Nipa Huts with High Speed Internet: Commercial Exploitation of Children in the 21st Century. A Qualitative investigation of Webcam Child Prostitution in the Philippines

Abstract: This thesis examines the emerging issue of Webcam Child Prostitution (WCP) that has so far only been observed in the Philippines. Utilising a qualitative approach, the authors conducted a series of interviews with law enforcement and civil society, as well as survivors of the crime and two focus groups in a low-income neighbourhood in Manila. The data collected is analysed through a critical theoretical theoretical framework based on Harvey's Accumulation by Dispossession. Using this framework, it is proposed that the internet allows the worldwide demand for child sex to greater access to new markets in the form of impoverished countries. Accumulation by dispossession explains how unequal global distribution of wealth allows some the power to buy sex, while simultaneously leaving others with few choices but to sell sex. It is proposed that WCP has spread first in the Philippines, because the country has an oversized surplus labour reserve that is provided with very few viable means for survival. The high involvement of parents in the practice of WCP is discussed, and it is suggested that their involvement is not a direct result of lacking awareness of illegality and potential consequences of WCP.