OnlyBans is a journey into a world of increasing censorship, restrictive content policy changes, and user account shutdowns. It is the world we are living in today, as platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Craigslist, Reddit, and Tumblr, adopt an umbrella ban on “adult content”, which has not only impacted sex workers, but also artists, activists, and Internet users of all backgrounds.Digital discrimination and deplatforming of sex workers is a direct result of FOSTA-SESTA, a federal bill Congress passed in 2018 to hold Internet service providers responsible for third-party advertisements of sexual services posted on their platform. Organizations, such as American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation, have warned that the bill threatens free speech and endangers sex workers by leaving them without access to client screening protocols or community resources. The solution is to amplify the work of sex worker-led organizations and coalitions that work to improve the safety of sex workers’ online spaces and working conditions.
Hacking//Hustling is a collective of sex workers, survivors, and accomplices working at the intersection of tech and social justice to interrupt state surveillance and violence facilitated by technology. Created in response to the imposed threat of FOSTA-SESTA, their work takes a harm reduction approach that includes community-based research, mutual aid, organizing, art, and any/all tools sex workers and survivors develop to mitigate state, workplace, and interpersonal violence and thrive.
Stop SESTA/FOSTA. FOSTA-SESTA is opposed by a broad coalition of internet freedom, human rights, and sex worker advocates and organizations. The Stop SESTA + FOSTA coalition website provides information about the bill and a script to read to your Senator.
Survivors Against SESTA is a “coalition of current and former sex workers, people who have experienced exploitation and trafficking, dancers, hustlers, allies, partners, family members and community members.”
Decoding Stigma bridges the gap between sex workers, academics, technologists, and anyone who holds multiples of these identities. Their goal is to prioritize sexual autonomy as a necessary ethics question for researchers and technologists and to design a liberatory future in which sexually stigmatized voices are amplified and celebrated.