from
webcam modeling and how third-party platforms could better address these disparities
in ways that protect the sexual autonomy of all content creators. Ultimately, we argue
the most promising means of protecting sex workers (virtual or otherwise) from
exploitation is through enshrining their rights against discrimination in law.