An interview you definitely want to read. Minnie St Claire breaks down important topics based on her experience that tell the truth about camming and the adult industry.
1. Please introduce yourself and give a brief introduction to your camming career.
My name is Minnie St Claire. I am a black Canadian cam model and I started camming March 18, 2003 because I answered an ad in the local newspaper to rent out a room and the owner of the house had set up his living room as a webcam studio.
My family home was toxic and I needed to get out of there. I was 18 years old and no one was coming to save me. So, working as a cam model was my safest option.
The ad said something like “webcam models wanted 18+ housing and accommodation will be provided.”
Then, in August 2004, I got my first apartment living by myself, and for a few weeks I had a job outside of the house and I kept camming.
2. What is the biggest difference you have seen in the camming industry since you started?
We have access to more information and we are slowly turning cam models into battery-operated sex dolls.
When I started as a cam model, you had to make money using your personality and build relationships to make money. Today, models are being treated like arcade games and amusement park rides and it has become a business transaction.
3. What has been your experience as a person of color in the camming industry?
I’ve thought long and hard about how I would answer this question and I did not want to pass on this question because I would be ignoring my racialized lived experience that is part of who I am as a person of color in this industry. I am tired of denying who I am and what I’ve experienced.
Writing this I get flooded with thoughts, memories, and emotions. Many of them are painful and traumatizing.
There are cam sites and promoters of cam sites out there who do not have black and brown models ANYWHERE in their marketing. Black and Brown models are buried and unfound in their websites. I’ve been camming for 19 years and counting and as of today, there are a handful of cam sites that have an abundance of black and brown models. It is because we tend to ALL be working with the same company’s network of sites.
This means we black and brown models have limited opportunities and the industry practices racial segregation. There is not enough time, and emotional capacity to go over how the camming industry actively behaves with a tokenism, colorism/shadeism perspective.
I tolerate ad nauseam at the fact that I am in an industry that displays me as a racial fetish and if I want to keep making money, I am a racial fetish. Many in this industry have said to me “I am a black woman with brown skin and I am not as valuable as a light-skinned or white-skinned model.” Hearing this constantly in the industry and even outside of the industry has had me feeling hopeless, and worthless and at times has driven me to contemplate suicide.
Recently I had a cam site address the topic of race play. I found out that there are models out there who engage in this activity under the category of BDSM but they’ve failed to realize doing this behavior causes a lot of harm to others. The cam site came out and said race play is not allowed on their platform but obviously there are models out there engaging in this behavior while I am fetishized, devalued, and even hated purely based on the color of my skin. That means I will be fighting very hard to not let this affect my self-esteem or drive me back to contemplating suicide.
There is no break and there are no safe places when it comes to racism.
4. How do you deal with the ups and downs of camming?
I have to tell myself daily that I have value and expertise that is bigger than the camming industry.
I’ve known for a long time the cam business will never value my full potential. So I had to create opportunities outside of camming where I can protect my sanity, that supports safe places that honor and develop all my interests and passions.
5. What advice would you give to new cam models just starting out?
Decide if you are in this industry for the money or the recognition. Yes, it’s possible to want both but only one of them will put food on the table and keep clothes on your back.
To my black and brown models, we are working twice as hard to earn money and there are people out there who will try to make you feel less than purely based on the color of your skin.
I highly recommend career diversification meaning you MUST create a personal brand that can and will be creating a professional career in and out of the camming industry and representation matters. There’s always a black and brown model out there questioning if they can “make it” and they are looking up to you as the role model.
If you want to see more of Minnie, you can check out her:
