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I think pimping is the right word for it. This is a controversial topic to broach, but it's difficult if not impossible to know what's going on in the lives o
by robonerd 5y ago
I think pimping is the right word for it. This is a controversial topic to broach, but it's difficult if not impossible to know what's going on in the lives of these performers behind the camera. On the face of it, they all seem to consent. But putting on a smile for the camera doesn't rule out coercion behind the scenes. That the presence and role of these managers is not more widely stood should be read as a warning sign; that lack of transparency is precisely the protection a pimp would want.
There are few meaningful safeguards. Platforms positively identifying performers is good, it helps combat trafficking of kidnapping victims if nothing else. But it doesn't begin to address all the other scenarios in which a performer might be coerced. The platform knowing that Performer X has real name Y doesn't give them any insight into the existence of Pimp Z who has access to all her documents/accounts and threatens to kill her if she ever tries to leave.
Maybe you think "I know this woman, I watch her stream for many hours a week in unrehearsed situations, I have a strong parasocial relationship with her and I know she's not being abused" But you don't know that. Abuse can be hidden from close friends, family, neighbors, and certainly it can be hidden from stream simps.
- belorn 5y agoSport managers, model managers, music managers, film star managers... There are few job titles that has such a rich history of abuse. It almost seems that in every case we hear about a manager it is how they are abusing someone. Maybe this is a job that governments should start to regulate more heavily in order to prevent abuse.
- Nasrudith 5y agoRegulate how exactly and what would it help with? Accounting requirements can help with things like money laundering and fraud. I am not certain of what measures would help with abuse there. Not saying it is impossible but we should know what we are doing.
- belorn 5y agoTake a sport manager. If the manager give their athlete drugs to improve performance in order to boost their own status or profit, then clearly something is wrong with the incentive structure. Managers could be held to a higher legal standard and liability, require a license like accounting, and we could fund police investigation when abuse is suspected. If the problem still remain we could regulate how managers are allowed to profit from athletes, removing some of those incentives for abuse. Going even further and more restricted, managers could be government appointed rather than hired, requiring that managers go through a strict government process. I am sure there are even more ways that I can't personally think of, and obviously some would not be culturally accepted.
- drewcoo 5y ago> It almost seems that in every case we hear about a manager it is how they are abusing someone That's just how news works.
- pessimizer 5y agoThis condition is subsidized by a government that neither legalizes nor protects sex workers (such as their being unbanked), and when it directs its attention to them (FOSTA/SESTA) makes their situation more difficult, rather then less, driving it farther underground. America prefers to pretend like it doesn't see things, so it isn't expected to do anything about them. Sufficiently underground child trafficking is as good an outcome as none because how could we have known? The same way you know about any other workplace abuses; you inspect, you interview, and you make resources available. But we'd rather treat it like we treat farmwork, and simply wear blinders and continue to buy vegetables. edit: there's no reason that providing services to sex workers has to be lead to pimping other than that we prefer it that way.
- robonerd 5y agoHuman trafficking remains a grave concern in European locales where prostitution is broadly legal. This is not an America-issue, it's a human nature issue.