Last Summer, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and black lives matter protests all over the country, not only were online petitions fighting for justice of many issues were showing up more and more, but abolitionist language became more and more mainstream. And while it does some good in making these ideas more possible, there are also some instances in which it’s not helpful at all. From “Hello Kitty says ACAB”/“ACAB Emily” to Exodus Cry. And you may or may not remember the name Exodus Cry, but you certainly remember their messaging, “Shut Pornhub down” but their mission isn’t just pornhub, according to their website Exodus Cry is “committed to abolishing sex trafficking and breaking the cycle of commercial sexual exploitation while assisting and empowering its victims.” We remember their appeal to emotions, speaking about all of the women who had been harmed and abused. The uploading of content that the people in it didn’t want to be posted for a variety of reasons, the abuse of power and assaults and the Girls Do Porn Lawsuit. They're co-opting the stories and language of victims, progressives, and leftists to push their own agenda.
Which sounds good and normal on paper. Even sex workers say that these events were bad. However, sex workers are also saying otherwise that Exodus Cry isn’t exactly doing all the good they claim to be doing.
For starters, they don’t want to help decriminalize sex work, which Sex Workers , Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have all said will ensure the safety of Sex Workers.
They are a religious organization, they’ve tried to hide it up but their original 2015 mission statement said they were “built on a foundation of prayer and is committed to abolishing sex slavery through Christ-centered prevention, intervention, and holistic restoration of trafficking victims
Their non-profit Id on their tax filings say they are religion-related, but they officially dropped the “Christ” from their mission statement in 2017.
And Religion isn’t necessarily bad but puritan values have led to regressive views on sex and poor sexual education which definitely plays a part in how they view sex work and sexuality.
They support SESTA/FOSTA which the Electronic Frontier Foundation describes as, “vague, ambiguous language and stiff criminal and civil penalties are driving constitutionally protected content off the Internet.”
EFF goes on to explain.
“The consequences of this censorship are devastating for marginalized communities and groups that serve them, especially organizations that provide support and services to victims of trafficking and child abuse, sex workers, and groups and individuals promoting sexual freedom. Fearing that comments, posts, or ads that are sexual in nature will be ensnared by FOSTA, many vulnerable people have gone offline and back to the streets, where they’ve been sexually abused and physically harmed.”
In a whyy.org article, sex worker Danielle Blunt, explains why this has been harmful. “Whenever we lose access to internet spaces, there has been a devastating effect on the community. And the community’s ability to support themselves, to take care of themselves, to make money, and to screen clients and stay safe”
The same article highlights another organization, The Coalition Against Women in Trafficking, who believe that decriminalizing sex work would be “a gift to pimps, traffickers and the sex industry"
This isn’t to dismiss the stories of harm and abuse that have been shared. Absolutely no one is saying they are good. Sex workers were the ones to put together petitions holding pornhub and mindgeek accountable for the content on their sites, without doing things to harm other sex workers.
Sex Workers are the ones that are speaking up for sex workers, survivors, and the overlap of the two.
Decriminalization should be the goal, to create safer spaces and clearer language surrounding actual trafficking and abuse so those people can be held accountable. Full-service sex workers get arrested for trafficking for simply trying to do their job with another consenting adult.
We should listen to sex workers instead of trying to censor them because then we end up with celebrities posting their nudes on Instagram while sex workers can’t even post selfies because they’re flagged for solicitation. Censorship is simply not the right answer to fix all of these problems. We’ve already seen the harm it's beginning to do.
To acknowledge the exploitation in the sex industry is to acknowledge the exploitation in every other industry. Did you know that Amazon drivers are peeing in water bottles? Drivers with periods are unable to change their pads or tampons. My mom developed a tumor on her foot after working with Amazon and standing for long hours. Employees were forced to not speak to one another to ensure efficiency and thwart any attempts of unionizing. And just yesterday after months of trying to unionize, Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama were defeated by Amazon.
The point of this being, all workers are treated terribly. It is unfair to target sex workers because of the ways they are stigmatized, because of stigma we don’t listen to them, we censor them, then talk over them under the guise of helping them. If we truly want safety, we listen to the people at the source directly experiencing the problems.
Sources:
https://swopusa.org/resources/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxqy4z/petition-shut-down-pornhub-trafficking-hub-earn-it
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/how-congress-censored-internet
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/fosta-already-leading-censorship-we-are-seeking-reinstatement-our-lawsuit
https://twitter.com/ProjectWuornos
Tiara, thank you for this excellent post, I had never heard of Exodus Cry before. I think it's really important that you bring up celebrities posting nudes and breaking into websites like OnlyFans because people like Bella Thorne are able to make $1 million in less than 24 hours, but don't need that income like the average sex worker due to their already being established as actors/etc. And also those celebrities' careers aren't suffering like the average person most likely would if their employer found they have/had an OnlyFans or something similar--I don't remember her name or where this happened, but there was a headline going around recently where a K-12 teacher was fired after it was discovered she used to be a sex worker (which, if the goal is to discourage people from going back to the sex work industry, making sex work a firable/unhirable offense accomplishes the opposite)!
ReplyDeleteI really like and agree with what you said here Brynn!!
DeleteI also have never heard of Exodus Cry before. If they truly fought for victimized women then they would do some good in the world. But of course that ended up not being the case. And, while this is my opinion, I guarantee people apart of that group have or do watch porn! If one is to choose their career path in sex work, that is their business and should be okay in doing so. If someone does not like it, then don't get exposed to it! That is how I see it anyway. This topic is quite interesting honestly. I like that it makes me think about a lot of different topics I wouldn't have thought of in this type of fashion. Excellent work!
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