'My life as a Skype sex worker': Former cam-girl lifts the lid on internet stripping for strangers

The seedy world of online stripping has been unveiled in a tell-all expose penned by one such former 'cam-girl' who used to strip and masturbate for male viewers - whose credit cards were then charged by the minute.
The former Skype sex worker blogged her account of internet stripping on Refinery29 under the name Abigail Fox, explaining how she entered the industry after seeing an advert for the job on Craigslist while living in Los Angeles in 2009.
The classified spoke of how girls made 'up to $500 a day' (£311) entertaining men from the safety of a local studio using just a laptop with a built-in camera, and promised 'no hands-on'. It sounded easy, she thought.

Writing on Refinery29, Abigail Fox says her first client was a man named John who just wanted to talk for three hours, leaving her $270 richer

Abigail says: 'My first client was a guy named John who just wanted to talk. For three hours. When we finished, I was $270 (£168) richer, and he felt like he knew me.
'Those clients seemed like such a cliché: The lonely guys who were looking for a pretend girlfriend for a couple of hours.'
Usually, all she saw of the man were typed words on a screen. But sometimes continues a client had a camera and asked if she'd like to see them: 'In cam-world, I was always very enthusiastic.
'I just loved taking off my clothes and sucking on my fingers. I loved talking to them about their fantasies, and I loved seeing them masturbate through grainy cameras trained on laps sitting in swivel computer chairs.
'It was the most customer service-oriented job I'd ever had: I had to be engaged, teasing, and friendly, while still managing to take down the guys who were just there to waste my time or get a freebie.'

'It was the most customer service-oriented job I'd ever had: I had to be engaged, teasing, and friendly, while still managing to take down the guys who were just there to waste my time or get a freebie'

Eventually Abigail began working from home which meant she didn't need to give the agency a cut and could do whichever hours she liked from the comfort of her own home.

'With one eye on the timer, I stretched and bent my way through private sessions, trying to prolong everything'

Explaining how she learned tricks to net herself more cash, she says: 'With one eye on the timer, I stretched and bent my way through private sessions, trying to prolong everything.
'I got adept at taking my clothes off very slowly, and letting the camera travel over the planes of my body as if I was simply teasing the client, instead of watching the money rack up.
'I suggested treats: "Oh, I have another toy you'd love. Let me get it!" If I could get them to pay for staring at an empty screen in anticipation, I would.'

'I suggested treats: "Oh, I have another toy you'd love. Let me get it!" If I could get them to pay for staring at an empty screen in anticipation, I would'

But eventually, she says, she became jaded, exhausted by the myriad fake personalities she had created to speak to clients.

But eventually, she says, she became jaded, exhausted by the myriad fake personalities she had created to speak to clients

And her boyfriend grew tired of her subconsciously slipping into stripper mode whenever they had sex.
So she quit, abandoning her online profile and quietly slipping away from that world and back into her own one.
'Today, I barely think about it,' she says. 'Except when, occasionally, I find myself accidentally looking back over my shoulder at a current lover as I undress, bending seductively forward - just like I used to.