{"id":4690,"date":"2018-03-26T22:48:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T22:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/?p=4690"},"modified":"2018-04-16T20:31:18","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T20:31:18","slug":"sesta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/sesta\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Sex Worker Supports SESTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m Tiara Tae, a legal prostitute at The Bunny Ranch brothel in Carson City, Nevada, and I\u2019m emboldened to see that the evolution of thinking in recent decades that has brought my profession out of the dark shadows of criminality is taking a giant step forward in the halls of The United States Congress.\u00a0 The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) has now been been passed by both the House Of Representatives and the U.S. Senate with overwhelming support, on it\u2019s way to becoming law. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill seeks to crack down on the illegal sex trade by holding website operators accountable for posts that advertise illegal sexual activity.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all heard the horror stories of \u201cCraigslist\u201d type ads that were historically thinly veiled solicitations for illegal and sometimes underage prostitutes that put both the girls and the clients at risk of violent crime and disease, while providing an electronic black market trading place for street pimps and international human traffickers.\u00a0 Many ads of that ilk have flowed through similarly unregulated personal ad sites for years, giving rise to a problem of epidemic proportions that, until now, has never been properly addressed in the internet age.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tiara Tae from Dennis Hof’s Moonlite Bunny Ranch near Reno, Nevada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some sex industry activists are offering misplaced objections to these regulations, claiming that illegal prostitutes will be \u201cforced onto the streets\u201d if they can\u2019t be electronically offered for sale while working out of apartments and hotel rooms. \u00a0Their thinking is misguided on several levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

The primary problem with this mode of thinking is that the sex workers opposing SESTA are fighting to remain criminals. Instead of advocating for the legalization of prostitution throughout the United States, and campaigning for a situation where willing, adult sex workers can service clients in a safe, legal environment, those challenging SESTA are defending a website owner\u2019s ability to make money from the marketing of illegal prostitution while taking no responsibility for any criminality that occurs on the website owner\u2019s platform. Personally, I\u2019d much rather work in a proven legal system, like the time-tested Nevada brothel industry, than be a slave to a website owner that takes advantage of my desperate need to promote an illegal business, while not caring if people using the platform are coerced, underage, or a victim of violent crime. \u00a0The opposition often counters with the \u201cslippery slope\u201d argument, by saying \u201cWhere do they draw the line? If we crack down on this, what\u2019s next?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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How about we draw the line between what is and isn\u2019t a crime? The passage of SESTA isn\u2019t going to curb anyone’s first amendment right to protected free speech, but it will police the law as it pertains to online criminal enterprises, no differently than a publisher being held accountable for hosting an ad that offers the illegal services of a loan shark or a contract killer.<\/span><\/p>\n

If prostitution was legalized in every state, all adult sex workers can come work as I do in a safe legal brothel environment, free and protected from the danger of criminal elements.\u00a0They would hold a government issued license (as I do) that will be issued to them after an application process that will conclude that they are free of sexually transmitted diseases and criminal records.<\/span><\/p>\n

if sex workers can\u2019t meet the qualifications for licensing, they won\u2019t be \u201cforced out onto the streets\u201d.\u00a0They may be forced into another line of work, but that is no different than a public transit operator who gets convicted of a DWI and is \u201cforced\u201d into a profession that doesn\u2019t involve operating a motor vehicle.\u00a0 Should we not have driver\u2019s licenses because anyone who can\u2019t pass a driving test will be \u201cforced\u201d to walk to work?\u00a0I don\u2019t think anyone in their right mind would suggest a highway full of unlicensed drivers, because everyone regards that regulatory process as necessary for the public\u2019s safety. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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So too is the long overdue need to prosecute a crime that is committed electronically, just as it would be if it were committed without the anonymity of the internet.\u00a0Passing laws to combat online fraud came to exist as internet commerce became a common element of each of our daily lives.\u00a0The SESTA bill is simply catching up to the world\u2019s oldest profession in the modern age, by making sure that that which cannot be practically eradicated can in fact be safely and legally regulated. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sex work, as it is practiced by women like me who make such a decision with our own bodies, can be both lucrative for the principle and beneficial to the general tax base, but only with sensible and effective legislation like SESTA in conjunction with the legalization of prostitution throughout America, so that well-meaning adult sex workers can practice their trade free from prosecution \u2014 and criminal sex traffickers, and those that support them, can be easily punished.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m Tiara Tae, a legal prostitute at The Bunny Ranch brothel in Carson City, Nevada, and I\u2019m emboldened to see that the evolution of thinking in recent decades that has brought my profession out of the dark shadows of criminality is taking a giant step forward in the halls of The United States Congress.\u00a0 The … Continue reading “Legal Sex Worker Supports SESTA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":4701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4690"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4692,"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4690\/revisions\/4692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bunnyranch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}