ID: HR19-705

Presenting author: Julianna Brown

Presenting author biography:

Julianna Brown is a medical student at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Health Policy Advisor of Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics Rhode Island (COYOTE RI). Julianna's work focuses on understanding how sex workers in the US experience healthcare services and recent policy changes.

Safety After SESTA: Community-Based Policy Recommendations to Protect US-Based Sex Workers

Julianna Brown

Issues: In April 2018, the US Congress passed SESTA and FOSTA, anti-trafficking legislation that increased the criminalization of selling sex online. While intended to decreased sex trafficking, these policies have shut down sites such as Backpage.com that consensual adult sex workers use to find and screen clients, build support networks, and maintain their safety. Since the passing of this legislation, COYOTE RI has documented that US-based sex workers are less able to pay their bills, working in riskier conditions, and facing increased rates of violence from both clients and law enforcement.

Setting: COYOTE RI, a sex worker founded and led organization, collected anonymous online surveys from sex workers across the US in the weeks and months following SESTA and FOSTA being signed into law. These surveys document the experiences of 275 sex workers living and working in the US.

Key Arguments: Through these surveys, COYOTE RI has compiled a reference of conditions sex workers have faced since the passage of SESTA/FOSTA. Through further criminalizing consensual labor, SESTA/FOSTA has forced many US-based sex workers to either 1) work in riskier conditions 2) be unable to pay bills in the absence of safe work. Due to stigma against sex workers and general lack of employment that pays a living wage, many sex workers are unable to support themselves and maintain their safety in the presence of these policies.

Outcomes and Implications: COYOTE RI looks to reconsider how policy-makers address trafficking in the US. Laws that further criminalize sex workers not only put their safety at risk but also make them more vulnerable to trafficking in the absence of safe work environments. Engaging with sex workers and sex worker-lead organizations will provider policy-makers and service providers a more nuanced and effective view of how to design policy and programming surrounding sex work.