To other US-based Art Models...
I know a lot of models who really don’t think there’s any sort of link between them and sex work (or outright refuse to admit they might, according to most people in American society, be sex workers), but we are past that point now.
According to the government, despite any protestation you could think up, we will end up in the same category. And no intellectual quibbling over artistic nudity versus erotic imagery is going to stop that. I’d wager that the VAST majority of our income comes from men paying us to take nude photos of varying degrees of sensuality. That alone should tell us something about the nature of this profession. It’s fine, but it is what it is. So dwelling on that is beside the point, and is a waste of time right now. They’re thinking of shutting down fetlife. Twitter is shadowbanning. I know models who have had their tumblrs shadowbanned over the last year. Patreon is not out of bounds either.
So we should probably all start acknowledging that this will be a big issue for us and start spreading the info more. Because people don’t know, and that is scary. They’re pretty much taking away first amendment rights under the guise of “stopping trafficking” all while passing a bill that would actually make trafficking issues and violence against SWs worse.
And to those who regularly watch pornography, watch cam shows, buy nudes, subscribe to patreon accounts, look at nude images online, hire sex workers, go to strip clubs, or IN ANY WAY ENGAGE IN THE SEX INDUSTRY (because you do engage in it when you are reblogging porn, jerk off to porn, buy nudes, look at nude bodies for sexual pleasure online all the time), YOU NEED TO CARE TOO. If you have a tinder account where you message people looking to fuck, YOU NEED TO CARE. And I guarantee most of you know someone who has done some form of sex work at some point.
If you care about your first amendment rights, YOU NEED TO CARE. I am in shock that, when there is the threat of having to undergo a background check to buy a certain gun we can have people parading around Walmart to “show support” for the second amendment, but they threaten to curtail our freedom of speech and it’s a big collective shrug. Forget yelling about your second amendment rights too when they take away your first amendment rights, by the way. Forget being able to just say whatever. Did you know that Skype has made “inappropriate language” not allowed anymore because of this bill? Did you know your partner can’t get nude for you on skype if you’re in a long distance relationship? So, this will end up affecting you too. In some way it will trickle down. So maybe care. Just a little. I know it’s become the “cool” thing to do to “not care.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in conversation with people and it’s been the cool thing to be completely ambivalent about shit that matters. But not caring and not being passionate about anything is some garbage behavior. And it needs to stop.
Anyway, here’s a link to sign a petition against this bill: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/repealstop-fosta-now
Which takes less than 5 minutes.
Okay, I’ll stop now. But seriously…people need to care more about their rights.
amandla
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
germansingergirl
