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The hidden world of camming is considered a taboo profession in Malaysia, but for some, it’s their only way to achieve financial independence. IRL interviewed “V,” a Malaysian cam girl of 8 years to understand why she chose this job. This is her story from her perspective.
I was a gregarious, outgoing, and, to my conservative parents, rebellious eldest daughter.
While studying in Australia, I came across an ad that said they were hiring camgirls. The ad promised the kind of money that university students can only dream of earning part-time.
My parents were not well-off, and I wanted to ease their financial burden of taking care of me. So I decided to give camming a try.
How I started working as a part-time cam girl
I already had a computer, and whatever else I needed, I could get on Shopee cheaply: a second webcam and other “accessories.” With that, I started working as a cam girl in between lectures and group projects.
Camming let me work whenever I wanted, day or night. Some days, I could work for up to 10 hours. After the platform fees, I would make between RM300 to RM1000. All the money I earned went straight to rent and groceries.
My parents never discovered I became a cam girl: I was vague about where I worked, and as long as they didn’t ask specific questions about it, I didn’t have to tell them. Based on my answers, they figured I was working as a waitress in Starbucks or stacking shelves in Costco.
After I graduated, I returned to Malaysia to start my career, and I thought camming was behind me. But the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans.
I became a cam girl again during the pandemic
I had a decent career working in Corporate Communications for a few years, but when the pandemic hit, my employer went out of business and I lost my job. With no money for rent, I moved back home with my parents.
Everyone who lost their jobs scrambled into the gig economy: Lalamove, Shopee delivery, Grab Driver, Foodpanda, GoGetter, and the rest. Faced with no immediate job prospects, that’s what I did too.
It was tough work, and it wasn’t the safest either especially if you’re a young woman. There were problematic, rude, and abusive customers, and I went through a few bad incidents that scarred me. At the same time, I wasn’t making much money and my finances were tight and getting tighter.
After trying out everything and realising how crappy the gig economy was, I remembered how profitable it was to be working as a cam girl. I had to make a choice: Starve, ask my parents for money, or return to the most lucrative part-time job I’d ever had.
My work experience helped me improve my shows
Reactivating my dormant accounts took only a few hours, and I was online and camming within a week.
My parents both worked regular day jobs and office hours, so they were rarely home during the day. A little furniture rearranging, an extra lock on my bedroom door, and my bedroom was now my cam studio.
Due to the time differences, I could easily reach viewers in the USA, UK, Australia and parts of Europe. With nobody in the house besides me and my cat, I could stream for at least six hours daily.
In my first week, I made RM4,000 after 30 hours in front of the camera. My customers have mostly been western men of all ages and backgrounds. The occasional woman does tune into the cam shows, and I do my best to make everyone comfortable and welcome.
I applied the marketing experience I’d learned from my previous jobs to this role, and my fanbase grew until I had a pretty large following on multiple camsites. Leveraging on my popularity, I opened an Only Fans to generate some passive income from my photos and videos.
The biggest advantage of being a cam girl is personal safety
One of the biggest advantages of being a camgirl is the safety and anonymity that I have.
There’s no in-person contact, and I ensure my identity is kept secret with simple basic precautions: No real names, and I never showed my face. If I needed to show my face, I always wore a mask.
My cam studio is tastefully generic, and I cover my small tattoo with a flesh-tone plaster, and have no piercings besides my ears. I keep all of my work accounts and socials on a separate phone, so I don’t have to worry about switching profiles or being discovered by accident.
Being a cam girl revealed Malaysian conservatism towards anything sexual.
It’s strange, but living abroad showed me that Malaysia is still pitifully bigoted and closed-minded – especially about many things the rest of the world is steadily coming to terms with and accepting.
Malaysians are open, warm and welcoming, but in my opinion, still extremely conservative about anything related to sex and sexuality.
I went to SMK and even SRK with some of my friends today, but living abroad revealed how narrowminded their thinking is, sheltered from any real knowledge about sex, sex education, and sex work.
There is also a lot of judgemental attitudes coming from “pious” Malaysian men who condemn p**n publicly, but secretly are active consumers of my content. I find these people hypocritical.
What may surprise people is that it’s not always about entertaining men’s desires. Many of the men who wanted a private cam show didn’t want me to do anything other than listen while they talked.
For these men, I played the role of an agony aunt: Someone who would listen to them talk about the problems that they faced in real life. They would vent about the women in their lives and the problems they have with them: “My wife doesn’t love me,” or “My girlfriend doesn’t want to be intimate with me.”
I finally got a regular job, but my salary was only RM2500
In June of 2022, with most of the pandemic restrictions lifted, I finally landed a “regular” part-time job. By that time, the profitability of camming meant that I was already living on my own.
Even now, my “normal” part-time job pays RM2,500 a month, which is only a third of my monthly income. The rest comes from camming, the Only Fans, and other “spicy” sites.
I know that camming can’t last forever, so I started to branch out to more legitimate content creation. Now I’m also on Twitch, YouTube and FaceBook Live, where I can show and truly be my full self.
What I offer on each platform is different depending on the target audience: Twitch is just for chatting with fans, where I touch on many mental health and wellness topics and whatever interests me. Facebook and YouTube are platforms where I host my gaming content and interact with other gamers, since I like to game as well.
As for camming, I still do a cam show or two a week just in case I need to turn that into a full-time job again.
What I learned from my experience as a cam girl
Camming has been an incredible learning journey, and the skills I gained have proven valuable in my professional and personal life.
- Reading people. One significant skill I developed is the ability to read people, which is crucial in performing for an audience with minimal guidance.
- Public speaking. The experience enhanced my public speaking and interpersonal skills, where I learned to convey enjoyment through vocal expression since the audience relies solely on what they see and hear.
- Personal grooming. Additionally, camming taught me life skills related to fashion, cosmetics, and skincare, as appearance plays a significant role in the visual aspect of every performance.
- Technology. I’ve evolved into the “IT-Guru” in my family, possessing extensive knowledge about hardware, software, streaming, internet, proxies, passwords, and settings.
These skills seamlessly transition into normal life, allowing me to cam safely while staying anonymous and having fun in front of the camera.
Many online keyboard warriors would say that I’m ruining my future prospects when it comes to future jobs and choosing a life partner.
To begin with, I have no intention of going public with my identity, and I’ve taken precautions against my public and private life intersecting with each other.
Secondly, there are many jobs that don’t care about what I do as long as my image does not tarnish their reputation, especially jobs that hire freelancers and contractors.
Thirdly, I would only choose a life partner who is fully accepting of this part of my life and, perhaps, shares my enjoyment of it.
In the long term, I may switch to something in social media marketing and management, if I find that I no longer have the ability to captivate an online audience.
Overall, the experience has boosted my self-confidence, making me comfortable with myself, my body, and my sexuality.
I’m not saying anyone should become a camgirl, because not many Malaysians are willing to shed their scruples about sex and sexuality.
My point in sharing my story is just to show what it’s really like, and for people to try to be less judgmental about people in this profession.
I hope that more people realise that people should be free to choose their own pathway through life, as long as it doesn’t harm others.
What do you think of this job?
Share your opinion in the comments!
Submit your story to hello@inreallife.my and you may be featured on In Real Life Malaysia!
Read also: I Saved Rm48,000 as an Online Sugar Baby to Pay for My Father’s Hospital Bills
I Saved RM48,000 as an Online Sugar Baby to Pay for My Father’s Hospital Bills
This story was written based on an interview with the interviewee, and is being expressed in her voice with her permission.
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