Forbidding is prohibited: Why US sex workers take to the streets
Natasha Fedorenko
June 2, the International Day w *** (International Whore's Day), in various US cities, sex workers took to the streets with slogans against the recently adopted package of laws FOSTA-SESTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act), which prohibits sex trafficking on the Internet. “Let us check customers for our safety,” “Let us survive,” “SESTA kills,” “Don't do anything for us without our participation.” These were the most popular slogans on Saturday protests. We understand why American sex workers no longer feel safe and how FOSTA-SESTA will affect the Internet as a whole.
What is FOSTA-SESTA
It all started with the backpage.com advertising site, on which there were a lot of announcements about sex services, but some of them were posted not by independent sex workers, but by the organizers of human trafficking. The authorities have long followed the resource and even carried out special operations, focusing on ads with Backpage. Traffic organizers, who placed ads on the Backpage, involved not only adults but also children in sex work - which was especially actively talked about in early 2017. Backpage several times tried to hold accountable for illegal advertising, but to no avail: under the law on communication, sites are not responsible for published information, but are only intermediaries. Nevertheless, the site administration still tried to make a compromise: a year ago, the ad section for adults was formally removed on the Backpage, but this was not enough.
Congressmen did not give up and developed a package of laws FOSTA and SESTA, designed to make significant changes to the law on communication, which would punish sites for promoting sex trafficking. At first, Congress planned to ratify FOSTA, a softer version that provided for liability only for sites that specialize in sex services (such as Backpage), but as a result it was supplemented with SESTA provisions — this version offered to punish any sites that disseminate such information. FOSTA-SESTA has already signed Donald Trump, and before that the package received wide support from both parties in the congress.
The initiative was very popular among celebrities, large media companies and Christian activists. The package was supported by stand-up artist Amy Schumer and actor Seth Myers, National Center for Sexual Exploitation (known to try to justify conservative initiatives), Disney and 20th Century Fox.
How the Internet responded
Since FOSTA-SESTA received wide support, the sites, wanting to protect themselves, began to take the lead. Craigslist's famous bulletin board closed the "Personal" section, wishing good luck to all couples who met through the site (the section was used for dating without financial background), Reddit closed the r / r / Escorts and / r / Sugardaddy subbranches — there the sex workers not only offered services, but also often discussed their problems. Smaller sites like CityVibe (where sex workers offered their services) and even Pounced.org, the furry dating portal, have suffered.
Giants of the market have also reacted - for example, Microsoft has tightened its policy since May, stating that it will ban people for “offensive language” and adult content, and also said that it has the right to use user data to conduct “investigations”. The statement particularly alerted Skype users, who can share pornographic content and without any connection with sex work. Complaints began to come from Google users: porn actresses and sex workers pay attention to the fact that their videos and photos became impossible to send to other people, and sometimes they just disappear. Google has previously banned the spread of pornography, but the Motherboard publication notes that recent initiatives indicate a desire to play it safe against the background of the adoption of FOSTA-SESTA.
Why are sex workers unhappy?
Despite the fact that the package of laws was intended to combat the sale and involvement of people, sex workers themselves believe that the innovation will hit not the traffickers, but the independent participants of the sex business. The closure of sites where you can offer online services will lead to the return of women back to the streets, where sex workers risk much more, activists are confident.
The Internet really gave sex workers the opportunity to protect themselves: by blacklists, you can check online customers (one of the largest lists is already under threat due to the new law), independence from brothels and pimps allows you to deny clients, without risking fines and penalties, to sex workers help and thematic forums where you can share experiences or get support. One of the main studies on this topic notes that, thanks only to Craigslist, the number of female murders in residential buildings has decreased by 17%, and the number of rapes has also decreased.
Sex worker Anlin Sheng, in an interview with Broadly, admits that she is afraid to start agreeing to clients that she would definitely have refused earlier, as they caused her fear. Other women point out that they are already losing customers and are afraid for their financial stability in the future. Sex workers organized a separate movement #SurvivorsAgainstSESTA and oppose the new package of laws.
Who else is not happy
Nobody argues with the fact that the Internet has expanded the possibilities of the sex industry. For example, he simplified access to services that many describe as violence against women, and also generally increased the number of sex workers: Quartz draws attention to the fact that until recently, prices in this business have consistently increased due to the influx of "elite sex workers "- this increased the attractiveness of the industry.
However, American sex workers, who insist that FOSTA-SESTA is an encroachment on their safety, have many supporters. For example, Jean Bruggman, executive director of one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations, Freedom Network USA, believes that the ban will not end sex trafficking, but will only force its organizers to switch to platforms to which US laws are not applicable, thus finding victims will be more difficult. The 2016 State Department report also notes that, thanks to open ads on sites like Backpage, the number of victims of sex trafficking found has increased from 31 to 78 thousand in seven years.
It is believed that FOSTA-SESTA will affect the level of freedom of speech on the Internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that the law was accepted with good intentions, but in the end it will lead to more censorship on the Internet, and this will primarily affect not small online giants, but small websites created, including to support sex workers. The new law is even feared by the platform engaged in sex education, and, as noted by The Wall Street Journal, online dating services. The most bold predictions about the negative impact of FOSTA-SESTA are that the package of laws violated the fundamental article 230, which protects freedom on the Internet, which means that in the future attacks on it by the state can only intensify.
Cover: Uros Petrovic - stock.adobe.com