YouTube Interview with Fetish Model Electra Switch

Electra Switch, 38, New England USA

Matt: Hello there, my name is Matthew from O Camgirl and I’m here today with Electra Switch.

Electra: Hello there! Quite obviously, I am a cam girl, specializing primarily in the bondage section of Streamate. I am also an independent cam model who does private sessions. I just began dabbling in custom clips, and will be doing a lot more of that sometime soon. I’ve been having a lot of fun live streaming for going on three years, coming up in the Spring.

I am in my late 30s and I’ve been in the adult business since I was 18 with an elongated break from like my late 20s to mid 30s after I became a parent. And like I said, around two and a half years ago or so I decided to begin camming again, and came back to it from a whole different mindset from when I was doing such things when I was younger. It’s been very interesting and very lucrative, I should say.

And how did you start working in the adult industry?

I actually began working in the adult industry when I was 18 years of age. I’d been living on my own since I was 16, so it was quite a treat to see just how much money could be made in adult entertainment. I got my start working peep show. There were literal little peep show booths in a porno store. Like I said, 18 year old me got my start there, and I can say that’s probably actually the closest to what I do on cam in comparison to some of the other jobs in teh adult business that i’ve taken. I’ve done everything from fetish modeling, been in magazines over the years, all kinds of random things. I worked as a dancer, I did theme show type costumes, I’ve done burlesque performances, I was a fetish model when I was younger as well, I appeared in Skin Two Magazine. That was a huge accomplishment for me back in the day.

Is camming your main source of income?

Yes! It currently is, at the moment, my main source of income. It’s great because I’m able to make good enough of a living on camming as well as free up some time and engage in other potential money making opportunities or other hobbies or causes that I care to take on, other than the obvious which is getting to spend more time with my family.

So you said that when you got back into the industry after your long break that you came back into it with a different kind of outlook on things. Do you want to elaborate on that a little bit?

As I may have mentioned before, I had taken a bit of a break after I became a parent, just to kind of get a grip on things. And what’s different now is that I’m a lot more business minded, obviously. I’m a lot more mature than I was in my late teens to mid to late twenties! At first I was concerned coming into it, you know, being in my mid 30s in comparison to being a young woman in my twenties. My body type has changed, I’ve had two kids now, you know. So I was kind of concerned that there wouldn’t be as much draw for my body the way that it is now necessarily. I’ve found that I’m a lot more able to manage myself a lot more responsibly. Back when I was younger it was certainly a big part of my artistic outlet as well, like I got a lot more from being a dancer in the adult industry when I was younger that it kind of became my lifestyle, whereas nowadays it’s all business, a lot of it is business. And yeah, I certainly get my kicks and have my fun. I’m a lot more able to step back from it now if I need to, or just look at it in more of a business sense instead of getting myself more involved emotionally if that makes any sense.

How does your work factor into your every day life and relationships?

Well, anybody who knows me, and I mean truly knows me, knows what I do. So it’s not really, I don’t have to tip toe around as much as a lot of people do, at least on a personal level. I’ve known so many people that do any kind of adult work whose parents don’t know. Like, mine know. You know, they don’t know my actual cam name or sites or anything, but they know that I do it. On more of like a public level it’s not necessarily that I go around announcing. I definitely fabricate stories of what I do for work. I tell everybody that I’m everything from a media consultant to a freelance writer, which actually isn’t a lie, whatever it is I can come up with really. But yeah, I manage it pretty well.

Has being in this line of work changed you for better or worse at all?

It has changed me for the better. It’s actually changed me for the better by pointing out some of my weaknesses to me, because when you’re doing this, you’re an independent contractor if you work for a third party site. You are entirely your own boss, like you work when you say you work. And it can be very, very easy at times to let certain things slide. Like you really gotta stay on top of yourself and be your own manager and your own motivator in so many ways. But yeah, it’s absolutely changed me for the better mostly because as mentioned it’s freed up a lot of time for me. It’s just allowed me to focus on things that are truly important instead of just constantly feeding into that hustle and grind for somebody else. I now get to do it for myself entirely.

What would you say is some of the most important advice you could give someone looking to get into this line of work?

Be yourself. Don’t ever feel pressured to do something that you don’t want to do, because anybody who might chastise you for not doing it, or whatever you’re afraid of, you will find a whole slew of people who would be more than happy to honour whatever limits you have set for yourself and reward you for it. Be yourself and have fun with it. You know, that’s one of the things that’s great about being a cam model is that you are the star of the show. You are the one who determines what will happen or what won’t happen. Stick to your guns but don’t be afraid to bend a little bit or try new things too. You can get pretty niche. Like, I do at times, being a fetish girl. But in the same respect, I don’t necessarily limit myself to one certain set thing. It’s really important to remain open minded as well and allow yourself to be swept up in the experience if there’s certain people that you’re interacting with and you feel comfortable with. Also certainly keep a sense of humour, as we were talking about earlier, sense of humour is essential I think for survival for many many reasons, especially as a cam performer. You know, a really horrible shitty day for you could be a story of great amusement to friends of yours who might want to hear it, just a moment to sit back and say “Wow I can’t believe this just happened to me.” As tough as a dominatrix as I play online, I’m actually a really big softy and I’m very honoured that I can provide the space for people to come to to vent, chances are, what many other people in their life don’t get to see. And just kinda be grateful that you can do this, and be that kind of source for somebody, or freedom from the mundane.

Thank you, Electra!

Connect with Electra Switch: 

electraswitch.com