I can say that in my case there's a decent chance that the goal was to drive me to paranoia and/or some form of public display that would get me labeled as a kook.
Essentially, drive someone to the point they go full 'space lizard rant'
You're missing a few pieces that contribute to the decay of society:
- No they don't build harems, but they are more likely to wait before settling down with a long term partner.
Also, perhaps it's the circles I've run in, but monogomy is far less dominant than it was in the past, and serial dating is far more common, especially when you start looking at some folks interpretations of 'empowerment'. I'm using airquotes here because I'm thinking of someone who would literally always be 'getting over' her last relationship with her current one, but would be checking OKCupid and POF because they were starting to have doubts about the current one.
There's a question of how much psychological damage online dating scene does to how one deals with interpersonal relationships. Most of the 'serial' daters I know get more and more bitter with every failed date, and post more and more vitrol on social media about the opposite gender.
There's also the issue that Dating profiles really often remove so much of the important part of a relationship; getting to know someone, which is a good test of communication.
I think it drives some of the behaviors, yes. If more people were okay with sex work, doxing would be less of a fear for both sides.
OTOH, In general, even sex-positive people often (and have a right to) prefer to keep the details of their escapades as to themselves as possible.
I -do- think there's a lot of room here for better platforms for sellers -and- buyers, but it's an industry nobody wants to get into because of all the bookkeeping and risk involved.
> Do people buy hypnotism from cam folksover video chat? And if so, what would constitute a breach of consent?
Well it's like anything else in that trade, some people like live, some would rather pre-order custom made content. Hypnosis is a big rabbit hole I'd rather not get too far into and we're already on the fringe of HN's overton window. One example might be trying to implant suggestions to give them more money.
Maybe the best analogy would be that a good hypnotist is a almost like a FAANG in living human form; They're just trying to convince you to do/think something. And, well, there's some things you just don't want to be sold. :)
I'll bite and talk about the subject, since I've been involved in that community as both a buyer and sort-of-seller (Helped a ManyVids star rise to the top 20 in their category with feedback, strategy and ehem... 'collaborations' but I'll get back to that)
I don't find sex work in and of itself immoral. That is of course an opinion.
On the other hand... It's another subculture in and of itself. And unfortunately, it's a subculture that often rewards immoral behavior and/or pulls people down dark paths.
From the buying side, It's been interesting to see the different ways that sellers behave. The ways some of them cut corners and/or 'lightly cheat' clients is questionable. The worst form I've experienced is when you make a larger services purchase and it become obvious over the session that you just supported some bad chemical habit of theirs. But I've also had sellers try to cheat the clock.
And I've had MULTIPLE sellers violate my consent in hypnosis sessions.
But perhaps worst was initiating a relationship with a seller for 2 years, only to discover that she had a boyfriend (now fiance) out of state in med school. That's the one I collaborated with, turned out that I was really helping someone who lived in a guilded cage buy more toys for her, NOT helping her make ends meet.
And now, I live in constant worry that she'll start distributing the videos we made again. They were made such that they JUST fall out of my state's classification of Revenge porn. Perfect example of an Immoral seller. When COVID broke out she immediately started e-begging, claiming that she couldn't make her car payments (which I knew was a lie on multiple levels.)
And yet, less than a month later she's posting more fancy outfits, gadgets, etc. that she's purchased.
From the seller's perspective:
- You get scammers too.
- You're living on the edge of acceptable behavior. If you're not using a payment service that approves of your work, One properly targeted set of emails from a disgruntled customer could lead to any uncollected money.
- You have to be -very- careful about your online life. Lots of sellers keep their real life online profiles as locked down as possible, lest someone find their real identity via image search algos.
- You get a lot of people who will either waste your time, troll, or outright harass you.
Which, if anything is what concerns me about the business as a whole. Someone else on HN pointed out in another thread that once you perform one bad act, many times you have to perform another bad act to cover up the first.
I've watched sellers go from kind to cruel after going through the industry for a while. It does change people, and not for the better.
I can say that in my case there's a decent chance that the goal was to drive me to paranoia and/or some form of public display that would get me labeled as a kook.
Essentially, drive someone to the point they go full 'space lizard rant'