The Well-Made Porn: The Dramaturgies of Erotic Webcamming
Date
2024
Authors
Newell, El
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Victoria
Abstract
Erotic webcamming, or camming, is a form of sex work in which a virtual audience pays for a live-streaming performer to perform sexual acts. Within this form is consistent, original, theatricality- leading to a realisation of the connection between the two forms. In critically examining camming, I analysed livestreams themselves for these theatrical methods- scenographic design, acting techniques, and audience interaction. I tackle the reality of the way existing studies- as well as pieces of related performance- divorce sex work from art- asking throughout- where do erotic webcamming and online theatre inform each other, and how? I determine the placing of erotic webcamming as separate from the sphere of theatrical and performance practice as an antagonistic agent in the journey to realize online sex work as a artistic industry, and discuss the constituents that mark it as such. The dramaturgies discussed herein all pivot directly to the classification expanded upon in my research, of the inclusion of camming to our collective consciousness as an active art form. Through its embedded dramaturgical structure of audience interaction, and the unique scenography of solo performance, the theatrical practices that inform erotic webcamming have established it as a form of live, virtual, performance art.
Description
Keywords
pornography, theatre, webcamming, voyeurism, dramaturgy, performance