sexual violence – Queer Fiction Writer

rapeculturerealities:

rapeculturerealities:

FOSTA/SESTA, Sex Trafficking, Sex Work and Censorship

I wanted to discuss the passage of FOSTA/SESTA a little bit more. In part because of the flaws that keep them from doing what they allege they will do, but also because of all of the consequences (intended and otherwise) that we can expect.

First a few basics. FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act introduced by Ann Wagner, R) comes from the House of Representatives, SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act introduced by Rob Portman, R) comes from the Senate. Combined, they have a very noble and important stated purpose; protecting victims of sex trafficking from being sold online and to allow them legal recourse if a site is proven to have facilitated their trafficking.

The way they propose to do this is to amend section 230 of the communications decency act. The ACLU describes section 230 thusly: “Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act immunizes websites from legal liability for the comments of their users … it defines Internet culture as we know it: It’s the reason why websites can offer platforms for critical and controversial speech without constantly worrying about getting sued.”

Additionally, FOSTA updates the Mann Act to make illegal “using or operating “a means of interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person.”

FOSTA/SESTA targets online platforms like Backpage with the assertion that it and similar sites allow sex trafficking to flourish. However, they make no distinction between sex work and sex trafficking. There are big and important differences and a failure to understand those differences puts lives of both at risk

Advocates for trafficking victims and survivors of sex trafficking have spoken out against FOSTA/SESTA because for all it’s stated purpose, it does little to actually combat sex trafficking. Simply shutting down online platforms does nothing to stop the demand for sex trafficking, nor does it stop traffickers from simply seeking other venues. The laws fail to understand how sex trafficking works and that failure harms everyone.

How Victims/Survivors of Sex Trafficking are hurt by FOSTA/SESTA:

As online platforms close (you can see a running list here that includes Microsoft , Craigslist, Google Play, Instagram, Gmail etc), those who traffick will seek other means to sell their victims, as stated above. These other means are very often harder to identify and track, hampering investigations and allowing sex trafficking to flourish in the shadows.

Currently, website operators are a good resource for law enforcement, but without their active participation in content review, that resource could disappear. Law enforcement efforts are also hindered by the likelihood that traffickers will disappear from the sites where they are known to be especially active

Further, the Department of Justice itself has argued that by forcing prosecutors to prove that online content hosts and website operators “knowingly facilitated” a trafficking venture, the FOSTA/SESTA hybrid makes it harder for prosecutors to succeed in court.

In addition,survivors (trafficked and otherwise) hoping to use online platforms to tell their own story can now worry that :

“Narrow enforcement of the law means current and former sex workers and trafficking victims cannot share their experiences of abuse and assault on social media or in news articles because of the censorship of posts that include references to sex work. It is possible that broader enforcement of the law could mean that any survivor, even if they have never been a sex worker, could see censorship of posts [that include] terms like ‘abuse’ or ‘assault,’ since these phrases could also be used to filter out mentions of sex trafficking.”

Most tragically of all, the first people censored would likely be sex trafficking victims themselves. The very same words and phrases that a filter would use to attempt to delete sex trafficking content would also be used by victims of trafficking trying to get help or share their experiences.

How Sex Workers are hurt by FOSTA/SESTA

Sex workers rely on the same online platforms mentioned in FOSTA/SESTA not only to advertise their services , but to screen clients and to communicate lists of dangerous clients with other sex workers. This is VITAL to their livelihoods and safety. In the days since the law passed, I’ve watched my sex worker friends and loved ones scramble- they are wondering how they are going to make rent, how they are going to afford to eat, how they are going to avoid being the next dead sex worker that people will ignore because society views sex workers as disposable and morally repugnant.

They are scrubbing their online presence to avoid being shut down completely, but still finding that they are losing access to their own photos and content as well as their safety nets.

“ If only the politicians who voted this Morality in Media (NCOSE) mess into law had fact-checked it with Freedom Network USA, “the largest coalition of experts and advocates providing direct services to to survivors of human trafficking in the U.S.” Freedom Network unequivocally states that protecting the rights of sex workers, and not conflating them with trafficking victims, is critical to the prevention of trafficking. They also have the data to back up the fact that “more people are trafficked into labor sectors than into commercial sex.”

How YOU are hurt by FOSTA/SESTA

Because of its far reach, it leads to internet censorship. If you are fond of #MeToo, if you’ve been pleased to see people being held accountable instead of warned about in whispers via private lists, if you enjoy the fact that public outing of sexual predators is happening en masse right now or if you have told your own story as a survivor (or hope to do so in the future), you should be outraged, because these are the very things that will be censored.

The creation of “rapist lists”—or, in the case of sex workers, “bad date lists”—has been a common practice among people aiming to protect one another from violence. These days, more of these lists are online rather than posted on flyers or scrawled in bathroom stalls; this makes them easier to disseminate, but under SESTA/FOSTA could also mean that websites hosting these lists would be liable for the speech of their users. Sites would have two options for handling this: Either banning large swaths of speech in order to catch anything shady, or refusing to moderate at all in order to avoid “knowledge” of potential crimes. Fetlife, for instance, the site known as “Facebook for perverts,” got national attention in 2015 when it decided to protect the identities of abusers in favor of avoiding defamation lawsuits—a move that made many survivors feel unsafe on the platform.

So to summarize: FOSTA/SESTA does NOT stop sex trafficking, nor does it protect victims in any meaningful way. It puts their lives at further risk by forcing trafficking further underground.

FOSTA/SESTA actively endangers consensual sex workers, who make up the vast majority of sex advertising on the sites it attacks. It puts THEIR lives at risk by taking away all of the safety nets they have, forcing their work underground.

It also hurts you by allowing for censorship of the most disenfranchised voices, including yours. And it chips away at basic internet information freedom, which is crucial in fighting rape culture and keeping information available .

So what can you do?

Find out how your rep voted. Call them and tell them what you think

Sign the petition to repeal FOSTA now.

Educate yourself as much as you can about FOSTA/SESTA and then share that knowledge with other people. You can listen to those most harmed by FOSTA/SESTA by following Twitter hashtags #LetUsSurvive and #SurvivorsAgainstSESTA, both of which feature sex trafficking survivors and sex workers currently dealing with the fallout.

Sex trafficking is a problem that needs to be addressed, but FOSTA/SESTA is not the way.

-Spider

Reblogging because relevant

onpoli:

Global News has learned from multiple sources that two senior members of Premier Doug Ford’s inner circle were forced to resign Friday due to allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior.

Jim
Wilson resigned from his position as Minister of Economic Development
and Trade, as well as PC caucus, after he was confronted with the
allegations.

The allegations, involving sexual misconduct, were made by a male
Queen’s Park staffer and the Premier’s office became aware of the claim
late Friday afternoon.

Doug Ford’s Executive Director of Issues Management and Legislative
Affairs has also resigned due to the “multiple sexually
inappropriate text messages he allegedly sent to a female staffer at
Queen’s Park.”