“Time heals physical wounds,” Katie, whose name has been changed to protect her safety, told me over the phone. “I have been independent for years now and away from him, but I’m still mentally trying to get over, you know, everything he’s done.”

The last time Katie tried to leave her pimp, he beat her with a tire iron.

Content warning: This article contains references to sexual violence, assault, and suicide. If you or someone around you is exhibiting suicidal tendencies or self-harm please reach out to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center

In March, Congress passed the Fight Sex Trafficking Online Act (FOSTA), a controversial mashup bill packaged with the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) that was framed by proponents as being anti-sex trafficking. It punishes websites for discussions of prostitution and the sex trade, under the guise of anti-sex trafficking efforts.

But because of this new law, exploitative and abusive people like Katie’s former pimp are swooping back into sex workers’ lives. They’re capitalizing on the confusion and fear this law has created, as online communities where sex workers found and vetted clients and offered each other support are disappearing.

What are you going to do without me, now? exploiters say, flooding former victims’ inboxes and texts. You need me. According to sex workers I’ve spoken with, this is a common message.

“Pimps seem to be coming out of the woodwork since this all happened,” Laura LeMoon, a sex trafficking survivor, writer, and co-founder and director of harm reduction nonprofit Safe Night Access Project Seattle, told me in an email. “They’re taking advantage of the situation sex workers are in. This is why I say FOSTA/SESTA have actually increased trafficking. I’ve had pimps contacting me. They’re leeches. They make money off of [sex workers’] misfortune.”

For those who don’t have other alternatives, the coming weeks and months could see a return to a dark age, as more people are being pushed into street work, or into the extreme exploitation of traffickers and pimps. FOSTA is destroying the communities that supported sex workers with bad-date lists and emergency help, communication that literally meant life-or-death for some.

"Sex work is a real fucking job. It’s the oldest job there is.”

“Make no mistake, if these bills pass, sex workers will die,” adult performer Lorelei Lee told me last month, before FOSTA became law. “I need you to know that is not hyperbole.”