It could be the girl frantically scribbling down notes next to you in lecture. It could be the bundled-up couple holding hands walking through Library Mall. It could even be your TA. Do you think you could really tell if someone starred in Internet pornography? How would you know?
While most students flip burgers, wait tables or work as office bitches when they get to college, a seldom few choose a more unique route. Unbeknownst to most of those around them, they and their webcams pay for college costs—not exactly your average job.
Amber*, a UW-Madison junior, found out about online porn because a close girlfriend of hers had been doing it for three years and talked about how ""fabulous it was."" She began last summer when she took an unpaid internship but wanted to make money in her spare time.
She does webcam shows in which she chats to the camera in various stages of undress and viewers watch from a regulated site.
""A lot of people are lonely and want to get to know interesting people that happen to be showing their boobs,"" Amber said.
Amber said at first she was terrified and thought everyone who looked at her knew who she was. But she was careful to never give out any personal information. One summer and approximately $2,000 later, she was definitely more comfortable with the job.
Another UW-Madison junior, Rick*, started performing in online ""shows"" this summer with his girlfriend to make extra money.
""It was fun; it was arousing; it was sensual; it was erotic,"" he said.
The couple joined a site after finding out the girlfriend's roommate did online porn as well. First, he said, they had to post photos of themselves.
Although there was no nudity required, they did some and then had to get enough votes to be put on the main page as a paid cam-couple. When they got 500 votes in one month from members, they were able to do ""shows""A-—20-minute or longer—webcasts and get paid for it.
For every 20 minutes they ""performed,"" they received $50, making several hundred while on the site. They were also allowed to create a wish list for site members to buy them gifts. Plus, with additional prizes for top-voted cams, money for referring people to the site and bonuses, Rick said it was pretty simple.
""The webcam would be running and people would be talking in a chat room setting. They could ask you to do things and you can talk to them,"" he said.
What they were asked and did was just about everything. Rick said they had shows where it was just his girlfriend, some with the two of them and one even with a third person.
""Anything from masturbation to oral to intercourse ... doing different positions, just having fun. Basically the normal sex that we had, just people telling us what they wanted to see, which turned us on,"" he said.
The fact that it was online was also appealing to the couple because they could create characters. UW-Madison senior and Student Leadership Project technical manager at Division of Information Technology, Ty Christian, said that creating a online persona makes it easier to mask your actual identity, even if you are shown in photos.
The easy money was also somewhat lucrative. Assistant professor Michael Gutter in the School of Human Ecology said Internet porn obviously pays more than a regular college job.
""It's also more convenient in terms of flexibility for when they want to work, which is great for college students,"" he said.
Janet Hyde, UW-Madison women's studies and psychology professor, said women's wages in the workplace are generally lower than men's, so Internet porn makes them more money than a clerical job.
Christian added since everything is online, payment services are easier and they do not have to handle any actual money. He said the Internet makes it easy for individuals to set up their own sites since most hosting websites provide forms for passwords, member names, message boards and payments.
Hyde added that Internet porn is also much safer than stripping or illegal prostitution because women cannot get mugged or get sexually transmitted infections. Rick said awkward or potentially dangerous situations are much easier to deal with via the Internet as opposed to in person. Christian agreed saying, ""There's no direct contact with your consumer.""
Amber said on her site there are moderators that watch the chat room during a show to make sure it is safe and the girls are treated well.
""You're in your own room in your own comfortable settings. You can turn the cam off whenever you want,"" Rick said.
He and his girlfriend never experienced problems, but if they ever did they could have reported them to the webmaster, who would then remove that member's access to the site.
But quitting a low-paying college job and buying a webcam is not so simple.
""The danger, of course, is that you're going to be recognized...you go out to get your job as an accountant at a firm and they think that you have an unsavory past,"" Hyde said.
For that very reason, the couple recently decided to stop doing shows or posting photos on the site.
""That's the only reason we got out, otherwise we would have stayed on longer because it was a lot of fun,"" Rick said.
Whether or not safety is an issue, Internet pornography definitely takes a certain kind of personality. Hyde said of course not everyone would do it, that many would be eliminated because they did not feel comfortable enough with their bodies and others find it immoral.
""It takes serious confidence,"" Amber said.
""A person who donates plasma as an extra source of money is a certain special person, so is this,"" Gutter said. ""While some people may have issues with that, it is obviously a billion dollar industry, [those that make money doing it] probably realize that while people don't like to talk about it all the time, it's clearly not all business.""
*These students' names were changed in order to keep their identities private.
