The sacrificial victim of the cyberculture underworld

Abstract

This study is dedicated to the characterization and critical analysis of the historical-social significance of the cyberculture underworld, understood as a neoliberal regime of sexuality organized through pornography websites, webcamming platforms, and erotic content packs. It investigates the recruitment process of female workers by market agents in light of René Girard’s (2004) concept of the “sacrificial victim”. The findings identify the main sustaining vectors of this regime: (i) geographical factors, with predominant incidence in Eastern Europe and Latin America; (ii) phenotypical factors, related to conformity with mediatic aesthetic standards; (iii) psycho-emotional factors, associated with the legitimation of existence and the pursuit of recognition, as theorized by Axel Honneth (1995); and (iv) clinical factors, in accordance with classifications established by the World Health Organization and the International Classification of Diseases. The study concludes that the exercise of this profession depends on women already shaped by trajectories of structural vulnerability, insofar as the naturalization of harm and the intensification of psychological suffering constitute the very modus operandi of the erotic economy market.