Global affective network: an analysis of paid adult live cams

Abstract

New versions of sexual expressions have been created in the twenty-first century, influenced by the new social structures that have emerged due to shifts in digital interactions, the global order and in advanced capitalism. In this thesis, I analyse such new expressions in a particular context, namely in the production of content in adult live cams. Adult live cams are a pornographic genre that depicts sexual performances that are produced and result from online interactions between global participants in a context of the digital market. Due to its interactive nature, I argue that adult live cams are based on the production of particular identities, which aim at the creation of affective networks through the performance of intimate labour. To analyse these identities, I chose the adult live cam website YPMate as a case study, a website where global Internet users interact to produce content, and where customers return on a regular basis in order to cultivate relationships with the performers. Data were drawn from non-participant observation on YPMate; from YPMate’s website itself, including the performers’ public profiles; and also from two online forums where performers, customers and industry agents exchanged information about adult live cams. The results show that the intimate labour of the adult live cam performers produces flexible identities adapted to the new communication technologies, global sexual desires and capital. These identities create affective networks through the performance of intimate labour, and enable the performer to become a sexed entrepreneur by building intimacy through communality and communication.