Since we are talking about sexual shame...
I don't know how to make peace with two seemingly connected realities:
1. Sexual shame exists and is bad.
2. Sex workers financially benefit from sexual shame.
I don't want sexual shame to exist, but in the same breath, I want to continue earning a substantial living by selling my sexuality. Compared to others, as OP has pointed out, we usually work less hours than others do while still making enough to survive. If sex were not shamed, I can imagine several different situations that might arise. You can speculate that sex might not be a valuable commodity anymore or that the market would be flooded with people willing to sell (Since there would be no societal pressure not to). Moving sexuality into the open would change a lot about the sex work industry. People might not get such a kick out of seeing breasts in porn if they can see them at the local public park. People might not get off so hard to the image of a girl masturbating in her bedroom if the 'naughty' aspect of it is torn away.
Sometimes I get the impression that receiving judgment from mainstream society is the price we pay for having profitable careers. I am able to cam and earn a living because not EVERY girl is willing to take the hit to her reputation. If all 3.5 billion women on Earth sold their sex appeal online, I don't think I'd have a chance in hell of paying my bills anymore. I am not an extremely special specimen. In the greater scheme of things, I am just an average person with average talents. In our society, however, I am a sexually liberated siren who stands out against the backdrop of frigid shrews. A beacon of slutty hope floating in a sea of blue balls.
This so much.
As many camgirls know, camming is pretty win win if you don't mind getting naughty on camera and having your image out there. As has been said, working your own hours, being paid much more for much less, not having to answer to bosses and taking holidays when you like. If this were a vanilla job so many people would be wanting to do it, but if everyone wanted to do this job then the value would go down.
To the OP, you should also bear in mind that while camming is enjoyable for some, even if we take away the "sex work is shameful and dirty" aspect, there are so many girls who just don't want to do it. And that's fair enough, I have no problem with sex work but sometimes I don't want to expose myself on the internet. That's not a "moral" issue, just sometimes you don't want to share your private or intimate moments for financial reward. I know some girls who will happily sleep around and are very open about sex but shy away from the idea of even interacting with people on the internet. I don't know if this is due to social conditioning believing sex is a negative thing or if it's just how people feel about their bodies.
I also don't agree that it's necessarily to do with people believing sex is negative, but that sex and sexuality shouldn't be sold. Sex shouldn't be mixed up with sex work, they are two different concepts. One is about (or should be about) mutual pleasure based on attraction, and the other is a paid for service (which may or may not result in mutual pleasure). Some people have issues with selling something that in their eyes should not be for sale. I can see where they come from as it is a fairly gluttonous purchase, and due to the emotions often attached with sex it's definitely a messier industry than most. I don't think that will ever change.
There is also that culturally it is unacceptable to sleep with/flirt with someone else's partner. In the case of sex workers those "moral values" are basically void as you're just doing your job and have little control over who visits you. This is very threatening to some women as they feel they need to compete, and there's the fear that their partner will spend all their money on another woman as well as having cheated. Due to the majority of women gaining more pleasure from sexual experiences where there's trust, an emotional attachment and mutual attraction there isn't really a popular female equivalent where we can easily hire male sex workers. This causes an imbalance which could be said allows more women to be seen as readily available sexual objects with men as the ones hiring. As a sex worker this means you're probably making bank, but I can see why some women get frustrated and wish it didn't exist. It's not a part of society I'm exactly keen on, but it's not going anywhere and I enjoy the work so I make it my own.
In regards to the men who watch porn all the time, go to strip clubs, hire prostitutes etc yet look down on them as though they're scum... In my experience they're fucking idiots and aren't really worth giving two thoughts about. I worked in a non nude strip/burlesque club for a few months last year as I didn't have internet to cam with and wanted to try it out, I had such a great time doing it but I had some guys who tried to convince me that I was hating life. I had just come back from travelling and was saving for studying, I got to work two nights a week basically having the time of my life and brought in over a thousand pounds a week. As you can probably imagine I was definitely not hating life, but for some guys they get completely thrown off by the idea that you're not gutter scum. The more intelligent seeming men, especially ones who were only there for a stag do were thrilled that I clearly loved dancing and didn't meet their expectations, but some of the more ignorant ones or the more regular strip club goers it was like their boner retracted inside their body when they realised I wasn't a bimbo. They don't mind being seen being a "disgusting creep" by a "dumb slut" so it completely throws some guys off if they realise you're more intelligent than them or aren't some wasted soul scrambling for pennies. It's sad but to me it shows their own shame of their habits, they feel it's ok to perve on girls if they see them as less than human. And they don't seem to be intelligent enough to work out for themselves that life doesn't work that way.
Sex work stigma is going away a bit, and I guess it depends on who you talk to. I have told some people and I can tell they clearly judge me, while others are impressed. As the stigma goes away though we get more and more girls getting into the industry, which as Kate pointed out, isn't necessarily good for us!
Oh also, one of my regulars is from Northern Ireland, he mentioned one of the reasons he started coming to cam sites was because you can't go to strip clubs there due to the religion. From what he said it sounded like sex work was not acceptable there. I'm from England so while we do have religious influences they're pretty minor, I don't think I've ever told anyone I've met who's Irish about camming so I wouldn't know their responses, but everyone I've met has seemed pretty easy going. I'm curious about the cultural differences though.
