LUOF: Friday, April 13th, 2018: Harm Against Sex Workers Edition

Make sure to read the introduction to LUOF:

What is Lift Up Others Fridays?

Social to scan

• RM Centre: This UK organization assists refugees and migrants through crisis and disadvantage, by removing barriers to their integration and enabling them to become equal citizens.
• IMiX: This UK organization shares the stories of immigrants including the conditions and discrimination they often face.
• Migration Observatory: This UK organization provides independent, authoritative, evidence-based analysis of data on migration in the UK.
• Rachelle recently had a great thread about how the word ‘Eskimo’ is actually a slur.

Read these

'I've been here for 50 years': the scandal of the former Commonwealth citizens threatened with…

'I can't eat or sleep': the woman threatened with deportation after 50 years in Britain

Why I'm Breaking Up with O.school - Formidable Femme

Something Is Rotten In the State of O.School

The Meat

This week’s focus is on FOSTA/SESTA and the harm it’s already doing to sex workers, sex educators, and many more. Since there is a lot written about it, I’ve linked to several pieces not told from our community.

Before you read these, please know that we already know of several SWs who have committed suicide as a result of this bill making their lives infinitely harder. If you need to talk to someone about suicidal thoughts or get help, please check out these resources that Lola Davina put together. There are action steps at the bottom of this page so that we can fight to ensure the safety of SWs.

Please note that there will be mentions of sexual violence in ranging details in the pieces below.

Facing SESTA and Political Threats, Sex Worker Organizations Brace for Fallout

The Signing of FOSTA/SESTA | Feisty Fox Films

Sex workers fear violence as US cracks down on online ads: 'Girls will die'

Fundraisers For Sex Workers Struggling Post-SESTA

SESTA-FOSTA Proves Lawmakers Don't See Sex Workers Like Me As Human

Sex Work is Work. And it Needs a Safe Workplace.

FOSTA & the CLOUD Act - the 1-2 Punch to End Online Escorting...

The sex workers fighting back against online censorship

How an Anti-Sex Trafficking Bill Is Changing the Internet

The Anti-Sex Trafficking Bill Won't Fix the Problem, but It Will Hurt the Internet

What Sex Workers Know That Congress Doesn't

Anti-Trafficking Legislation Shouldn't Come at a Cost to Victims, Sex Workers - Rewire.News

'Sex Trafficking' Bill Will Take Away Online Spaces Sex Workers Need to Survive

How a New Senate Bill Will Screw Over Sex Workers

SESTA is Yet Another Bill Which Will Harm Sex Workers

The Legislation That Would Harm Sex Workers—In The Name Of Their Own Protection

Congress Is Preparing to Harm Queer Sex Workers Like Me

House Passes 'Online Sex Trafficking' Bill That Critics Say Actually Silences Survivors

A New Bill Aims to Fight Sex Trafficking. But Critics Say It Goes Too Far

FOSTA/SESTA Aims to Fight Trafficking, But Will It Endanger Actual Sex Workers?

Sex Workers Fear for Their Future: How SESTA Is Putting Many Prostitutes in Peril

[FYI The Daily Beast, the term is sex workers not prostitutes]

Will the Backpage Shutdown Make Sex Workers Less Safe?

6 Sex Workers Explain How Sharing Client Lists Saves Lives

Trans Sex Workers Speak Out Against Backpage Shutdown

Sex Workers Put in Danger as Trump Signs SESTA/FOSTA Into Law

The War on Sex Workers Needs to Stop Now

Former Sex Worker Tells Us About How A New Bill Will Hurt Her Community

California is also looking to pass SB-1204 which would essentially make aiding sex workers — giving them safer sex supplies, etc. — a crime.

State Pandering Bill Under Fire from Sex Workers and Advocates

FSC Calls on Californians to Oppose SB 1204 - Free Speech Coalition

What to help fight these attacks on sex workers?

Visit

• WTFOSTA
• Survivors Against SESTA
• Sign this petition on FOSTA/SESTA
• Reach out to CA legislators about SB-1204

If you’re a sex worker who has been negatively affected by FOSTA/SESTA, click here.

Donate to the following or to sex workers you know directly

• Black Sex Worker Collective
• Sex Worker Giving Circle
• Atlanta Harm Reduction

Stay tuned for more information next week! Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

[pic of Kirsten, hands on her head as thought she wants to pull out her hair; she is somewhere between screaming and laughing, and only visible from the chest up; she has on black jeans, a gray tee shirt with white text “Let’s talk about sex — Vibrant”; her hair is reddish-purpleish]

Kirsten is a genderfluid writer, sexuality educator, and chronic illness/disability activist in Wisconsin. She runs Chronic Sex which highlights how illnesses and disabilities affect ‘Quality of Life’ issues such as self-love, self-care, relationships, sexuality, and sex.

Interested in helping with Kirsten’s work? Visit our ‘support us’ page or shoot her some tasty coffee money.