The entrepreneurial advantage of webcam work

Leslie Greening isn’t your typical webcam model. Unlike the millions of one-sided setups in pop-up ads the internet over, Greening’s job as a “cam-panion” is a two-way street, on which she and her clients can watch each other. The Dartmouth resident started working for her Toronto friend’s new wewatchyoucam.com website back in June, after taking a break from her desk job due to injury. Since then, Greening has kept her day job and continues her entrepreneurial gig on evenings and weekends. She spoke to The Coast about the stigma around sex work, and why people should buy local when it comes to porn.


What attracted you to this as a job?
I don’t see any of the negative. I don’t see people who do cam work as anything other than entrepreneurial. I personally couldn’t go on a site where I was performing sex acts and men tipped me based on what I was doing—I personally couldn’t do that. But, here, I feel I’m in control a little more. People only get to see me if I opt to let them. This avenue for me feels very safe...and honestly, I’m a very sex-positive person. I’ve always been a very sex-positive person.

Some webcam models block clients from the area where they live, but that’s not an issue for you?
Not at all, no. In fact, I’m learning that there are a group of people out there that would enjoy that sort of experience...I’ve had a lot of people interested because they know they’re protected, because I need to be protected too. So there’s a mutual trust right off the bat. That is unique and kind of nice. I don’t worry about people I know using our conversation time in a malicious way, just like they know I couldn’t.

A lot of people watch porn, but not many people actually pay for it. I wonder, as someone who does this sort of work, what’s the importance of actually paying for that content?
There’s such an over-saturation of sexual content out there. You can see a boob and a butt anywhere, and you can see people doing whatever you want to that boob and butt anywhere, but it’s really one-sided. Guys actually like to be seen, they like to know that they’re being watched and appreciated. It feels like it is interactive porn, but it is self-directed in a way. There’s not a whole lot of pressure on me to do anything other than just watch, which is kind of neat.

Is there anything you wish the average person knew about this industry?
There’s definitely a ton of misconceptions. I think my favourite so far has been: “But you have a real job.” Yeah, I do, and I’m good at it. But maybe I don’t want to do it forever. This could be a chance for me to branch out on my own and not be employed by somebody else. But I’m a very sexually open person. Obviously, not everybody is OK with seeing other people’s junk, but I am. If it doesn’t grate me in any way, why not make some money off of it?