GEO recognizes that #SexWorkIsWork, and stands in solidarity with independent sex workers and sexual minority communities who are disproportionately impacted by the FOSTA/SESTA law. FOSTA/SESTA was passed in the name of stopping ‘trafficking,’ but is, in actuality, a new mechanism for facilitating censorship on digital platforms and targeting sex workers who rely on digital platforms to safely find work. GEO is against sex trafficking, but acknowledges that sex trafficking is not the same as independent sex work.
While the law does not take effect until 2019, independent sex workers have already felt its effects. Craigslist pulled all of their personal ads, and the Department of Justice seized Backpage.com. In some jurisdictions, sex workers – especially trans sex workers – now have no digital platforms to find work, putting their lives at greater risk. Fetish websites catering to sexual minority communities such as furries, and others, have shuttered their doors or are engaging in the systematic censoring of content related to sex work and/or personal advertising on their platforms.
In addition to being legitimate labor, GEO recognizes that sex work is sometimes a way that graduate and undergraduate students generate income and help make ends meet. GEO stands in solidarity with sex workers and other groups impacted by FOSTA/SESTA, and calls upon other graduate student unions and the labor movement to speak out on this critical issue.
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Since the issue of sex work as work, and the stance of supporting sex workers’ rights as human rights, may not be familiar to some of our members, we’ve compiled some helpful background information to help answer any questions you might have about why we have taken this position.
- Data from a criminology department on the effect of access to digital services on sex worker safety
- Explanation of the difference between sex trafficking and independent sex work, including independent sex workers’ views on sex trafficking
- Link to fundraiser for sex worker outreach/helpline and material support
- Comprehensive explainer compiled by GEO staff
- Sex work as a feminist issue
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