Sexy boom in Montreal

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

Step through the glass doors of 2much Internet Services and you'll see your typical software company -- people tapping away at computers, exposed brickwork on the walls.

But away from the main office, in a room decked out in a jungle motif, Violet Manson is exposing more than brickwork.

"I've got balloons," the scantily clad porn chat hostess cheerfully tells her attentive online audience as she digs into a bag at her side.

Soon, she's huffing and puffing, blowing a balloon up until it pops.

"There's this huge thing right now dealing with a balloon fetish," says Manson, a young woman with big brown eyes and ruby red lips. People are ready and willing to pay good money -- $5 per minute in private chats -- to see those balloons pop.

"It's new to me but there's quite a few clients who are into the balloon fetish so we accommodate them."

Manson is one of the "webcam" girls in Montreal's burgeoning online adult entertainment community, which is part of a porn industry some say is third biggest in the world behind Los Angeles and Amsterdam.

"Montreal is on top for content production," says Michael Plant, a Quebec City-based adult-entertainment entrepreneur who is organizing a convention in Montreal to bring together hundreds of adult online content providers.

"Toronto is on top as far as marketing and sales."

Montreal has always been the femme fatale of Canadian cities. It was famous for its wild nightlife before a 1950s crackdown, although strip clubs, sex shops, swingers and escort services still thrive these days. A prolific production of porn movies has been added to the mix in recent years.

The growth in online porn is a natural, given Montreal's position as a hub of information technology, says Greg Jones, the general manager of 2much and its sister company LiveCamNetwork 2.0.

"We have the big game companies here. We have a lot of well-known computer-graphics generators here. It just stands to reason that some of that would derive into the adult expansions."

Plant says it doesn't hurt that Quebecers also seem to have a more "open mind."

"The girls are less shy about posing nude in front of a camera or having sex in front of the camera compared to girls from Ontario, for example," he says.

Manson, who hails from Hawkesbury, Ont., got into the business six and a half years ago when she answered a photographer's ad. She was 18 at the time and was surprised when he asked her to take her clothes off.

"But the pay was good for that kind of stuff, so I decided to do it."

Aside from the strippers and porn movie actresses who switch to online porn, many "bright, intelligent college girls," do it to pay their tuition, says Jones.

"It's like a bull session in a university debate club sometimes here in the kitchen, except everyone's wearing lingerie."

But people still have to be comfortable with their sexuality to do the job, Jones points out.

"Part of it has to turn you on somehow," he says. "Some people are exhibitionists."

Mark Prince, who owns 2much, originally set up the company in 1998 as a part-time business specializing in web design. It was easier to get clients who wanted his services in the adult sector than anywhere else.

"I just followed the money," he said.

Before he got into online porn, Jones was a dairy farmer and a writer.

"What we all are -- especially the online (community) -- is ex-geeks," he said with a laugh.

"Ex-computer freak geeks, nerds, the kid who wore the horn rims and got his head kicked in the locker room.

"That's us. We couldn't get the girls so we'd go to the computer and get those girls."

Manson likes her work. While a former boyfriend had problems with it, her current female partner is OK with her job, although that acceptance doesn't extend to Manson's parents.

They had a tough time with her work initially and that increased when she was profiled in a TV show on the porn industry.

"My father said, 'That's the worst thing you could have done,'" she recalls.

"I realize I've hurt my family a lot and it was never my intent to do that. I never wanted to hurt them. I did in fact hurt my parents and I apologize for that but I'm trying to make my own way. I've very strict with what I'm doing. I don't push things too far. It's all in good fun."

While most clients are seeking sexual satisfaction, she says sometimes they just want to talk or even want sex advice.

"A lot of times you end up being like their therapist."