The pleasures of fetishization: BBW erotic webcam performers, empowerment, and pleasure

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article, I argue that BBW (big beautiful women) webcam models who perform online as erotic webcam performers use their bodies, not just their words, to challenge anti-fat culture. These performers are not explicitly engaged in political activism. However, while motivated by an individual desire for money, intimacy, and pleasure, these erotic laborers challenge anti-fat discourses by branding themselves as BBW. BBW performers exploit anti-fat discourses in ways that challenge normative standards of embodiment and beauty and produce numerous individual benefits for cam models. BBW cam models report high levels of empowerment and improvement to self-concept. Additionally, I show that BBW cam models often experience pleasure as a fundamental part of their work, and in doing so, I also highlight what I am calling the pleasures of fetishization. I use this analysis to push back against feminist critiques that focus only negatively on the fetishization of fat bodies in pornography. Instead, drawing from feminist porn studies, I argue that it is crucial for scholars to account for experiences of pleasure in pornography and other forms of sex work. I conclude this article with a discussion of the significant implications of this research for scholars working in a range of social science disciplines.