Not all of the effects of the recent US government censorship drives are at the macro level, such as the castration or destruction of websites; some affect only individuals or smallish groups, but are still annoying and/or frustrating, and make work more difficult and less pleasant. I’ve read that some Backpage girls who formerly worked on the street are now getting harassing phone calls or texts from pimps and pimp wannabes, offering them beaucoups clients in the hope of enticing them into a relationship. And since the guys who used to use Backpage now don’t know where to go, they’re inflicting their ham-handed “Hey sexy” and untutored “qv* avail?” texts on sex workers who aren’t used to dealing with that (and in my case, lack the patience). But worst of all, these police-state shenanigans have emboldened toads who want to harass & frighten sex workers.
A week ago yesterday, I got one of the automatic emails produced by the booking form on my escort site, and as soon as I saw nonsense like “Desired appointment length: forever” I knew I was being harassed by a troll. And although I found his rather pathetic attempt to frighten me kind of amusing, I’m also aware that this sort of thing can be very disconcerting and upsetting to young, inexperienced escorts. So I’m sharing this because if anyone reading this gets similar messages, you’ll know they’re from losers and not get upset or scared. Anyway, below the gobbledygook he put into the fields for name, phone number, etc, I found this in the note field [all sic]: “you are a dumb whore. prepare for your site to be shut down immediately. Dumb whore check out cabuyerbeware.com that is my work. Your information has been reported and forwarded to the proper authorites in seattle washington, FBI feild office” Soon after I was done sharing this on Twitter for others to mock, I checked my emails again and found another one, clearly from the same lackwit, timestamped 41 minutes after the first; the note field contained this scintillating gem: “You are a whore. Your site will be taken down. You are a whore. THe proper authorities in the FBI field offices of seattle have been notified of your whore activities. good luck whore.”
First of all, it’s apparent this moron has absolutely no idea who he’s dealing with, else he’d realize that the FBI undoubtedly already knows who I am and has a fat file on me, including my website address. Secondly, the idiot apparently doesn’t get that the whole “buyer beware” scam is intended to scare clients, not sex workers, hence the name; of course they also want to scare whores, but indirectly. To threaten us directly is to make their lies about wanting to “save” us transparent, and they don’t want that. Thirdly, even if due to FOSTA my site’s domain name were to be seized by the feds at some point in the future (LOL at “immediately”), I would simply yawn & switch it over to the overseas domain name I’ve already prepared. In fact, just before seeing this childish wanker’s pathetic attempt to frighten me, I was completing the last step to move my actual site files to a new overseas host; I’m sure most ladies are taking similar steps to protect their professional sites. Lastly, it’s really quite pathetic that this wart seems to think that repeatedly telling me what I do for a living is some kind of insult; one wonders if he emails physicians with “You are a doctor” over & over.
It’s also possible this is the same fuckwad who texted me three days earlier from a Rhode Island number ending in 8550 (first name DeAndre, with listings on Verify Him as a psycho and harasser)**, ludicrously approaching as though he were a BDSM top and apparently expecting me to play along; he swore revenge when I humiliated him, and maybe he thinks this will accomplish it or at least make me nervous. That guy kept calling me “bitch” over and over just as this one repeatedly used “whore”, and the writing style and self-important delusions are very similar. But even if they’re different people (the two forms came from different IPs, so he was probably using a VPN and I can’t trace it to Rhode Island), the “bow to your king” dork is yet another example of the kind of loathsome vermin the government’s actions have caused to come crawling out of the woodwork. During this time a lot of sex workers are nervous & jumpy, with good reason; assholes will use that in an attempt to get off on terrorizing women. Don’t let them get to you, and even if you can’t help being frightened, don’t let them know you are or you’ll have a devil of a time getting rid of them.
*Quick visit, also known by the more vulgar term “blow & go”, is an extremely short (usually 15 minutes), very low-priced session favored by cheapskates.
**Ladies, if you think you may have been harassed by this nitwit and want his full info, email me.
I am sorry to hear you are being harassed like that by “unprofessional” wanna be cops. It is great that you are willing to share your story with the world. Keep pushing kiddo and know there are others out there rooting for you. I am going through similar problems, they begin with flattering spam attacks *suggesting how wonderful your site is;* then when you don’t respond your computer acts crazy and you are not allowed to type because of some *Ping-back* system they have attached to comment sections of your website. (I have been curious for quite a while what makes my site so dangerous to whoever left me a *Ping-back,* honestly I am not even sure if I got rid of that *ping-back* I have just not answered comments and hope someone is getting a connection.)
In truth though I think I have been dealing with censorship on my sites as soon as I started to broadcast.
You gals are going to end up teaching yourselves so much about website management and network security that you will easily be able to do that as a back up job if you have to. Although I’m sure you probably prefer what you do now. 🙂
I get so tired of the prohibition mindset.
Incidentally, these wastes of oxygen and space are doing this to others as well. I have even been threatened that “the FBI was now informed about me” and that “they would be coming for me” multiple times, because the morons thought I had said something illegal or at least something were they thought could get away with scaring me because they thought I could be unsure. This was in technology related exchanges on social media, no less.
My take is that these are part of the evil faction of the sadists, because they get off by the target explicitly not having given consent. There is a very old saying on the Internet that far predates social media and the like: “Do not feed the trolls”. Because as soon as these, aehm, “people”, have the impression they got to you, they will fixate on you for at least a time and try to scare you more and as much so as they can. The best general policy is to ignore them and remind yourself what they are. Yes, that may mean you actually get hit so some degree and that you cannot fire back, but showing them they were successful is really bad.
Of course, in some cases, you can turn things around and sometimes even shame them publicly (I have had some success with that on occasion, probably some latent sadism on my side and I regard their behavior as having given consent to this game…), but it is tricky, can fail and, in an asymmetric situation (harassment being illegal vs. prostitution being illegal to a different degree) it is usually not advisable. If you make it work, most of these aggressors just quietly fade away, because it is really them that live lives full of fear. But best and easiest policy is stonewalling.
While I generally subscribe to the “do not feed the trolls” approach, anyone who would send such revolting and mindless messages could be dangerous, too. Most such trolls are just cowardly wankers, but there is some subset that can be dangerous, and staying aware and alert is important.
As you say, Maggie, the new laws and official attitudes just encourage this breed of scum and make life that much more perilous and uncertain for sex workers or anyone else that attracts their perverse attention.
I highly doubt that. These people are obviously all cowards, which makes them less dangerous than the average person with regards to actually confronting a potential victim. They will be sniping from the shadows, but that is it. Somebody actually dangerous in the sense relevant here will not announce themselves. This is just a plot-device used in entertainment of the “crime” variant to build suspense. Actual psychos willing to attack are typically well camouflaged. It is a question of survival for them. And these people are very rare.
Don’t give in to the prevalent climate of fear, it is mostly a fantasy created to keep the under control and reduce their mental capabilities. It is not rational and not based on actually relevant risks.
Now, I am not saying these developments have not increased the risks here, because I think they have, but those specific cowards are all about creating fear with no risk to themselves.
@Celos: I guess you haven’t followed the reports of the online threats actual killers have made before committing their violent acts. Most of these trolls might be cowards, but all it takes is one who decides to make the fantasy a reality.
You are doing the implication the wrong way round. That gives a massively skewed impression of what is going on. Also, you are using invalid generalization. That does the same. Fear is not a good adviser.
Thankfully, I am a regular client with a terrific woman who is 40+. I know the boundaries. Because I mind my manners and don’t abuse her kindness, she has gone out of her way, on more than one occasion, to show up to an out call within 10 miles of her place. She didn’t charge me anything extra and I just paid the regular donation. I know it’s her livelihood and respect her.
As a general rule, people who make anonymous threats against public figures (i.e. people they know of but who do not know them) almost never follow through. The kinds of people who really can hurt you, cops for example, don’t spend days or weeks sending you anonymous threatening messages. They just flat-out arrest you. If the people sending threats could really hurt you, they would just go ahead and do it. These people send threats because they know they aren’t ever really going to do anything. This is why the threats are often so detailed and vivid: The threat has to do all the work of scaring you, because they’ve got nothing else. That’s not to say there is absolutely no danger, but there’s probably nowhere near as much danger as they want you to believe.
While it is only anecdotal evidence, I spoke with two ladies in europe this summer who had received harassing emails in the wake of the passage of FOSTA/SESTA . Both have been in the business quite legally for a decade or more, and both characterized these new attacks as similar to those of the troll you mentioned. The effects of our ridiculous actions here are not limited to our borders