Lindsey Banks, Priscila Magossi Talk Camming During Crisis

LOS ANGELES—A pair of well-known personalities from the live cam industry—Lindsey Banks and Priscila Magossi—recently sat down for an intimate discussion about how the pandemic is affecting the community, among a wide range of topics. Banks is a Flirt4Free model and brand ambassador who also collaborates with Pornhub. She was awarded Flirt4Free Social Media Star in 2016 and is a multiple nominee for AVN Favorite Camgirl and Social Media Star. Magossi, a former cam model, is the author of the New Camming Perspective, a formal study about camming and a training program for premium models. Her NCP approach centers on "Building Connections" between models and members through the "Social Aspect of Camming." LB: What is your profession/career? PM: I’m a social scientist that specializes in communication and semiotics. Communication, I think it is an area of knowledge that everyone already knows what it is. But, semiotics, is not so obvious. So, I would like to explain what it is. For short, semiotics is a branch of knowledge that studies signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. For example, how symbols such as colors are used to create mental associations that can direct people’s actions in their lives. Brands and publicity, in general, make a lot of use of semiotics when they decide the objects, color, and symbols that will be visible to the public.  Regarding my academic career, I started in 2002 and the focus of my studies is the social bonds, initially in the mass media, and later on the cyberculture. During the last few years, I have been developing my project in the adult entertainment industry, named the New Camming Perspective (NCP), which is a new understanding of this market segment and a training program for models based on Social Science studies. The goal is to empower in the scene and to achieve a more humane business model.  LB: How has COVID-19 affected your work? Positively? Negatively? PM: It would be very irresponsible of me to celebrate a tragic moment like this one. This pandemic is something serious that we are still to discover how much of an impact it will have on history. Fortunately, my consultancies have increased a lot because of a higher demand from the models.  LB: What are your thoughts on how it impacts your community in Brazil? Is the demographic of your community/location being impacted and how are things are being handled? PM: There are many different attitudes. The risk group that has access to education are safe at home, while the poor who do not have much choice of not interacting socially are living their lives as usual. In Brazil, there is public health care, I believe this is a positive thing, compared to places that don’t have any, like the USA. On the other hand, our president is our worst enemy, always promoting violence against minorities and stimulating people to not self-isolate, saying that it is only normal for some thousands of people to die.  LB: How has the change in social interaction affected you and your relationships with people? Are there different ways you must communicate now and what have you used to keep in touch? Did the time you spent at home change significantly from before and after the virus? PM: People in general have a different idea of who I am. I’ve heard that I come across as someone who is naturally sexy, who loves dressing up for parties, being surrounded by people all the time and traveling as much as possible during the whole year. Actually, I am the complete opposite. When I hear someone saying that I am sexy, I really do not identify myself with this. I usually attend parties when there is some business involved there. And I only travel for business to attend industry summits to promote my project. In fact, what I really like to do is to stay quiet at home and only meet my family and the ones who are really close to me. So, the quarantine has been such a peaceful moment in my life, when I can be myself all the time! For sure there are things that I miss, such as going to the gym and being in touch physically with my family and friends, but, I could live like that forever, with no big issues at all! LB:  What are your new normal? If any. PM: Before this crisis I tried to live as I am now, but I couldn’t because the world we used to live in was a world that required physical presence all the time. This has always been uncomfortable for me. Now I am comfortable but obviously aware that my behavior is an exception to normal attitude of human affection which rely on social interactions. I am worried for the others who might be suffering now because they are very likely feeling something similar to what I felt all of my life: the pressure to conform to the norm and to do what you might not like.  LB: What are some measures you have taken to be clean and staying safe? PM: Since my lifestyle is already very socially isolated, I am just staying at home as much as I can.  LB: How do you think this coronavirus will affect the adult industry? Any long-term affects you think will impact our community specifically?  PM: During the last few years, we got used to seeing in the spotlight of the industry only the ones who can make it to the award shows and the summits. Attending an event in a five-star hotel on the other side of earth and paying sponsorship is only a possibility for few. Not necessarily these people are the only talented of the market, but end up being the only ones who have recognition for their work. This pandemic is inevitably going to affect this reality for this year and requires that something more is shown to be in evidence, for instance, social media actions to promote different talents.  I would like to make it clear that I am not against the shows. By the contrary, these conferences are important and I attend them whenever I can. But there are so many during the whole year and the costs are very high. So even for a company to take part is a very heavy burden to carry that is paid by everybody, while we just get to see the same faces over and over in the spotlight.  LB: How do you see where our future is going? PM: It is a possible shift in paradigm that might privilege those who are able to survive economically through the crisis. At first, we in camming don’t appear to be affected in a bad way, because people are lonely and at home and until this moment they still have some money to spend. However, many businesses are not going so well. There are more than 10 million unemployed people already in the US, and it will probably get worse. So, at some moment, camming will be negatively affected together with the rest of the world economy. Thus, my recommendation is not to make debts and to not be irresponsible making jokes about the crisis as I have seen some business companies doing around about the pandemic.  LB: Any thoughts on companies and how they have helped or have not helped through the pandemic?  PM: Most companies only care about profits, not about people. Their campaigns, in general, will try to make everybody believe that things are okay. So, customers spend money, and models will be stimulated to work as much as they can, regardless of their mental health. They might have the illusion they will be directed more traffic because there are more people staying home. We can’t believe anything 100%, let alone marketing campaigns. One thing to keep in mind is that camgirls sell entertainment while also being in the middle of it all. So, it is not that easy to be online, all dressed up, smiling, and in a good mood, interacting with members, eight hours a day, while the world is falling apart. I know this because of my consultancies that I have dealt with many girls who have felt it hard to be online during the pandemic. They are scared of what is going on and frustrated because they are not getting all the traffic the marketing has promised them. This makes them think that something is wrong with them, but it is not their fault. People are not spending more because they are home. Many of the most profitable members are married and have not been able to consume camming and among the many youngsters who are home, there is not much money to spend.  LB: Also, if there is any organization you’d like to promote that provides some kind of relief at this time, please do! PM: The New Camming Perspective is a project and a movement that seeks female empowerment in the scene and thus simulates people to develop their personal talents. During consultancies, I motivate models to know themselves and to put in practice their skills, not necessarily the ones I would do, so that they can develop to the fullest extent their own ideas, projects, and campaigns. Such is the case of the model representative of NCP, Juliana Villegas, who has come up with her own campaign to help pregnant models during the quarantine: the idea is that the model reveals in her nickname that she is expecting a baby and the members donate to her. Besides, she also did a show for charity last week, in which she made $1,000. I am very proud of her campaign. I think nobody in this industry has ever looked at the pregnant models before. That is very noble of her. LB: Have things been different from the camgirls who you are providing consultancy? Have they mentioned any change in the atmosphere in their rooms or with new clients?   PM: From what I have heard, they are not making the double of the money as marketing campaigns had promised them. Panic affects the libido of men and women. Meanwhile the feeling of loneliness increases. Working on coaching and consultancies, the models have been telling me that those who are seeking this service more are those who are in solitude. Thus, the camgirls that are making more money from this customer profile are those who have good communication skills and a great sense of empathy for others. Besides, the models who are attending the NCP training program have been reporting that their members have been drinking and using drugs in the vast majority of the sessions―a kind of behavior that did not happen so often before the quarantine. LB: What is some advice you can give other models? New models and veterans. PM: It is important that everyone has this in mind: the NCP is a prescription, not a normalization. In the end of the day, the choice to be made belongs to each model. The prescriptions are based on my own experience as a model, as a platform exec and as a communication scientist. I have been around for 10 years and have seen a lot of this business to reach the conclusions that I have. Besides, I have been studying social sciences for almost 20 years—that is why I can talk about the importance of human relations and well-being at work in order to improve the lives and businesses in camming.  Having said that, I would like to say that backstage in camming is not “wonderland” and the majority of companies are only worried about profit; models are seen only as products for sale; and the NCP results from this exact perception, the attempt to empower and unite models. So, my advice is to keep an eye open on the partnerships we make, to not keep quiet in face of the injustices because empowerment comes from actions and these are stronger when they are done by many.  In Brazil, the NCP is very consolidated and we have been achieving great results because of the models’ teamwork, like, the end of the camming marathons in a Brazilian platform that used to demand the models stayed online for 72 hours in a row in order to be eligible to win a prize. As well as the demands to get paid from a major international payment method that didn’t even reply to the models, some of who had had their money stuck for over two years.