Thread by @sex_ational

There have been a variety of ways oppression has seeped in since the rise of the Trump administration (and yes, even before), but I want to talk about some specific recent developments.

#FOSTA/#SESTA, a bill supposedly targeting sex trafficking online, passed the Senate and is expected to be signed into law by Trump. Though the bill was opposed by anti sex-trafficking groups as well as the ACLU and the Department of Justice.

The bill passed the senate with a vote of 97-2. The Nays came from Paul (R-KY) and Wyden (D-OR). Yeah, all your favorites including Bernie and Kamala voted //for// this trash piece of legislation that will kill people while infringing on your free speech.

“SESTA, the portion of that bill developed by the Senate, amends Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to make websites directly responsible for user content that facilitates sex trafficking, whereas Section 230 had previously immunized websites from civil lawsuits +

+ or state criminal prosecution (but not federal criminal prosecution) based on user content unless they shared in responsibility for “developing” that content.” (@TechFreedom)

Although the bill has not yet been signed into law, websites have been responding: Craigslist took down it’s Personals section altogether, a variety of smaller sites, including a furry dating site, closed entirely.

Fetlife thought it might close, but is restricting escorting as well as FinDomming in an attempt to avoid having to shut down when/if the bill goes into effect.

Though it is contested whether or not it is as a result of FOSTA/SESTA passing, Microsoft has announced that they won’t allow nudity or indecent language on xBox chat and Skype. SWers are reporting that sexual content has been frozen or removed from their Google Drive accounts.

In California, SB-1204 is being voted on; the bill will change the definition of pandering to make it a felony to provide ANY help or outreach to sexworkers. That includes distributing condoms and know your rights pamphlets to street-based SWers, any kind of mentoring.

Essentially, all harm reduction efforts will now be considered a felony in California under SB 1204. This will more likely than not result in deaths of some of the most vulnerable sex worker populations within days, or even hours.

Law enforcement has seized the domain of Backpage, an advertising board. Many sex workers relied on it to screen clients and take themselves off the street; it made work safer.

This has not only taken away the livelihood of many sex workers with no warning; it will also force the most vulnerable populations onto the streets. Without ways to screen clients, more sex workers will experience violence up to and including murder.

So why should the closure of Backpage, FOSTA/SESTA, and other attacks against sex workers matter to you if you’re not a sex worker? Well, there are a few reasons.

It’s not just sex workers who are being impacted; this legislation will and already is impacting everyone’s internet freedom. It will lead to, and already has lead to, what essentially amounts to sex censorship.

This will not only affect sex workers, they’re just the ones who are being impacted by it first.

Authoritarianism starts slowly, like a pot slowly bring brought up to a boil. Under Nazism, the Germans didn’t start by carting all of the Jews away to concentration camps: they started by attacking the most oppressed groups, those that the rest of society won’t defend.

For the Nazis, it was Romani aka “gypsies”, homosexuals, and people with mental illness and handicaps. It is also no mistake that some of the first institutions that were attacked by the nazis were those that focused on LGBTQ issues and sexuality.

Sex workers in this day and age are the canaries in the coal mine: they’re being oppressed, just in the way immigrants and refugees and other "undesirables" are being oppressed. These are populations that are “safe” to bully.

It is naive to think that if this goes uncontested that there won’t be escalation. This is fascism dipping it’s toes in the water. Authoritarianism is the pot slowly coming to a boil and these populations are at the bottom of the pot.

The rest of us will feel it if nothing is done, and it should be stopped before people die because of this. People have already died because of this. It should be stopped for that reason alone, and you should give a fuck because you'll be next if you don't act now.

These things need to be paid attention to. We should always pay attention to the cries of the most marginalized and oppressed in society. They are a harbinger of what's to come.

Want to do something? DONATE.

💸Red Light Legal @redlightlegal – redlightlegal.org/support
💸SWOP Behind Bars @swopbehindbars – swopbehindbars.org
💸St. James Infirmary – stjamesinfirmary.org

💸El / La Trans Latinas @ElLaTransLatina – ellaparatranslatinas.wedid.it
💸LYRIC LGBTQ Youth Center – donatenow.networkforgood.org/LYRIC

(respond to this tweet if you have other suggestions for where people can put their money at–including patreons, paypals, & wishlists of individual SWers 💖)

What else? Yell. Loudly.
📢Boost the words of sex workers who are talking about this.
📢Vocally support the sex workers who are being directly impacted by this legislation.
📢Call your representatives.

📢Talk about this everywhere: on your social media, with the people you talk to. Don’t stop talking about it.

Make this known. Educate yourself. Educate your friends and family. This is not being spoken of much in mainstream media and this needs to be talked about.

Going to add some screen shots with info and action to this thread! Later, I'll add some further reading. Here's some info about SB-1204 and who to call (thanks @tinahornsass for those first two)

Here are some things sex workers are saying allies can do:

Amending to note that I used "people with mental illnesses and handicaps" in this thread, which is ableist language. That was my slip-up, and I should have used "mentally ill and disabled folks."

Here's a handy list of ableist language and alternatives that was just shared with me (and which I'll be checking out more in depth once I get home): autistichoya.com/p/ableist-word…

(Thanks again to @TGStoneButch for pointing out the problematic language and sharing this list!)