
Originally Posted by
roast
Part of the reason I use the white knights analogy is that pretty much most of what Bambalina is saying here is being cheered by the CGN anti-cam-crusaders/white knights/anti-feminist/obsessive readers of Cam Girl Notes/ CGN who is a decent chunk of the reason why we even needed to create a Camming Connection section to keep them out from participating. Given the fallout of the handful of times CGU mods (*not* CoolBreeze, he actually does not think we're stupid) have tried posting on our forums, its really telling that they're one of B's biggest backers.
They will copy and paste most of what is written here, dissect it, debate it, comment on how camgirls 'finally get it', post the most random pics of naked camgirls and women, and cheer Bambalina (not a cam model) on. I barely see any cam girls in those threads period.
We're referenced there pretty heavily pretty much daily... so yes, customers and freeloaders watch these threads like hawks.
So to echo Noa and echo earlier sentiments: work with the models themselves, this white knight crap is so tired, I am so over being told what to do and how to do it and being taught about my own industry by people who have never been in it or sat through a multi-hour cam shift. Similarly the shepherd to new pastures analogy was accurate.
I've been disillusioned by Bamb's promises multiple times over, her saying that the media is now involved and something will happen 'any second', her using collective terminology (which is an ideology I support in my personal life), her saying that CamWealth & Streamate will be sued because she has movement on it, that her site is about to break (Ive seen your work Bambalina as its linked on CGU - I don't believe you have the design skills or capacity to make an indy cam girls website), that the union is going full steam, etc.
It took me two weeks to launch a whitelabel site that also has listings for a small group of models from a listserv I'm on - and I do this part time because of other commitments and am not computer whiz by any means... the total cost was under $150 (including graphic design and some ad space) and we all share the passwords to keep it updated. I mean, come on.
The people who will actually have movement behind this stuff are wellknown sex worker activists. SWOP, Desiree Alliance, SWOP international chapters, Audacia Ray, Violet Blue, Melissa Gira Grant, and others. Those folks have credibility of actually being in the trenches, are supported by many many many sex workers worldwide, have media and negotiating training, etc. They are able to engage to sex work activism while simultaneously supporting ant0sex trafficking efforts and not combining the two into one line of thinking. Not one has an established history of telling sex workers they're essentially too stupid to get their own industry, siding with consumers over performers, talking down, riding the wild waves of White Knight male entitlement and condescension (hey CGN, how ya'll doing, UL you sign in daily here you must be pissed you can't post anymore and tell us to stfu, eh?).
Where people are coming from is critical to movements having any motion. An inability to listen or be humble will keep you from converting people who have a voice. Not all of us are just pixels, some of us are involved in sex worker activism offline, some of us have resources offline that can have this build momentum - isolating the people who post about making $$ on MFC and other sites because their arguments or positions are inconvenient to you will make the movement fail.
Personally I support people doing whatever they want to fix MFC in the ways they want. Ill say that probably Im the only real bully in this thread because I have no issue with the petition or thinking behind why MFC should change - my problem is that this is B's cycle and Ive seen so many get so swept up by its fervor then crash when it goes no where.... and it bothers me. And its not that It doesnt go anywhere because 'we don't care enough' or any of that hogwash - what I mean the promises made that many will wait to come to light, the repeatedly changing deadlines that expire, the comments about things happening any minute not ever happening, her suddenly not having internet access for a month (as a website owner whose business is supposedly all online? seriously?), etc. BlankStare isn't a bully at all, she just wants sh!t done and sh!t changed now and I applaud her enthusiasm since she's uh... actually a worker in this industry.
However, for those who are holding out on Bambalina's long rants having any substance beyond furious typing: don't. I made that mistake. I foolishly did during the CamWealth privacy explosion and held out hoping for some traction on all of the promises and noise (which uh actually had a direct day to day consequence for me, it wasn't 'theoretical' or some armchair ramblings... that sh!t was real), same with Streamate, same with discussions about a union, and nothing happened.
I was initially irritated when camgirls questioned B's history and commitment (Supabyoch was probably the first, then several others) but then was flabbergasted by a lack of followthrough, erratic emotional outburst, discovered she's not a cam model & never has been (defined by today's standards, 5+years ago I was also taking money in exchange for online fetish stuff but that did not make me a cam model by any stretch of the imagination), looked at evidence of work produced, saw a call for financial contributions, etc.
Ive said it before - pimps come in all shapes and forms, same with snake oil salesmen
OK, I shouldve done the dip awhile ago
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