Stop SESTA

[hermionesviolin]

It was International Sex Worker Rights Day on Saturday (March 3) and I learned via Twitter that FOSTA ("Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" -- H.R. 1865) passed the House and the Senate will vote on its version (SESTA -- "Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act," S. 1693) I think on March 12 though I can't now find where I found that date.

Not only do these bills conflate "sex trafficking" (which is unequivocally bad) with "sex work" (which, like all labor, can be variably exploitative/dangerous/etc. but which is in no way improved by criminalization), but it also "amends Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act to hold online publishers, apps, and services legally liable for the actions of people who post there or connect through them" (to quote a Reason article) -- 'cause who needs Internet safe harbor?

A brief phone script I saw on Twitter is: “Hi, my name is ___and I live in ___(city in district). I’m calling to urge Senator ____to vote NO on #SESTA, S. 1693 because it will lead to harm to people who trade sex, including victims of trafficking.”

If you'd rather, you could amend it to something like "because it weakens the important protections for online speech in Section 230." (more info from Electronic Frontier Foundation here -- written before the House vote)

If you're like me and want to do some more research to acquire some more talking points before you reach out to legislators (or your social media), behind the cut are some excerpts from some of the articles I've read in recent days. If folks are on Twitter, I'd encourage you to follow accounts like swopbehindbars (SWOP = Sex Workers Outreach Project) SupportSWRights melissagira. For SESTA specifically, you can follow hashtags #LetUsSurvive #SurvivorsAgainstSESTA #StopSESTA.

SESTA supporters say the Communications Decency Act (CDA) shields websites like Backpage from most types of legal liability, making them a safe haven for trafficking. But Alexandra Levy, adjunct professor of law at Notre Dame Law School, where she teaches about human trafficking, points out that the CDA would not protect Backpage operators from federal criminal prosecution if its operators were themselves facilitating trafficking. “Section 230 as it is currently written would not prevent a federal prosecution of Backpage, if there was a case to be made,” she says. “And that’s a big if.”
-"Proposed Federal Trafficking Legislation Has Surprising Opponents: Advocates Who Work With Trafficking Victims" (In Justice Today)

As [Kate D'Adamo, a long-time organizer and advocate for the rights of people in the sex trades] points out, "People in the sex trades have clearly articulated their most pressing needs repeatedly: living wages, secure housing, freedom from policing and surveillance that threatens their freedom of movement, access to and knowledge of available human services, and the elimination of the silencing stigma faced by anyone who has ever traded sex under any circumstances."
-"If You Care About Sex Trafficking, Trust People in the Sex Trades — Not Celebrities" (Allure)

Kate D’Adamo, a partner with Reframe Health and Justice, a consulting collective focused on economic justice and public health, said sex workers often use online platforms for harm reduction.

“When I was an organizer, we had a listserv where we sent out information about violent clients so people could screen for violence,” she said. “That doesn’t exist if you curtailed anything related to the facilitation of prostitution. Any harm reduction and screening posted online would be subjected to a federal crime punishable by 10 years.”

D’Adamo explained that when sex workers can go online to find clients, they are less vulnerable to violence than if they did so on the street. When sex workers are more worried about law enforcement attention, they seek out more isolated areas to work and as a result, they experience more violence.

Savannah Sly, president of Sex Workers Outreach Project, told the Los Angeles Times shortly after Seattle law enforcement seized a website where sex workers posted ads in 2016, “What the removal of these advertising sites do is remove low-risk clients from the client pool. And because you have reduced demand, you’re more likely to agree to see the guy who is more dangerous.”

D’Adamo responded to the report’s assertion that prostitution is responsible for sex trafficking.

“Saying sex work is related to sex trafficking is like saying that labor is related to exploitative conditions in labor,” D’Adamo. “You wouldn’t consider this for any other form of labor. We know what best practices around addressing exploitation in labor are and it’s not making people more isolated and more vulnerable.”

D’Adamo added that without these platforms to help them stay safe, sex workers would be more reliant on a third party. Although D’Adamo noted that third party involvement is not inherently exploitative of sex workers, she said it often makes sex workers more vulnerable than if they worked on their own.

-"House overwhelmingly passes a bill that conflates sex work and sex trafficking" (Think Progress)

I know FOSTA already passed the House, but I emailed my rep:

I was disappointed to learn you that voted in support of H.R. 1865. I know it was advertised as a bill to protect victims of sex trafficking, but if conflates sex trafficking (which is unequivocally bad) with prostitution (which, like all labor, can be variably exploitative/dangerous/etc. but which is in no way improved by criminalization). And its proposed Section 230 changes would hurt both sex workers and people who are trafficked by pushing sex work further underground, robbing sex workers of online communities within which they can warn and be warned about dangerous clients, etc. This bill has been opposed by many sex worker and free speech organizations (as well as survivors of trafficking https://injusticetoday.com/proposed-federal-trafficking-legislation-has-surprising-opponents-advocates-who-work-with-bf418c73d5b4). I hope that, moving forward, when voting on legislation impacting sex workers, you will seek out the voices of actual sex workers (e.g., SWOP -- Sex Worker Outreach Project).

Congress.gov is not the most user-friendly website, but the Feb 27 House vote on FOSTA is here if you want to reach out to your rep about how they voted on FOSTA.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

oh god what now.

Thank you for posting about this!