shipwreck

I love, love, love how many of my followers have started adding and advocating for image descriptions. like, that will never not mean the most to me.

but the fact remains that the most accessible thing is for artists to include image descriptions from the start, on the original post. we can add descriptions all day long (and many of us literally do, lol) but the inaccessible version is almost always gonna be the one that circulates the most.

Prof: Did everyone understand what I just said?

Me: Yes.

My mind:

Hide and seek 2016 - 2018

Calida, 35, is a Chicago-based sex worker who has depended on websites that host classified ads, such as Craigslist and Backpage.com, to meet and screen clients. But the US government’s recent crackdown on those platforms has abruptly eliminated many workers’ primary source of income, forcing some to turn to the streets or to rely on abusive pimps, greatly increasing the risk of violence.

“Girls are going back to the streets and they are going to die in the streets, and nobody cares,” said Calida, a mother of two, who said she used to do street work and fears she will have to start again to make ends meet. “Everybody is terrified.”

Congress recently passed legislation with bipartisan support that purports to combat online sex trafficking by making websites criminally liable for users’ content. But some say the Online Sex Trafficking Act (Fosta) and Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (Sesta) will have the opposite effect. Critics argue that the legislation broadly censors online speech, takes income away from people who engage in consensual sex work, and helps traffickers get away with crimes by pushing the industry underground. 

Sex worker rights groups have long argued that initiatives targeting child trafficking end up hurting the most marginalized workers by broadly criminalizing the industry. That includes queer and transgender people, the homeless and others who have been excluded from traditional employment. Defenders of Backpage and Craigslist say those sites gave workers control over their jobs and allowed people to detect and report traffickers.

Kristen DiAngelo, executive director of the Sex Workers Outreach Project of Sacramento, said her phone had been ringing off the hook since the seizure of Backpage: “The fear is astronomical.”

One woman told her she was forced to return to an abusive client due to the lost income, she said. Others have resorted to taking on “managers” who have leverage over the women and their income and could exploit them, she added. “Very easily, you can lose control of your own life.”