Lately, it feels like our industry has been under a full-fledged assault, from the inside and the outside. We have had adult performers bullying each other, brainless reality-stars-turned-religious-zealots and performers-at-large sniping at each other. Needless to say, the adult industry is off to a rocky start in 2018. I had the pleasure of visiting Bucharest in November of last year and many things became very clear. Even models that trade less than positive comments online end up being friends after they meet in person. That is because when we are online, there is less of who we really are in our interactions. In the end, none of us are competition.
I had a great time hanging out with the talent teams of the other websites. In the end, we all know that no matter what, we are not truly competitors. We are just people. It’s something to remember in your online dealings with other models and members. Online comments can turn to bullying incredibly fast. We need to band together, not live divided.
We must all do our part to save our industry, remaining vigilant against those powers — within and without — that could tear us apart.
This is especially true when it comes to staying abreast of laws that could impact cyberspace businesses, like when the U.S. repealed net neutrality recently. They removed restrictions for American internet service providers, which could potentially allow them to charge members more to use certain services like Netflix, Spotify and other entertainment streaming providers. This could deeply effect the adult industry as well as webcam models, because if your client is on an internet service provider that limits the amount of streaming content he can watch under his current plan, that will change his viewing habits. Ultimately, he will not have as much money to spend in your shows.
Another potential flaw in this system is that if an internet service provider doesn’t want their clients watching adult content, they now have the ability to censor what members see, and if your clients live in an area where this is a possibility, they will not be able to see your shows at all.
Hopefully, that is not the case and the free market prevails. After all, supporters of the net neutrality repeal believe that if networks do charge more for certain services, their competitors will attract customers with better deals. So, all is not lost.
No matter what side you’re on, it is important to band together and push representatives to make the right choice for pro-business legislation that keeps cyberspace prosperous and liberated from either too much government regulation or too little. We must all do our part to save our industry, remaining vigilant against those powers — within and without — that could tear us apart. As an American citizen, I have been emailing my local representative daily for two months. Since 70 percent of paying traffic comes from the U.S., let’s do what we can to keep the industry moving forward.
Ultimately, since this is an advice column, and my advice to all models and studios is to try and stay informed of any and all changes in laws for the internet. I don’t have to explain how important the internet is to our business. We have all had a time where our internet is out. That crazy feeling of “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out) is intense. Imagine if our members are not able to watch our shows. We all work very hard to put out the best content, the best shows and give the best experience to our members. It’s important that we stay aware of the world around us.
I’m not asking anyone to march down the street with picket signs, I would just like to make sure that everyone that reads XBIZ knows the importance of the new laws and does everything they can to protect our industry from possible peril. In the end there are hundreds of things to worry about in our business. Let’s not make the way we talk about each other one of those things we have to worry about. We truly do have to take care of each other — we’re a community after all.
