Abstract
ABSTRACT This article examines the structuring of algorithmic rank systems in the Brazilian webcam industry. The article questions the criteria behind those automated systems and their impacts on the working conditions of performers. The research comprises a four-year digital ethnography (from 2016 to 2020) of Brazil’s two major webcamming platforms, Camera Hot and Camera Prive. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with cisgender women performers. The results reveal that rankings rely on axes of difference, centrally gender, race and age, foregrounding young white cisgender women. The unequal distribution of visibility affects the work conditions of the performers who do not fit platforms’ patterns, pressing them to negotiate with ranking criteria to succeed on camming. As the Brazilian camming business promotes the homogenization of services and prices, ranking stratifications hamper performers’ opportunities to engage and thrive on platforms. The research argues that inequalities imposed by rankings are already seen in the Brazilian sex trades.
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