!
sexworkers * Don't panic! Although things are tough right now, and the future uncertain, we can weather this. Read the book "Thriving in Sex Work" by Lola Davina. (
https://www.amazon.com/Thriving-Sex-Work-Heartfelt-Industry-ebook/dp/B071SKH43M). She has a lot of great tips for dealing with anxiety and loneliness, and handling the risks inherent to sex work.
* Get your client/providers contact information! Bookmark their sites. You never know if your favorite site will close, and you won't be able to find each other again.
* Take a screenshot of your reviews. US sex workers can still access The Erotic Review by using a VPN and connecting to an overseas server.
* Get your own website with your own domain. That way, you control whether your site is up or down, how you communicate with clients, and you have complete control over your presentation. Pick a domain name that is not within US control, so it can't be seized. For example .ch domains are controlled by the Swiss government. Switzerland has strong privacy and free speech protections, and sex work is legal there, so your domain is unlikely to be seized or shutdown by the US government.
* When you advertise, point would-be clients to your website. That way, they can bookmark your site and can find you, even if the social media forums or ad networks you use to advertise get shut down.
* Get an account on
https://www.switter.at. You can find me there at
https://switter.at/@catgun. It's Twitter for sex workers basically, and it's based in Australia (where sex work is legal), so unlikely to be taken down soon. Lot's of providers and clients are gathering there. Tag your profile and posts with your city and the kinds of services you provide. For example, if you're in San Francisco, and you offer Full Body Sensual Massage, add #
sanfrancisco #
sfbayarea and #
fbsm tags to your profile and posts.
* You can also make a free listing on switter at
https://listings.switter.at/. When making a listing PLEASE MAKE SURE:
- you use the hashtag #
swlisting- you list your location
- you list your contact info
**MAKE SURE THESE ARE ON SEPARATE LINES**
Here is an example:
Taking incalls today! And I’m with the delightful @ellethorn for doubles 😉 Book in now!
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact: 0404864006
#
swlisting* If you're a client on switter, put the hashtags #
ISO or #
InSearchOf + your city providing information on who and what, in which desired city. That way, providers who offer those services can find you.
* Although Backpage, Nightshift, Cityvibe, and other major ad sites are down, there are still
many others that are up and running. Let me know if you know of any other important places to advertise that I'm missing.
* Get a
Hubzilla account. Whereas switter.at is a decentralized Twitter, Hubzilla is like a decentralized Facebook. All the code is open source. There are no ads, no tracking, no censorship (at a global level -- a given hub might have it's own content policies). You can create an account on any hub that has open registration, but I recommend starting here:
https://gerzilla.deIf you later decide that you don't like that hub, you can easily port your channels to another hub, with no loss of identity, contacts, or content. In addition, you can clone a channel to a different hub, and the software makes it easy to sync the content between the two. So, if one goes down, you can continue to post on the other. And the two will sync up when the downed channel comes back online. You can also control who accesses your posts, videos, pictures, etc. at a very fine-grained level. So you can limit viewership to a post to yourself or a Privacy Group, or an ad hoc list of connections. You can even hand out one-time access tokens.
The servers are located in Germany, so they're not subject to FOSTA/SESTA regulations.
* If there are any valuable posts / articles / wikis on websites you like, archive them! One of the tragedies of the Reddit sub-reddit bans is the loss of all of the valuable insights from people who posted to those forums. You can easily archive an page by entering the URL into
https://www.archive.is. * Encourage your clients/providers to use secure communication channels. Use encrypted messaging clients like Wire (
https://wire.com/) or Riot (
https://riot.im/). That way your private communications aren't spied on by the likes of Google or Facebook. Similarly, get and use encrypted email such as Protonmail (
https://protonmail.ch) or Tutanota (
https://tutanota.de). * For real time chat, join the Sex Worker chat room on Riot.im:
https://riot.im/app/#/room/#sw:matrix.org* Encourage your clients/providers to use cryptocurrencies like Monero (
https://getmonero.org/) and Zcash (
https://z.cash/). Unlike credit cards or payment services like Paypal, these cryptocurrencies are anonymous, uncensored, and irreversible. There is no intermediary who can spy on your transactions or close your account because you offer a service they don't like. Payments are irreversible, so clients can't claw back your money by complaining to their credit card company Globee (
https://globee.com/) can help you accept payments in Monero, credit cards (if you live somewhere sex work is legal) and many other cryptocurrencies. There are also Monero integrations for many popular e-commerce plugins, such as WooCommerce, Prestashop, and Magento (
https://github.com/monero-integrations). Like this essay? Want to read me? Follow me on
Hubzilla or
Switter.
I also recommend joining the
Sex Workers forum (sex worker focused) and the
Gentlemen's Club (client-focused) on Hubzilla.
#
fosta #
sesta
