The Search of Friendship and More: Camwomen Identity FormationOn the “Camfrog” Chatroom Programme
Keywords:
Camwomen, friendship, capital, chatroom, ethnography, online identity, sexualityAbstract
In this article, I concentrate on friendship, which I argue is one of main motivations oncamwomen identity process. This findingemerged from my ethnographic study of young Thai women who portray themselves sexually explicitly on the online webcam chatroom called Camfrog. Three types of friendships and another form of relationship are explored. I argue that the Camfrog hierarchical structure, shown by colouration, has affects the way that camwomen and others form and continue friendships with each other. I also argue that although camwomen reflectedit was an autonomous choice to be portrayed in a sexual way in Camfrog chatrooms, a Thai cultural value called krengjai partly played a pivotal role in their decision-making. I analyse the issue of exploitation relating to krengjai through drawing upon works on power by Weber and by Bourdieu; specially, I discuss the conversion of capitals through using Bourdieu’s analytic framework.
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