The conversation takes place in English, but the operator is always off-camera, so the visitor doesn’t notice anything odd. "Askar" (name changed), a resident of Bishkek, told us about his two years as a camera operator in one of the capital’s major webcam studios. She told me it was a large quantity, but nothing inappropriate. He also told us that providing virtual sexual services under the age of 16 and any compulsion to perform any acts of a sexual nature were against the law. The site bans "animal-like dildos," "non-intentional sex toys," and extreme sex acts like scat, incest play, and "the sexualization of underage characters." Otherwise, most sexual content is fair game. They’ll insult me and call me a whore—like, ‘Yeah, I have sex on camera for money, oh no, oh no! And the sites themselves have a rule of not hiring underage staff, and demand ID to prove it when registering.





Over the last three years, Kyrgyz classified sites have been full of ads for webcam models. According to this woman, models are under constant pressure and are often subjected to virtual attacks by visitors to the sites. Instead, organisers of webcam studios have set up a database for contacting models, and in order to recruit new models they ask the women already working for them to bring their friends and acquaintances along. Kyrgyz police have more than once arrested webcam studio managers for introducing underage girls to the business. Who are the Best webcam Show models? There’s nothing glamorous about this - it’s just a matter of buying computers, web cameras, lighting equipment and then renting premises for models to work in, after which they take up to 70% of their earnings. Each room contains a bed, lighting equipment, a computer with a web camera and various props such as sex toys. People may sex chat through text or simply continue watching live porn. The young women who earn a living with their bodies believe that their work can only be seen by people abroad: the webcam agencies promise them that it can’t be accessed in neighbouring states. Kadyrkulova said that it paid well: some models were putting themselves through university or just earning a good living.





There are, he said, as yet no concrete charges that could be brought against the organisers of these studios, and the models also don’t face any charges for working in them. In August 2018, investigator Azamat Djanaliyev also confirmed that girls under the age of 18 could frequently be found working in the webcam business. We contacted other webcam studios and asked whether the people offering young women work had officially registered their business. We decided to check this information and contacted several webcam agencies in Bishkek, supposedly looking for work. They all replied that they didn’t pay taxes on their income, although it was telling that three out of the six agencies we approached said they would be happy to work openly and pay tax. We asked Meerim Kadyrkulova, the programme coordinator of Bishkek’s Sezim Crisis Centre, whether webcam models had ever approached the centre for help and why she thought these young women were choosing to do this work.



Webcam models and camera operators work in pairs, but from different rooms. One room is used by an administrator as an office; the webcam models work in all the others. It took a lot of effort to find contacts for studios, and we couldn’t get through to some of the phone numbers from the classified ads - this is no longer the way that models are found. And, for such a dominant industry it still holds a lot of darkness and still houses a lot of secrets. Its still theft and my property. For some there is still the psychological barrier that they are too old for technology, or computers are "not for me". Some studios, he says, are located in multi-room apartments, while others are in large rented detached houses. According to Askar, up to 100 models can work in shifts in one large studio, and in most cases they get up to 25% of the money earned in the week. "According to official reports alone, since the start of 2018 there have been three cases of young women writing official complaints against people who were blackmailing them by circulating intimate photos," Omorov said. "In two cases it was young men who were doing it, and in the third it was another young woman.



Entry to these groups is by invitation only, and in the last year the number of members has risen to 5,000, most of them young men. For over a year now, the Telegram messaging service has included two groups that shame young women who offer online sexual services in Kyrgyzstan. My parents always appear angry at me, and they get mad over everything. They get obsessive sometimes. It’s not just home owners who wish to get crime rates by city and obtain detailed information that websites supply. Is there anything you wish people knew about you that they don't already know? It's why people long for it so. At this point they are still not ready to be open about their businesses for ethical reasons, and this is why they stay under the radar. It is necessary to point out that while hugely profitable, adult entertainment still remains somewhat of a niche market. Lawyer Nurlan Sadykov gave us his assessment of webcam business in Kyrgyzstan, pointing out that it is not illegal, but that no one had yet raised the issue at the legislative level.