Amateur vs. Professional: The Labeling Dilemma

[w3stcoast]

What is the difference between what many posters label as an amateur model, and a professional one?

It's bothered me for a long time, that posters on these forums label women who are paid to model as amateurs. So I want to ask, what do you all think should be the definition for an amateur model vs. a professional one?

Personally, it all comes down to money.

Did the girl get any direct monetary gain from performing a sexual act or performing nude?

Yes: Professional

No: Amateur

Any girl, regardless of level of fame, expertise, looks etc. who strips down for the camera and/or performs a sexual act and gets dough for doing it is, in my mind, a pro.

Yet, women who fall under the above definition are constantly labeled and found as "amateurs" on these forums and other sites.

(Now if you're paying a site that advertises amateur porn they have every right to deceive you and have girls play the "amateur" role. It's a role many porn viewers find erotic and sexually fulfilling. Even if both the provider and the viewer understand that the actors in question are professionals I find no problem with selling their work as amateur for role playing purposes.)

I'm more focused on things like the Random Amateurs thread and the various "amateur" models threads spread throughout the forum.

Like I said, they get paid, they're pro.

Dictionary definition of Amateur:
n.
1. A person who engages in an art, science, study, or athletic activity as a pastime rather than as a profession.
2. Sports. An athlete who has never accepted money, or who accepts money under restrictions specified by a regulatory body, for participating in a competition.

[dusio22]

To me an amateur is a woman who isn't in the sex business. Her boyfriend/husband/self took the pic for their own pleasure and did the noble thing of posting it on the web.

[ThatHaole]

As far as posting goes I don't worry about the odd paid shot showing up when I am posting in the random amateur thread. If there are a lot of some chick who got paid to whip em out, they should go in the semi-pro thread.

Sometimes it is just a hassle to pull them out when they slip into the mix. Plus a number of guys out there will clean up the photos and run them through PS so they look like pro shots.

Really I get more annoyed by the people who are confused by the word random. Like the gaandutu cat who keeps posting shit like "my ex's last vacation before she figured out that I like cock" , "Downblouse; the only way I can see tittays" and "random amateur chick." That shit belongs in the random amateur thread, hence the name.

[w3stcoast]

Ah it's not like I'm ticked off if the odd pro model gets placed in the random's thread. But I often see threads that are labeled "Amateur" and what not on this site and others that have whole posts (or the entire thread) of people being paid do to the deed.