“It’s a tough job. It requires a thick skin.”
Ashe Maree is a 22-year-old CamGirl. Self-described as “unapologetic” for her choice of profession, she like most Cam Models, earns money by broadcasting sexually explicit videos of herself via webcam. Each of her performances are live streams that are accessed by her online viewers through the website myfreecams.com or the direct link that she posts to her twitter biography prior to her show. Her entry into sex work began at age 18 when Maree decided to post her own naked photographs onto Tumbler. As a result, she gained a large fan following and eventually decided to become a Cam Model.
Today Maree’s popularity has spread to other social media platforms. She has become a popular figure on Twitter with 125.8k followers as well as Instagram with 270k followers. Additionally, Buzzfeed website gained notice of her prominence on social media and uploaded onto their YouTube channel the video titled “Being A Nude Cam Model” where they interviewed Maree about her life and profession. This video that was posted May this year now has now reached 2,3712,812 views.
“I feel like every model should have a space that they create for cam-ing that is aesthetically pleasing as well as comforting”
Maree describes her performances as an intimate experience due to two reasons. First, all of her films are recorded from her own home in her special cam-room. Second, as she stated in an interview with Buzzfeed that it is impossible to view one of her shows and not see that she is a “living breathing feeling person.” Regardless of your intent, upon choosing to view her webcast,
“you’re gonna leave with some personality whether you like it or not.”
https://instagram.com/p/8W-8HRwRou/?taken-by=kittenisodd
While she mainly uses her social media platforms as tools to promote her cam modeling, she does not limit herself to this topic. She does not solely post sexually implied selfies, but includes realities that she leaves out during her time cam-ing. This is evident on her Instagram and Buzzfeed platforms.
In her Instagram biography she states that she is happily taken and frequently posts photos with her boyfriend. Despite the implied idea that she is single and available to her webcam viewers, Instagram is a platform where she chooses to display this part of her life.
In her interview with Buzzfeed she discusses her consideration for the younger audience and makes effort to express harsher realities of her day-to-day life.
“Being a traditionally attractive women on the internet usually means you’ll get a lot of your girls following you. That’s a new thing I had to get used to especially with Instagram. There are so many little girls, so I try to keep a balance of reality in there. That it is a tough job. That it requires a thick skin.”
In fact Maree often uploads messages to advocate body positivity, self-worth and campaign against bullying and body shaming. These messages are often stated with consideration to the younger female audience, such as this post from her Instagram,
https://instagram.com/p/7A6DMDQRr_/?taken-by=kittenisodd
In both her interview with Buzzfeed and Instagram she is very candid. Both platforms allows the viewer to receive new information about her life and career. On the Buzzfeed platform she states that she takes around two hours to become camera ready, and that her boyfriend is involved in managing her social media as well as assisting in producing her webcasts. She even states in the interview that her social media is often framed in a way where she only lets her followers “just see literally what I want people to see.” Similarly, the Instagram platform allows the viewer to watch videos to learn intimate information such as how Maree applies her makeup or in other cases learn about receive updates about her health issues.
Maree has come forward about her digestive issues and weight loss various times on Instagram. This is a topic that she needed to address upon having her Instagram photos reported and deleted do to followers who believed that she developed an eating disorder.
Reporting me and having my perfectly PG photos removed because you think I’m too skinny is BULLYING. No, not concern, not a helping hand, it’s bullying. I am $15k in debt because for THREE YEARS I’ve been losing weight, have been in a lot of pain, and no doctor has given me a straight answer… I know better than any of you that I need to gain weight. Reporting my photos for ‘self harm’ or ‘eating disorder’ is you blatantly disregarding what I’ve posted about my health issues and blatantly disregarding me. Its also not only condescending to me, but to ACTUAL sufferers of eating disorders. – @kittenisodd
She uses these two platforms in a way that shatters the ‘fantasy’ that she creates as a CamGirl in her webcasts as well as possible preconceived notions of herself.
I have found that Maree’s life writing differs depending on her social media platform. For instance, the Buzzfeed interview is much more a form of collaborative life writing where the website acts as the investigator while Maree complies as the informer. As mentioned above, Maree treats her audience differently depending on the social media platform. This is linked to the importance on the ‘sites of storytelling’ that are both occasional and locational. Her younger audience on Instagram causes her story to differ due to the level of appropriateness permitted. I have found that while she has made her livelihood as a CamGirl she is a feminist and encourages body positivity. Two primary coaxers motivating the framework of her platform are thus the western culture that is highly patriarchal and oppressive regarding women in voluntary sex work, and the negative comments that she receives on social media regarding her physical appearance. She is working against the accounts and assumptions of others. Gender and sexuality are therefore two ideological I’s that tie into her narrative type, as she works to debunk the cultural idea that women should be reserved about sex. Finally, due to her large and general following on social media, the addressee is implied universal. She has 15 year old girls who follow her for finder her pretty, while simultaneously acting as a form of adult entertainment for an older audience.
Her allure on social media is evident. She is not only young and beautiful, but she also utilizes social media to market herself as a sexual fantasy. She openly consents to be accessible and available to strangers on the Internet in one of the most intimate ways possible.
I suggest that her allure is mostly due to her profession that is viewed by western society as a deviant practice to common social and gender norms.
In western society there is undoubtedly still a negative connotation regarding women who are open about sex, often being labeled as ‘whores’. However, Maree is in charge her own sexualization and in unabashed by telling Buzzfeed “I love my job”. Society’s label of Maree’s profession and attitude towards her profession marks her as deviant. However, it is this deviance that lead to her success, due to the controversy and conversation that Maree and her brand create.
Works Cited
@AsheMareexoxo. Twitter.
“Being A Nude Cam Model.” YouTube/BuzzFeedYellow.
KittenIsOdd. Instagram.
Smith, J. and Julia Watson. “A Guide For Interpreting Life Narratives: Reading Autobiography.” 2nd Ed. Minnesota, MI: University of Minnesota Press. 2001. Book
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