I really hope Eros had a kill switch when the feds came in to raid a call center they contracted for “cross-border illegal activity.”

Any immigrants that were in the Eros files can potentially be phucked. As low hanging fruit, our lives, families and livelihoods are now at the mercy of Homeland Security and the other hypocritical organizations that want to stifle the agency of womxn. Yes, any fight against sex work is directly linked to the silencing of womxn’s bodies, our voices, and our right to financial independence free of patriarchal control. All immigrants are not illegal (ME. I am a US citizen), and the fact that this is happening, again, should jolt efforts to support the sex worker rights movement.

“And, from what I know, Eros has been compliant with gov’t officials regarding the SAVE ACT & all the other fucking trafficking ACTS that are flying out of the US! Here’s the latest one https://www.congress.gov/…/115th-congress/senate-bill/1693” -Cris Sardina, Director Desiree Alliance

So what does or could this mean for sex workers, and especially Black sex workers? It means an influx of heaux. And influx could mean that a lot of the higher priced girls may have to humble themselves and get a taste of what it feels like to be forced to charge less. It means that the one place that has been positioned in the community for high end providers has now been infiltrated. A space where providers, Black ones, could go and attempt to re-brand with higher rates and services has now been disrespected by moral authorities. And this is why you can’t trust the po-po. Eros, like BackPage, cooperated with these government agencies and still found themselves up shits creek on what seems like a fuckin technicality. Grand.

If I can just be brutally honest. I really wish the feds and all the like had the legal right to raid civilian homes based on their sexual preferences. Judging who you have sex with, how you do it and why. Confiscate your records, stop your money, and completely disrupting your life if they found out that you are with your partner for financial support. If that sounds ridiculous to you, then so should the feds raiding advertising sites that allow consenting adults to have sex.

The politics of beliefs are against the idea of sex-as-work, because sex work completely disrupts the traditional structures of intimacy. Although I believe it’s unlikely that any or much sex workers will be arrested, if you’ve ever posted on Eros you should panic, even just a little. They have all your legal documentation on file, ID’s, as well as credit card information. Right now just make sure you have a system of support prepared. Make sure you have a trusted source and give them a copy keys to your home, copies of your ID and information about any family they can be in touch with.

Civilian minds, please don’t derail the conversation with talk of human trafficking garbage. Trafficking organizations are an established network of fabricated, overused, sensationalized stories of some helpless girl getting dragged in a van by strange men, forced to have sex with dozens of men each day and it is absurd. I am not saying this doesn’t happen. But first of all, dozens of men flocking to pay for sex everyday would be marketing genius. Or the work of a cartoon style alternative hero who puts some kind of secret mind controlling code on the sex sites men visit which makes them just show up and pay to fuck all these hundreds of thousands of trafficked womxn daily. Gimme a fukin break. If I or any heaux for that matter could consistently get dozens of a dick a day I’d live in a mansion. Believe me, I have the energy to fuck dozens of a dick a day if such an option were presented to me.

Sex trafficking does happen and is a serious problem if even only one person has to suffer because they were forced to do things they didn’t consent to. But it is not worthy of entire businesses being shut down, raided, and the sex workers being labeled as victims and having their lives greatly affected. Millions of dollars do not need to go to building entire units to combat sex trafficking when the real numbers on who is “rescued” are laughable compared to the inflated ones the antis put out.

Trafficking is important in this conversation because it is always the excuse used to shut down these establishments. And this is particularly angering because Eros is probably the only site I know of where they have strict verification for advertisers in an attempt to curb any trafficking or underage sex worker activity that would go through their site. Yet they were still raided!

I have said it before and I will say it again: If you are okay with eating food that slaves are farming, and buying overpriced electronics and clothing made by people who aren’t making enough to feed their families, you seriously don’t get to talk.

Reminder for any excited about this new stab at the sex industry, cops can legally fuck a prostitute on your tax dollars then have the person arrested. Why that’s like a man having sex with a womxn, then calling her dirty afterwards. The people, particularly the men, that make up those in the armed forces, and other government jobs love to congregate with sex workers, they couldn’t survive without the sharing of sexual energy from the people that make up this industry. They like to fuck us, tip us in the clubs, and have fantasies of making us their wives. These government organizations are the same that are okay with the raping of womxn and children. They love turning a blind eye to the atrocities of sex crimes that take place within our everyday existence. And no, sex work is not to blame if a man rapes a young boy. Or if a womxn is raped coming home from her socially acceptable day job. Men and their entitlement, sexual suppression, and overall mental issues coupled with the laws that seek to govern womxn’s bodies are the problem.

Laura Augustin, author of “Sex At The Margins” and “Three-Headed Dog”, posed a question on Facebook once. It was something like: “Why is it something that is perfectly fine to give away for free, is not allowed to be sold?” And it should make you question the logic of the society you live in. I mean we live in a world where water is free to the land, but there are corporate conglomerates that can sell that shit to you for way too much money. But selling pussy is a problem? Government agencies can also fine you for catching rain water on your own property for crying out loud!

Oh my gawd I don’t have the space right now to dissect the misogynistic history behind these raids and the stupid laws that keep allowing shit like this to happen. Living breathing people are without work right now. This includes the very vulnerable population of people who worked for that call center. Call centers do not pay a lot of money to employees. Now potentially, if this raid influences any other sort of legal action based on shady anti-trafficking laws, those people who were engaging in a legal form of work could potentially face drastic consequences rooted in racism, classism and the criminalizing of the sex industry.

Although some of you reading may think ha ha, hoo hoo, this doesn’t affect you; just you wait. Infringing upon the rights of sex workers in this country is a vivid picture on the rights of yours that will be affected. Take a close look. This also has an effect on the economy, the continued housing crisis and the general well-being of the population. This is not some isolated event. Raiding businesses and deporting people who contribute to the flow of this economy is connected to your life as well.

More from Cris Sardina: “When the SAVE ACT was first introduced, Eros was scared and rightly so. The feds required sites to mandate real names, real credit cards, and could confiscate 10 yrs back on their records without notice. Eros complied and for awhile there, their site looked like fucking Polaris!” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Advertising_Victims_of_Exploitation_Act_of_2014”

No lie, this is shitty and a really bad look for the sex worker rights movement. It’s also not a good look for me because I have posted on Eros. Too broke to ever post as an escort, I always opted for the legal route of BDSM services. I’d rather spank a man and ride him like a horse, yanno? There is something you all should know, you are not going to stop people from selling sex. If you can’t beat us, you need to just join us.

Sign on to our joint statement and help us get one step closer in raising awareness, spreading facts and changing these ridiculous laws that seek to violate the sexual freedom of everyone. Yes, this includes you. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nolvaK_PQEfrcnNlmj0J0s37RMtvHRGLQlrjKqwo3xk/edit

BH