Skye is a sex worker who’s been reading my blog almost since the beginning; I knew that her primary means of advertising was Backpage, so when she asked me to give her space to discuss it I immediately agreed.
On April 6th of this year, the federal government committed an act of violence against millions of sex workers worldwide, for no other reason than the fact that these individuals engaged in consensual sex for reasons the government didn’t like (reasons such as keeping a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, and food in their mouths). That violence took the form of shutting down Backpage, an advertising site used by sex workers such as myself. On April 6th, I lost my means of support; being able to advertise my business on Backpage allowed me to meet my financial needs, and even kept me from having to go on welfare benefits. Backpage was where most of my clients found me. I’m currently 48 years old; I started sex work when I was 41, back in 2011, and work exclusively for myself. Hardly the stereotype of the “under-aged girl” controlled by some nefarious pimp, right? Yet this was the excuse used by the government to shut down my advertising—that Backpage was pimping out “trafficked young girls”. Except that it wasn’t. Not at all.
Let me backtrack to before 2011, when I worked “straight jobs”, or what’s normally called “regular work” by those not in the sex trade. Even though I went to college, I’ve never been able to obtain a job worthy of my education; this means I was stuck doing low-paying work for most of my adult life. Before sex work, I got up at 5 AM every morning, and many times didn’t get home until 8 PM, and I still barely made ends meet. When I finally lost that job, meager as it was, I placed an ad on Backpage, and the rest is history. For the past seven years, I’ve done work that did not require a resumé, or experience, or references, or the endless filling out of job applications, or the endless waiting for potential employers to contact me. I simply put up an ad, and that was it. In fact, I got a client the very same day, and had cash in my hand by the evening. No fuss, no muss. No, it’s not what’s considered “respectable work” by society, but “respectability” is for those who can afford it, not for people who live in the real world of having to pay rent and bills like I do. Not that it was always easy; I am not a rich woman by any means, because sometimes I didn’t get clients when I needed them. But I met my basic needs.
I represent the majority of people who used Backpage, people who were just consenting adults advertising a service. “Traffickers” who used Backpage were a tiny minority, because any trafficker foolish enough to advertise on Backpage usually got caught, eventually, because their mere presence online alerted authorities to their existence. The Backpage company cooperated completely with those investigations, but since no good deed ever goes unpunished, those same authorities turned around and charged them in turn. However, it’s important to note that the owners of Backpage, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, are NOT being charged with “sex trafficking” at all, contrary to the media hype, only with boring, mundane things like “facilitating prostitution” and “money laundering”, which aren’t nearly as exciting. Furthermore, Lacey and Larkin are wealthy males who will most likely receive very little jail time, if any, and they’re currently out on bail, and their case won’t go to trial until January 15, 2020. Plenty of time for their expensive team of lawyers to help them beat the rap and settle out of court.
Meanwhile, it’s advertisers like myself who are truly being hurt by Backpage’s shutdown, not Lacey and Larkin. Backpage wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was ideal for those wished to work part time or occasionally, who wanted to keep a certain degree of anonymity, who lived in areas not served very well by other websites. It was ideal for more marginalized people who don’t fit well on pricier, “high-end” ad venues. I’m fortunate in that I have enough money saved that I won’t face immediate eviction from my apartment, but spring and summer are normally the busiest time of the year for me, and I haven’t gotten the clients recently that I’d normally get; I don’t know what will happen to me in the next few months. It’s even worse for those living week to week, or have children to support; many of these women have already become homeless, or ironically, have had to turn to pimps to find clients. Yes, the shutting down of Backpage has actually increased “sex trafficking”. And, thanks to the increased difficulty of getting clients since the shutdown, many desperate women are endangering their health and that of others by offering sex without a condom, or else they haven’t been able to refuse potential predators and are now dead or missing. All thanks to the government, media, and various “anti-trafficking” NGOs who’ve demonized a simple advertising site over the past decade, one that actually helped to find “traffickers” more quickly than if their victims were being forced onto the street (as they are now). Who exactly is being served here? Certainly neither consensual nor coerced sex workers. And if I had my way, the government would be forced to pay us for the trouble it caused.
As an anonymous sex worker, I’m thankful for intrepid activists and journalists like Laura Agustín, Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Kate D’Adamo, Maxine Doogan, Maggie McNeill, Audacia Ray, Liara Roux, and others too numerous to mention for speaking truth to power in a way that I can’t. They’re a few drops of integrity in an ocean of malice and indifference.
Really fascinating. Would love to contribute any time on many subjects and I love to talk about the reality…..xo
I guess that now that feminists are on the warpath there is little hope for prostitutes. The feminists can’t stand it if anyone presents themselves as sex objects.
This goes beyond feminists. Anyone who follows Maggie’s Tweets knows the clampdown on sex is coming from both the right and left. Trying to find scapegoats on just one side of the (imaginary) political divide just diverts attention from the real issue, which is government overreach.
One of the loudest voices regarding SESTA and FOSTA came from conservative Cindy McCain. Evangelical Christians have also made human trafficking a “cause celebre” (Googe it). I also just read a story titled “Inside the conservative plan to stop human trafficking by blocking porn.”
All that said, I really enjoyed today’s post and think more testimonials would be great. On the male side, I wonder how many older, disabled war veterans no longer have access to companionship (i.e. cuddles and back rubs) because of these new laws. Which leads me to another point: This subject is only all about sex to the lawmaking pervs. There are other dimensions here they’re not capable of understanding.
Conservatives and the Christian church have almost completely abandoned the Bible in favor of nanny-state protection of women from their own choices which is indistinguishable from feminism except in the names they use for things. They’re trying to go “look, we’re not patriarchal oppressors, we love the women!” Prostitution was legal in Christian countries until about the beginning of the 20th century, when feminists like Carrie A. Nation (most known for alcohol prohibition) campaigned against it. The right is indeed just as bad. But as a matter of historical interest, they caught it from feminism.
As I’ve written elsewhere, the percentage of sex workers who are “trafficked” is around eight percent. If sex workers could go to authorities without fear of arrest or harassment, I believe that number would fall to 1 or 2 percent. Most trafficking in the U.S. is for sweat-shop labor, not sex.
Not sure where you’re getting such a high number. If by “trafficked” you mean “coerced in some meaningful fashion” (not just needing money), the figure is about 2% among native-born sex workers in Western countries. It’s about 5% among migrants & 10% among underage workers, who make up roughly 3.5% of sex workers in the West. The only places it gets up to the 8% range among adults are very poor countries like India, and even there that figure is mostly migrants from Bangladesh or Nepal.
I wish Skye and all the other victims of this predatory government all the best. I’m sorry that too many people support “laws” like those used to victimize you (and the rest of us). Success would be the best revenge– I hope you find it.
I realize that I haven’t commented in a few days … but I felt the need to “pipe up” on this one …
Yes, what the feds did wrt to BackPage was a horrible move, and lives will be negatively impacted and in some cases even destroyed – and perhaps even literally since the moderate veil of safety that BP offered is no longer available. Further, the action sent a “chill” through the entire industry and other entities seem to be headed underground to avoid “provoking” the Feds. An example of that might be ECCIE … which disappeared around the same time BP did but ostensibly they SAY they’re coming back. However, with BP gone … any entity that even dares to try to take it’s place will be immediately targeted too.
My recommendation therefore, in the current environment … is to move toward something like a TOR-based solution or even using encrypted mobile apps like “Telegram” … it was good for Iranian and Russian dissidents (until it was banned by those governments). Whatever solution is devised – it’s not going to be as “convenient” as BP was … the problem just got a lot harder.
But before I say what I’m going to say next … I just want to emphasize my position on this … what the Feds did here was an extremely stupid and horrible, life damaging thing.
Having said that, I notice that that in the few days since I last commented here, a guy named “Trump” was elected president. Astonishing really … considering that he had half the nation calling him a “Fascist” and comparing him to Hitler … about 90 percent NEGATIVE media coverage that ran continuously throughout the 24-hour news cycle … major violent protests at his rallies … etc.
And yet the guy won the electoral college? How could he do that with all that negative opposition?
I submit to you that he was elected, not over the negative protests … BUT BECAUSE OF THEM.
Well … one reason anyway but, I think a pretty big reason.
What I’m about to say is not going to sit well with the “revolutionary heart” but I don’t think saying hyperbolic things like … “the federal government committed an act of violence against millions of sex workers worldwide” is going to help. Words matter and once you have used the descriptor “violence” for something that doesn’t pertain to actual violence committed by the person you’re leveling the charge at – then you have no where to escalate to once that person (or in this case the government) actually does commit actual organized and legally sanctioned violence against sex workers.
If you look at the election of Trump – you can clearly see that at least half the country is no longer listening to hyperbolic rhetoric and worse, may even be driven to the “other” side because of it! In this environment – we have two possible solutions left – either win some folks over to our side by finding a rational way to get through their “filters” … or pick up an AK-47. Needless to say … we actually have only ONE option here … the former.
So we’re not gonna achieve anything by parroting ANTIFA or BLM-style hyperbolic rhetoric. People just aren’t listening to that stuff anymore no matter how many police cars you flip over to get their attention.
And I don’t think we should parrot the #metoo kind of rhetoric because honestly, that has all become a “blur” with LEGITIMATE victims obscured by a soup-pot full of “virtue signalers” and people desperately looking for coveted “victim” status in something … in anything.
We will have to break out from this “sea of noise” … and find another path that people will take note of.
I also don’t understand the barely-cloaked denigration of BP’s owners in this essay. I don’t know much about them admittedly, so correct me if I’m wrong on this but to me it appears that “Lacey and Larkin” provided a pretty good service for years. This, in spite of MASSIVE criticism and calls for them to stop – they stood their ground and did what they cold to keep it alive. Their only crime, it appears to me, is that they piloted this plane to the scene of the crash and are now trying to get out of the wreckage alive – and if expensive lawyers is what it takes to get them out of it – so be it. They may even cooperate with the Feds in order to mitigate their legal exposure, but let’s face it, they are human and humans take advantage of their advantages – especially when faced with complete personal destruction. What else were they supposed to do? Martyr themselves?
[…] actual victims of sex trafficking while making life easier for actual traffickers. You can read firsthand accounts of what FOSTA has done and how awful it has made things for consenting adults as well as the […]