We have a series of multi-stakeholder holder discussions on Consent & Safety in Adult Content Distribution that we would love ya'll to be a part of. Facilitated by sex worker rights activists and key stakeholders, the four events will be running from the 9th of October until the 17th of October. In our first event "Censorship and Surveillance of 18+ Communities", Mariah Grant (she/her/ella) from The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center and Alexandria LaRue (they/them) from SWOP USA joined sex workers in a discussion and brainstorming of potential solutions concerning the new wave of internet censorship and surveillance facing 18+ communities. In future events, we'll be discussing "Sexual Health, Well-being & Prevention", "Content moderation, Law Enforcement and Safety" and "Finance & Industry". You can find further details for each below.
As these event is free, we ask that if you’re in the financial position to do so, to donate and support the organizations that have made this event possible. As mentioned previously, SWOP USA and The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center were wonderful orgs facilitating the first conversation.
You can find links to make a donation below:
https://soldiersofpole.com/donate/
https://swp.urbanjustice.org/donate/
Sexual Health, Well-being & Prevention, Oct 15 11AM PTD
What does a sex positive internet look like and how can sexual content be shared safely and ethically? How do we ensure harm reduction material stays available to anyone who needs it? Join the discussion with our facilitator Vixen Temple to discuss the future of sexual health and education online.
Vixen Temple is an Aotearoa based sex worker, sex work activist, podcast host and performance artist. Having entered the world of sex work in 2018, Vixen Temple has been using her blog and podcast to raise awareness of the issues sex workers face, including censorship due to FOSTA/SESTA. Vixen Temple hopes to educate the generals public on sex worker issues, as well as celebrating and elevating sex worker voices.
This is event is free, we ask if you're in the position to do so to support Soldiers of Pole which is a labor movement of intersectional sex workers and strippers working collectively for the betterment, unionization and decriminalization of all sex workers in California and beyond: https://soldiersofpole.com/donate/
Content Moderation, Law Enforcement and Safety, Oct 16 2PM PDT
Fear Mongering about adult content isn't the way to prevent abusive images from ending up online. Join our facilitator, Dr Zahra Stardust (she/her) to discuss the complex issues surrounding content moderation and the role of law enforcement in online environments.
Dr Zahra Stardust is a socio-legal scholar at the intersections of sexuality, technology and law. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society at the Queensland University of Technology and an Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. Her projects examine the data governance of sex tech, the implications of algorithmic sexual profiling, and how content moderation practices impact sexual cultures. Over the last 15 years Zahra has worked in policy, advocacy, legal and research capacities with community organisations, NGOs and UN bodies on sex worker rights and LGBTQA+ health. Her work has been published in books such as Queer Sex Work, New Feminist Studies and Orienting Feminism, and journals such as the Journal of Sexual Health, Porn Studies, and the International Journal of Crime, Justice and Social Democracy.
Finance and Industry Oct 17, 2PM
Have you been affected by FOSTA/SESTA, or by the anti-sex policies of platforms or payment companies? Join Eliza Sorensen (they/them) to discuss the targeted over regulation of the adult industry online, the dire implications that financial exclusion can have and how we can reduce harm in this space.
The discussions from these events will help to prepare an update to the original background paper, which has been accepted to the the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. We are also hoping to discuss the response paper at Netthings Australia year.
As a community and industry, we're hoping to build on existing research and put forward best practices for policy makers in government and private industry. The event will also be closed captioned.
You can find event registration here (It's free!): https://linktr.ee/consentandsafety
The background paper for the events can be found here: https://consentandsafety.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/MSD-background-paper.pdf
