Recently I did an interview with writer Elizabeth Nolan Brown for Reason.com
Elizabeth was writing about the 5 year anniversary of SESTA/FOSTA being passed, and gave many different sex workers a chance to share their perspective. Since this was a topic I feel passionately about, and affected Me personally I was happy to talk about My thoughts.
I specifically was talking about this bill’s effect on sex workers in rural areas, (like Western Mass).
The article is a great read and an be found HERE
I wanted to share some of My deeper thoughts on this with you all. You know when you get interviewed for a piece like this they choose the best sound bite type of quote they can pull. But of course I had alot more to say.
I said this:
I would just want to touch on what happened AFTER backpage went down. which was that many newer sites popped up, or that some folks especially in larger cities like NY or LA relied on other local adult newspapers or message boards they might. have had.But BP was one of the few places you could advertise for smaller, rural communities.If you are in Massachusetts and not in Boston, there’s no place for you to advertise, for example. Even if you can pay $100 for listings on bigger sites, all of those sites cater to large cities there’s an awful lot of Massachusetts outside on Boston! Many places. several hours away, so that it wouldn’t make sense to advertise that you’re in Boston.BP, much like craigslist was one of the few places people in more rural communities, and even some whole STATES like VT or ME could advertise erotic services so without that service, the sex workers in these areas are left with no where they can advertise. No message boards to connect with other workers or vet clients. Everything became so much more dangerous so, it was bad for ALL of us, but I feel sex workers not in big cities are often overlooked when we discuss the rammifications.
I recently got the chance to speak on this issue as a guest trainer at STCC campus for CSO, the housing authority which is trying to help folks at risk of trafficking and exploitation find secure housing. I talked to them about the intersect of sex workers with other marginalized identities including disabled folks, and folks living in poverty. We talked about the closure of the local stripclubs, including My home club. I have so many thoughts and feelings about this, I do know I need to write a more in depth piece about it. Be on the lookout for that.
Thanks for supporting Me here, it means alot and it’s a great step in showing respect for sex workers!