Change.org: Making sex work more dangerous, one petition at a time

by Kate D’Adamo, Community Organizer, SWOP-NYC/SWANK

This week, Change.org sent out a blast which continued the assault on advertisers working with sex workers in a blast entitled, “Child Prostitutes Earn Cash for the Village Voice.” If this sounds to you like the kind of over-blown, fabricated language which has about as much substance as high school rumors, you’re right, it is. We know that Change.org wants to fight trafficking in the sex industry, but taking a socially irresponsible tactic such as this one only creates harm, and makes things more dangerous for sex workers of all stripes – those there by coercion, circumstance, or choice- and does absolutely nothing to address actual trafficking in persons. Closing advertising outlets like Craigslist and Backpages is a mistake for a number of reasons.

Critically, it forces everyone in the sex trade further underground (including those who are trying to leave). Prosecuting people who work with sex workers is not a new tactic, and it’s one with dire consequences – for the sex worker, that is. Further marginalizing already-marginalized populations means you’re forcing people into more discreet locations with less protections, and less ability to protect themselves. This leads to increased violence, STI and HIV transmission, less negotiation time for both safety and money (which means lower rates and more clients), and less autonomy. That means you’re putting the same people considered “victims” at greater risk.

Electronic trails mean safety. As much as people like to bring up the Craigslist killer as a reason of why these sites are dangerous, people also casually forget that the electronic email chain was one of the pieces of evidence which connected Philip Markoff to his crimes. Sex work existed long before Craigslist, and even before the internet, and controlling how it’s used online ignores that simple fact. The more traceable connection that two people have mean safer working environments. Connecting over email means the ability to do background checks, search bad date lists, and verify new clients – it essentially means the ability to engage in best practices to protect one’s own safety.

Shutting down the most visible sites leaves a bevy of sites which can be harder to hold to best practices. Part of the criticism of Craigslist was that they were doing nothing to curb trafficking in persons on their site. Unsurprisingly, this was false. In 2008, when Craigslist was the focal point of this conversation, the site was utilizing industry best practices for addressing this issue responsibly. In a statement released from their counsel on online safety, security, and abuse, Elizabeth McDougall noted that they were taking a “practical approach… getting input from interested parties, including NGO’s, advocacy groups, law enforcement, politicians, and victims.” Time and time again, “solutions” come from outside parties with little more than an agenda. We should trumpet outlets who give credence to relevant community stakeholders, instead of those who simply listen to who is yelling the loudest (and this even includes you, Change.org). There are countless websites who will pick up the traffic from Craigslist, and trying to negotiate with a multiplying number of increasingly discreet sites is just going to make this more challenging.

This isn’t going to solve anything. Even if there weren’t countless other websites, and even if we weren’t completely illogically thinking that shutting down every advertising website means that there would be no more trafficking, there is absolutely no evidence to support this tactic. In the two and a half years since Craigslist closed their “adult services” section, there has not been a shred of evidence that this has had any impact at deterring, slowing, or stopping trafficking in persons in the sex industry. Nothing. Closing Backpages will do nothing to hamper trafficking in persons. It won’t even make a dent. But it will make the problem less visible – and harder to tackle. It will push everyone, including victims of trafficking, into more dangerous situations with less regulation and less paper trail.

Sex worker advocates want to stop trafficking. We’re not categorically saying that there has never been a minor advertising for sex work on Backpages. We’re simply advocating for reasonable solutions which actually address the causes of sex work – poverty, marginalization, and lack of access to resources, and help support the exit of people who want to leave. Shutting down the companies who work with the sex industry only make people in the sex industry harder to reach. But there’s one other problem with this kind of rhetoric: Why are we only focusing on the moment after someone has been trafficked when we could be talking about the moment before? In New York City, there are roughly 4,000 unaccompanied homeless youth every night, and the city funds approximately 200 youth-shelter beds. Five percent of the need is met on a nightly basis. Let’s change this conversation to stop talking about the moment they might engage in sex work, and instead focus on the moment when they realize they have to. Let’s stop guessing as to what will make those engaging in the sex trade – whether through choice or coercion - safer and start listening to what those of us who have worked in this industry already know to be life-saving.