Les Femmes Romantique, Part 2

The video installation consists of two videos of Gabriela doing video chat between 2016 and 2018 and talking with clients. One video is projected on a curtain that has average expense receipts sawn on it. The other video was presented on a tablet, as it is shaped to be viewed on a tablet using the hand of a man scrolling through custom videos to select what to see.

The work “Les Femmes Romantique, Part 2” does not try to advance any research in the substantial fight against or pro-sex work but attempts to show a face of the new online wave of post-feminists, with women feeling empowered by their own objectification, this time under their own terms. They reclaim their bodies, using them for the entertainment of men and emptying their pockets. The female body is objectified, but this time by the bearer, who subjects herself to the male gaze in compensation for financial gain.

The project, beyond its personal inquiry, presents a milestone in the present Romanian society, which is built on conservative beliefs while a big part of its youth is engaged in sexually libertine behavior that is not regulated by the state. Romania is not only the capital of worldwide video chat but also the first country in the EU with underage moms, due to lack of sex education.

Beyond the post-porn movement of the 90s in America that tried to produce a new wave of feminist porn based on body acceptance against mainstream standards of heterosexual abusive porn and beauty, there is a new movement that rose in the last 20 years in sex work and porn: the creation of independent, home-based sex workers, thanks to the development of the internet.

Broadcasting from their own safe, intimate homes when they find time—in the kitchen while cooking or in the bedroom with their partner while playing—the new camming industry has changed the way people consume and produce porn.

The introduction of camming gave the male spectators the opportunity to interact with the models, to develop real relationships with the broadcasters, to give them instructions to change positions, and to ask questions. The performers engaged in real discussions with the customers, and afterward they became fans or even loyal friends who got addicted and came back to visit them again and again. The face of porn has changed; sexuality has been so commodified that now it is like any other task, part of our ordinary lives. The abolitionist movement that campaigns against the new sex-work terminology only takes abusive sex trading and human trafficking tales into consideration. Their fight against the decriminalization and legalization of prostitution ignores the people engaging in sexual content businesses just for fun and money, not because they are desperate, really poor, or to feed their families, as the new movement of OnlyFans has shown. We see celebrities, children of celebrities, or women with successful careers having OnlyFans accounts. The new wave of sex workers wants to be part of this consumer society that neoliberal post-feminism has helped build.

Feminist abolitionists, the majority of them sex trade survivors, blame the new left lobbyists for promoting women`s oppression, pushing the men`s agenda, and their demand for women`s bodies, given that men are the only customers. The feminist agenda has been torn apart between these two sides regarding the theme of prostitution. Second-wave feminists are disturbed by the increasing sexualization of little girls and women, who are required to transform themselves according to the new standards of the capitalist consumerist culture that has been boosted in the last 50 years.

With the growth of social platforms, everyone can become an entrepreneur using just their own image, looks, and body as a source of income if the number of “followers” is large.

Social platforms help sex workers find clients and promote themselves. The new face of camming or selling “digital pornographic content” has managed to make women their own bosses, cutting out pimps and brothels and just paying their share to these platforms or studios that are the new “digital pimps.” The fact that the male gaze is still being served and his fetishes are being catered to is an important factor in clarifying the independence of the performers.

The way in which these women have evolved into business owners, capitalizing on their own body and image and being empowered by the same demands that were considered before degrading, reveals the switch of attitude and exchange of power in which women comply with the male gaze while using it to build up their own confidence and businesses. This has helped them receive safety both financially and from the comfort of their own house from selling such simple things as foot images.

Of course, these changes can be seen mostly in western countries and are a feature of privilege and choice that a lot of women coming from poor, undeveloped countries cannot afford. The sex work movement can be seen as “white feminism.”

Camming has become, especially in Romania, with over 5 000 studios and 100 000 women officially hired and other thousands broadcasting from home, the middle-class girl`s normal job for girls that don’t want to work minimum wage and are comfortable with their sexuality. And studies have recently shown that this illegal and “shameful” (in the eyes of the common Romanian) profession is one of the biggest contributors to the Romanian economy. Because even if the state doesn’t recognize them, the businesses have managed to legally transform their type of work into hospitality or entertainment, thus paying the girls legally.

Even though the camming online platforms gain from 50 to 70% of the earnings and the studios get another 50% of the 50% for the girls, the minimum gain is still at least 1500 euros per month if you work part time, up to 10 000 euros or more if you work full time. The video-chat business generates more than 100 million dollars per year in profit for the studios in Romania alone and even more for the platforms that promote it worldwide. And as pop stars like Cardi B, Amber Rose, Lady Gaga, Blac Chyna, Azealia Banks, Carmen Electra, and many others openly talk about being strippers and proud and making it a friendly, fun environment to work in, the negative stigma coming from the second wave of feminists has been rejected, making room for the new optimistic, accessible, friendly, and empowering post-feminist views. The new self-centered, girl boss trend has replaced the dehumanizing male gaze. Free chat rooms such as Chaturbate, ImLive, Cam.com etc. allow women, men, and couples to become their own pimps and just press the go online button to start making money.