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"Sex is no stranger to the Internet, and yet sex workers \u2014 including porn actors, escorts and webcam models \u2014 continue to face unique hostility in the digital age.\nIn addition to stigma, negativity and \u201Crescue\" efforts, many sex workers face discrimination from online services that most of us use without thinking twice. For example, Amazon has allegedly deleted sex workers\u2019 Wish Lists, while Chase Bank recently began canceling non-criminal sex workers\u2019 accounts.\nSee also: It's Still Easy to Get Away With Revenge Porn\n\u201COur speech is often what they come for first,\u201D said journalist and former sex worker Melissa Gira Grant at the Theorizing the Web conference on Friday night. \u201CSo, if you want a preview of what will happen to everyone else on the Internet, this is a really remarkable opportunity.\u201D\nGrant moderated a panel called \u201CSex Work and the Web\u201D at the Brooklyn-based event. The hour-long conversation, which included former and current sex workers, revolved around advocacy and attitudes toward sex work, the need to differentiate it from trafficking, and both the benefits and struggles of using the Internet in their professions.\nThe panelists all laughed at how often sex workers using digital media passes as news, citing recent headlines about turning Airbnb apartments into \u201Cbrothels\u201D and using Square to accept payments.\n\u201CAs far as I\u2019m concerned, sex workers are consummate early adopters to technology, and we often don\u2019t get credit for that,\u201D Grant said.\n\n\"I'm really annoyed by lazy journalism around sex work,\" @melissagira #ttw14\n\u2014 Caroline O'Donovan (@ceodonovan) April 25, 2014\n\nEmma Caterine, a community organizer with advocacy group Red Umbrella Project, said that Tumblr has been a big platform for the organization\u2019s media campaigns. However, ever since the blogging platform began blocking certain NSFW content following the Yahoo buyout, she said it has been difficult to share even educational content with the sex-worker community.\nUltimately, the panel's bottom line seemed to be that sex workers use technology because everyone uses technology.\n\u201CWe\u2019re people; of course we use technology,\u201D said N'jaila Rhee, journalist and adult web model, on the panel. \u201CI use Uber. Not for sex work \u2014 I used it to get here.\u201D\nHowever, there is the obvious dark side of the sex industry, including trafficking and exploitation. Both Rhee and fellow panelist Hawk Kinkaid, founder and president of Hook Online, stressed the importance of not conflating sex trafficking with the voluntary decision to enter sex work as a mature adult.\nIn a panel that took place earlier in the day, titled \"Casual Encounters: Sex, Sexuality and Intimacy,\" artist, activist and sex worker Maggie Mayhem also acknowledged these issues.\n\"There are, absolutely, a lot of issues with trafficking happening worldwide, and I want to make it clear that I take that very, very seriously,\" she said to the audience. \"Sex workers do take trafficking seriously. We also want to be involved in the efforts that are governing our lives and the people hurt in the occupation that we have.\"\nWatch the full \"Sex Work on the Web\" plenary in the video, above, and be sure to check out the social conversation surrounding Theorizing the Web with the hashtag #TtW14.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/04/26/sex-work-web/>