The walls of Eva’s apartment are decorated with posters of skulls and Star Wars, lights, and toys that she uses during camming. Ella Banken//AS Review
By Sydnee Smith
Outside of school, Western senior Eva sits in front of her computer talking to people online as a camgirl. She hooks a camera up to her laptop and sets it on a table at the end of her bed in her studio apartment. On her wall hangs handcuffs, a ball gag and a riding crop she uses for camming.
“I feel like I’m finally doing what I’m supposed to be doing, which is a weird thing to say about taking your clothes off on the internet, but it makes me very happy,” Eva said.
Eva, who asked to only use her first name, has been camming on a site since March of last year. Camming is her main source of income, although she notes she couldn’t make a career out of it because she isn’t making a living wage.
“I only get paid in tips. I don’t get paid a flat rate for working on this site,” Eva said. “I could sit on camera for three hours and not make any money, which I think is a big misconception. People think that I get paid just to sit there, I don’t. I get paid when people pay me.”
She can make anywhere from $3 to $300 from her camming sessions, private sessions, photo sets or clips she sells.
Eva first got involved with camming after she told her friend she needed a way to make money. Her friend mentioned she was selling her nudes on Tumblr at the time. Before being affiliated with a site, Eva did some freelance work But, it was mostly trading photos for gift cards to get food. After searching the internet, she got involved with MyFreeCams, her current cam site.
The one thing about MyFreeCams is they take 50 to 60 percent of the tip money Eva makes in her live broadcasting sessions. One of the reasons she still uses the site is because it’s the only way to advertise now. Sites such as Instagram and Tumblr all have banned nudity.
Eva said being able to make money camming pairs well with her struggles with mental health. She said working a typical job doesn’t work for her in her current situation, so being able to create her own hours is ideal.
Eva is very open to camming being her job.. After around a year of camming and gaining a bigger following online, Eva told her family. Although her family is more on the conservative side and go back and forth with it, she says they don’t normally ridicule her over it.
At the foot of her bed, Eva has her laptop set up for her camming. Also displayed are some of the toys she uses during chat sessions. Ella Banken//AS Review
“When I started camming, I kept expecting something to change every time I did something,” Eva said. “If I showed my face, I kept expecting some big life consequence to happen, and I kept doing it and nothing happened. I realized that the world is not going to collapse if somebody I know in person sees me naked.”
Eva hasn’t had much problems running into people she knows. Most people who know her are aware of what she does for a living. People also don’t really have a bad reaction when she tells them, at least to her face, she says.
Another perk of camming to Eva is how it boosts her self-confidence. She says camming comes with a lot of positive reinforcement, as people are constantly telling her she looks good.
“When I was in high school, I hid my body intentionally with baggy sweatshirts. People didn’t even know I had boobs until senior year. I hid them. It was a secret,” Eva said. “Not to sound disgusting or anything, but there’s no part of my body I’m not familiar with anymore. It takes away a lot of the self-consciousness.”
Eva used to post nudes on her evamoonsuicide Instagram account, which now has 13,900 followers. But her follower count has been dropping, as well as her ability to advertise, now that she isn’t posting nudes to her account. Instead, she had to start her evamoonsuicide Twitter and start from the beginning.
“I think that if the internet were just a little less censored, my life would be a lot easier,” Eva said.
Eva enjoys camming because she can do it from the comfort of her own home. Her space
is highly personalized, and she has a cat that roams freely around the apartment. Ella Banken//AS Review
She said a lot of the time people believe all sex workers are being exploited. Eva thinks she shouldn’t have to say that, but often times she does. Laws such as Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (FOSTA) and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA) are written to prevent online sex trafficking, but now allow the government to prosecute sites for what is on them. Prior to the laws, sites such as Instagram and Tumblr couldn’t be held responsible for what people posted to their profiles. With the sites now being held responsible, they’ve started to crack down on people’s accounts, according to Eva.
Most of what Eva does camming doesn’t actually involve taking off her clothes. She says 80 percent of what she does is sitting talking to the camera as people come in and out of her chat. People can request things and tip her in the chat. Different payments equal different things depending on what she’s in the mood for.
During a private camming session, Eva gets paid $3 a minute. Although those don’t happen very often, it’s a way for her to make more money.
Usually, Eva tries to cam three times a week for two hours at a time. However, she struggles trying to balance it with school and would do it more often if she wasn’t so busy.
Aside from just camming, Eva runs her evamoonsuicide Twitter and Instagram. She also started a private Snapchat in August. She charges a one-time fee to join her Snapchat and most people contact her about it through her other social medias.
“It’s just my life, uncensored, doing stupid shit like vacuuming topless. I like Snapchat because everyone on my Snapchat is really nice. They’re all people I’ve communicated with back and forth and agreed that I want them there. They’re not just random people, which is nice,” Eva said.
Although Eva said she doesn’t see herself doing this forever, she loves what she does. She knows people can make a living out of camming, but she doesn’t make a lifelong sustainable wage. Without her parents, and money from her deceased grandparents, she would be unable to put herself through college just by camming.
Camming to Eva is something she can do in college or until she no longer feels comfortable doing so. She said she can enjoy it without having to work a typical job for now.
Hanging on the wall behind her bed are a few toys that Eva uses during her chat sessions. She offers the different toys, and viewers can request which ones they want to see her use. Ella Banken//AS Review
Eva is going to school to get a bachelor’s degree in biology. After she graduates in the spring 2019, she will be going to Bellingham Technical College to get her cosmetology license. She said she realizes one day there will be jobs she can’t get because of her camming and she’s okay with that.
“I don’t really want to work for company that does not support what I’ve done, I’m very passionate about what I do, and I love it very much and I would really like to get more involved in the activism surrounding it,” Eva said.
In the near future, Eva is planning on attending an expo in Portland for erotica, run by MyFreeCams. While there, Eva will be meeting people she knows from online and marketing herself. She is taking this as a big business opportunity, even making business cards for the event.
At the expo, Eva will be making collaborative content with other cam girls. By making collaborative content, they’re able to make more money.
Another misconception Eva wants people to understand is that not everyone who watches cam girls are creepy or desperate old men. She said a lot of those who pay and watch her are college age and that is just what they choose to spend their money on. Eva mentioned having to sometimes kick a few people out of her chat room, but most people are genuinely nice and respectful enough to send money to her even though they could get free content elsewhere.
“I just want people to recognize that we’re more than our jobs. Yes, I am a cam girl, but I’m also a lot of other things,” Eva said.