Why FOSTA/SESTA Harms Those It Supposedly Serves. Liara Roux is a sex worker, independent adult media producer and director, a political organizer focused on freedom of expression for adult workers online, and an advocate for decriminalization and protection of consensual adult activity including queer and sex worker rights and safety worldwide.
Liara Roux Source: Liara Roux, used with permission She has been interviewed by or had projects featured by the press in publications such as Vice, Wired, Playboy, The Washington Post, Buzzfeed News, International Business Times, and BBC Technology and on blogs such as Reason, The Mary Sue, Kotaku, The Daily Dot, and ErosBlog.
She’s written as Liara for XBiz, Motherboard, Broadly, and Tits and Sass. Her work has screened in Berlin during the Berlin Porn Film Festival. article continues after advertisement Q: Tell us about the new FOSTA/SESTA legislation, what it aims to accomplish, and how it actually negatively affects the very people it purports to protect. What a sex worker can teach us about human connection. EFF Sues to Repeal Controversial Online Sex Trafficking FOSTA Law. What you need to know about FOSTA-SESTA and how it affects all of us. By: Lorelei Erisis*/TRT Columnist— There are times when I feel compelled to write about a topic, but just don’t really know where, or how, to begin.
This is one of those times. In this case, it’s because the topic I want to write about is just so big and yet hits so close to home that I’m having trouble finding an eloquent expression of what I need to say. But sometimes when something is too big and scary, I find the best thing to do is to just start talking (or, in this case, writing) and see where I go. The thing that has me so scared right now is a pair of recently passed laws known as, “FOSTA-SESTA”. Whereas before FOSTA-SESTA, internet providers were not held directly, legally responsible for content they host, essentially allowing for all the user-generated content and free exchange of ideas and services that make up the backbone of the internet we know and use daily. Fighting sex trafficking is an easy issue for everyone to support. 4 Sex Workers on What They've Learned About Men's Mental Health. 4 Sex Workers on What They've Learned About Men's Mental Health.
Rachel Lark - Naughty Bits. SESTA, Sex Work, and Art in the Age of Trump – Rachel Lark. The song was written quickly; about two days.
I played it for some friends and the consensus was that releasing this ASAP was important. I asked my roommates to help. They agreed. I borrowed some film equipment. I went onstage at Bawdy Storytelling and asked for… lots of stuff. Then this crazy thing happened: Everything came together. Ok so now what? For me as an artist, this saga highlighted some serious process issues that I’ve been having in this age of Trump. At the same time that artists like myself are feeling pressure to release their ideas immediately, we’re also being held more accountable than ever for what we got wrong.
WHAT IS SESTA / FOSTA?! Juno Mac: The laws that sex workers really want. Will Legalizing Sex Work Protect Women? As a sex historian, this is what I want you to know about the buying and selling of sex - iNews. The founding leader of the Women’s Equality Party, Sophie Walker, published a blog piece about how ‘it’s time to end prostitution’ by criminalising clients (the so called ‘Nordic Model’).
Walker celebrates the first anniversary of Ireland’s Sex Buyer’s Laws, the act that criminalises the purchase of sexual services, but not the selling. But when you actually ask sex workers and sex worker rights groups how they feel about the Nordic model, it’s hard to understand what Walker thinks is worth celebrating. In the year since Ireland brought in the Nordic model there has been a 54% increase in crime against sex workers reported to National Ugly Mugs Ireland, and violent crime is up by 77%. The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) strongly opposed the introduction of this law and rightly warned that it would lead to increased violence against sex workers.
Walker claims she finds it ‘extraordinary that the purchase of a woman’s body for sex is legal in the UK’. Stigma kills No ban has ever worked. The Resistance is Full of Prudes: How We Still Fail Sex Workers. Throughout Trump’s presidency, one thing has been made very clear: Combating sexism is a very important issue, but only certain women need protecting.
Trump supporters — well, they rejected Hillary because they literally thought she was the Antichrist. But the left has barely done better: Over this last year, I’ve watched plenty of so-called “nasty women” and their male allies use Trump’s involvement with sex workers as further evidence of his immorality, drawing on the worst whorephobic and misogynistic stereotypes. During the campaign, it was Melania with her nude photos, which prompted waves of snipping over what a First Lady is supposed to look like. (Her lack of interest in policy might have been enough, but no.) Now, it’s the Stormy Daniels scandal that once again highlights the infuriating way we talk about sex work in public.
Congress just legalized sex censorship: What to know. Trump Just Signed SESTA/FOSTA, a Law Sex Workers Say Will Literally Kill Them. Trump signs controversial FOSTA-SESTA bill into law. A brief history of attempts to abolish sex work: from 1075 BC to the digital age - iNews. Debates around controlling, regulating and punishing the sex industry are nothing new.
The rise of the internet has thrown up new expressions of old issues, but we are no closer to actually keeping anyone safe than we were in 1075 BC when Assyrian law dictated that any harlots wearing veils would be subjected to fifty lashes and have boiling tar poured over her head. The reason for this particular law was so that no ‘wives and daughters’ would be mistaken for a consenting sex worker and sexually abused. Last week, the Senate poured yet another metaphorical bucket of tar over the heads of American sex workers in an effort to stop the sexual abuse of those forced into prostitution. The controversial Stop Enabling Sex-Trafficking Act (SESTA) was passed by a consensus of 97-2, hot on the heels of the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) that was passed last month. SESTA Is Already Having Devastating Impacts on Sex Workers—Just Like They Predicted - Rewire.News. For sex workers, watching websites serving as their main source for work close because of government action is nothing new.
Last year, online marketplace Backpage.com shuttered its adult services section, citing “new government tactics” as the impetus for the decision. In the federal government’s view, these “tactics”—which included pressuring credit card companies to sever ties with Backpage—were necessary in order to shut down online vehicles for sex traffickers to prey on children and girls.
But what’s happened in the last week has been nothing short of disturbing for those in the sex work industry. In March, the U.S. Senate passed S 1693, better known as the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA)—a controversial piece of legislation that broadly expands prosecutorial power over tech companies often used by sex workers for their business. What the FOSTA/SESTA Anti-Sex Trafficking Bill Means. Two bills that proponents claim will curb sex trafficking online overwhelmingly passed the Senate last Wednesday, on March 21, causing ripples of concern across the Internet.
While the desire to end sex trafficking and hold those in charge responsible is a valid one, many fear the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) will instead further criminalize sex workers and put them and sex trafficking victims at even more risk. The bill now awaits the president’s signature to make it official. FOSTA/SESTA was birthed thanks to a case against Backpage.com, a classifieds website. Sage advice from bonifide whores. #SurvivorsAgainstSESTA. What We Owe to the Hidden, Groundbreaking Activism of Sex Workers.
Sex Trafficking Bills Backed By Dem Presidential Contenders Could Cause More Harm Than Good.