Empowerment v. Exploitation

When I first read the title "Camgirls" a lot of images popped into my mind. In one sense, after noting this and also reading some of the other posts form the class, I realized I might be way more digitally literate then I think -- maybe too much -- but that's another post altogether. The images that popped into my mind foremost were those associated with porn -- Ukrainian barely legals strip teasing and masturbating online in an attempt to to scrape by maybe enough to possibly escape an impoverished life? http://www.oneangrygirl.net/russian.html Of course, I think that is now where the state of Camgirls has landed in popular culture -- which is not surprising, as I have already surmised, the totality of popular digital culture is in a sense ruled by porn.

However, the term also brought to mind a few other scenarios. One, of a friend whom filmed short videos of herself and posted them to her facebook in an attempt to break out of her shell. Another, was of a dancer with a youtube page, who unabashedly spoke about herself and whatever topic she damn well pleased (like how to tie a head scarf or why she doesn't shave 'down there'). I find it interesting that in all three cases, the webcam users believe their efforts to be a form of self-empowerment. Unfortunately, the reality for the case of the first example, proves to be nothing more than exploitation. Though, I think the idea of webcamming as a form of self-empowerment is valid.

This idea has already been posed to us in the book: "What does it mean for feminists to speak about the personal as political in a networked society that encourages women to 'represent' through confession, celebrity, and sexual display, but punishes too much visibility with conservative censure and backlash?" To be fair this http://www.thecamguys.com/ is the top google hit when "Camguys" is entered. So men must deal with these repercussions as well. But as Senft alludes early on in her text, "it is not quite time to start celebrating post-patriarchy. Women and girls still constitute seventy percent of the world's poor, do two-thirds of the world's work, earn less than 1/10th of its income, and own less than 1/100th of its property" (12).

So then, what does it all mean for feminism? Really, I have a hard time wrapping my head around it all. I think the potential for women to be taken advantage of is definitely there and does definitely exist in abundance. However, the flipside to the equation offers women the chance to speak their own truths, making the personal political. Although the repercussions for women who push the boundaries may be worse than for those afforded by men, perhaps this also means that the potential for gain is greater because the risk is higher.

My question for Theresa Senft is along those same lines. Do you think there are potentially greater gains to be had for online women-centered networks than there are for men? Or is that point null because we are still living in a "man's world"?