In late December, The Establishment reported about threats porn performer, filmmaker and webcam model Chelsea Poe received from a webcam client she banned from her room.
According to the report, Poe was working on a popular cam network when she kicked a user out of her room for not tipping. Things then took a turn for the scary:
People wanting her to work for free is a big pet peeve of Poe’s, and she has a low tolerance for it, often calling people out on Twitter when they ask her to send them nudes, or to chat with them for free. She points out that they’re asking her to give them freebies of what she sells to make her living. The Cam4 user didn’t take her strict rules well, sending her a private message through the platform’s chat function, saying “fuck you too bitch.” When she responded with “do I know you?” he threatened to kill himself, and Poe.
The Establishment report said Poe contacted the network multiple times to report the threat, receiving an automated response suggesting she block the user each time. Poe then went to Twitter, hoping public exposure on the social media platform would initiate a response from the network. After four days — and with the support of a notification from a third-party service specializing in intellectual property law — Poe received a response saying the network had suspended the user’s account.
Four days is more than enough time for a person to make good on a threat of murder-suicide.
I reached out to Poe via Twitter to see whether she had any safety/action tips to share.
Her response was frank and a little depressing:
I really think its more on the cam site to require more information from users so when threats happen there can be legal recourse https://t.co/3r27woulDA —Chelsea Poe (@ChelseaPoe666) January 2, 2017
Ms. Fix-It that I am and given the glacial pace of large-scale, network-level changes in any industry, I was curious about what models could do in the here-and-now. Did Poe have any suggestions?
Her response was equally disheartening:
I really don’t think there’s anything cam models can do to protect themselves from threats without cam sites handing over user information https://t.co/bKLOrNAguT —Chelsea Poe (@ChelseaPoe666) January 2, 2017
Artist, activist and advocate Courtney Trouble weighed in with two important insights:
@ChelseaPoe666 @YNOT_Cam @ESTBLSHMNT safety needs should be 100% taken care of by cam companies. Sex workers have enough to do already. —courtney trouble (@courtneytrouble) January 2, 2017
@YNOT_Cam @ChelseaPoe666 @ESTBLSHMNT 1 strategy: cam sites are easy to set up, tech-wise. We need feminist cam site operations, and a UNION. —courtney trouble (@courtneytrouble) January 2, 2017
Ultimately, Poe determined the threats were empty, but that’s not the point. Response time and worker support, or lack thereof, is.
Follow Chelsea Poe on Twitter at @ChelseaPoe666. Follow Courtney Trouble at @CourtneyTrouble.
