UPDATE

SISEA was thrown out but only because of the ‘lame duck’ period — meaning that nobody in the Senate wanted to put any effort into anything when there was so little time before the next elects were set to come in. It’s a win, but not a victory, since another Senator (or even the same ones) could just come in and submit the same or a similar bill once everything is settled with the new crew of Senators. 

What SISEA Will Mean for the World of Sex Work and Internet Pornography:

SISEA (the Stop Internet Sexual Exploitation Act) was proposed by and will be voted on by Senators first. If passed, it will require ALL websites who host and make adult entertainment media available to follow certain regulations.

What Websites Will Be Affected?

• Sites where sex workers like online Dommes make our money, such as OnlyFans, AVNStars, Pornhub, JustForFans, Niteflirt, Clips4Sale, IWantClips, etc.
• Adult webcam sites, such as Chaturbate and MyFreeCams
• Sites where sex workers advertise like Dickie Virgin and Findoms.com
• Mainstream sites which allow adult content such as Twitter, Reddit, and Fetlife
• Individual sites owned by independent sex workers such as Myself. EVERY single website of Mine will be affected, but I will most likely have to remove RateMyTinyPenis and BlackmailFetish completely.
• Personal and business websites for individual photographers who take and display artistic nude photos.
• Sites where hand drawn, CGI, and cartoon pornographic images are available, such as FurAffinity and even art websites like DeviantArt

 

What Will be Required Under the New Law?

Every website which makes adult media available to the public will have to follow near-impossible guidelines in order to be allowed to continue to upload adult media. Here are just SOME of the things that these sites (including Mine!) will need to do:

• Have a phone number available where people can call 24 hrs a day 7 days a week and request that you take down anything that they feel was posted without permission. You have 2 hours to comply with the take-down request.
• Upload a signed consent form, proof of age verification, and a signed agreement stating the geographical location that they are consenting to having the media in which they appear distributed. These documents must be gathered from the time of each individual film/picture being uploaded and are required to be kept on file by the person uploading the media for every person appearing in every clip or picture uploaded — PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. (This means most content from before the law goes into effect will be removed, and that there will be no more Double Domme clips, multiple performer porn clips, Domme/sub clips, etc without full written consent and age verification for each person involved and for every individual piece of media).
• You will be charged $1000 per day that you host this media without having these consent forms and age verification available.
• Check a government database before uploading any media to be sure that the person whose image you are using is not on that database even IF they consented to having their pictures/videos posted by you.
• NOT allow content to be downloaded form their websites (which means no one will be able to sell adult videos. Even on a streaming-only service, your computer temporarily downloads part of the videos you are watching, so streaming adult media would no longer be allowed either under SISEA).
• Utilize software which will automatically disallow a video which has been removed to be re-uploaded. (As far as I know, this might not be possible, but definitely doesn’t exist as simply converting a video file to a different file type makes this type of software which is already used by places like Clips4Sale not work)

 

How Can You Help Stop SISEA From Passing?

This bill was proposed by Senators and will first be voted on by Senators (of which each state has 2). Once it passes the Senate, it will be voted on by House Representatives (of which each state has a number of representatives based upon that state’s population), and then it will go to the president himself to be signed into law. Here is how you can make those representatives aware of your thoughts on this:

• Find out who your representatives are. I used GovTrack — https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members
• Call or (preferably) write a letter to tell them why you think the bill should not be passed. Pay special attention to those on the Committee list — https://www.commerce.senate.gov/members (thanks to Alana, president of APAG Union for this info!) Anecdotally, when someone reaches out to a Senator or Representative, they count that as the opinion of roughly 10 of their constituents.
• Spread the word to all platforms that you can so that others know what this is, why it is going to destroy the porn industry, and how they can help stop it as well.
• Track the progress of the SISEA bill on Congress’s website — https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/5054/actions?r=4&s=3

What to Do When You Contact Them

There is every possibility that they will not listen, but there are things you can do which can make it more likely that they will pay attention to your plea. Some points to address include:

• During a time when the country is already struggling economically, this will further remove vital income from workers, potentially causing them to lose their ability to purchase goods and services, thus causing further deterioration of the economy.
• Ask them why they are focusing on this issue instead of the immediate needs of their constituents, which even a $2000 stimulus check will not fix for many?
• The people that they represent care deeply about this issue, and the Senator’s response to this bill will effect the way they vote in the next election.
• The bill is worded (according to section 3 line 23), someone who is 16 years old in certain states would be able to post pornographic content.IF the bill is truly trying to help protect children, Why are children allowed to upload pornography? (Thanks to Ruby, Vice President of APAG Union, for pointing this out!)
• If the point of this bill is to protect children against pedophelia, then it has missed the mark completely. Statistics show that 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the child knows, 60% is done by someone that the family knows and trusts, and 30% is done by a family member. This law doesn’t address any of that. (thanks to Dark 2 Light for this information!)
• If the goal is simply to prevent child pornographic content from being created or distributed, this bill also does not hit the mark on that. Most CP is created either by someone who knows the victim (family member, family friend, babysitter, etc) or by someone who goes online and entices the victim to take pictures of themself and send the pictures privately to the predator who is posing as a ‘friend’. (Thanks to Thorn, University of New Hampshire Scholars’ Repository, and Child Lures Prevention for these statistics!)
• As long as there is a demand for adult media and content, there will be those who are willing and able to fulfill that demand. The removal of the ability for those who make their money in the adult business to do so openly and honestly will force them into places like the Dark Web, which is completely unregulated.
• No one is advocating for NOT having regulations. We all know that regulations need to be put in place to prevent these things from happening. However, the way this bill is written will make it impossible for consensual adult workers to continue to earn a living. While the bill itself doesn’t outlaw porn, it does create such stringent and impossible to follow rules for producing adult media that it will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for them to continue to make a living.
• Those who make their income via online pornography and adult entertainment may not have the ability to get another job, especially right now. This could force them into a choice between being homeless or becoming an in-person sex worker. Prostitution is already illegal, but people will do what is necessary to survive.

 

What if You are not a US Citizen?

Unfortunately, this is a United States bill, which means that only those who are US Citizens have representatives that they can contact. But if this passes it will effect websites that everyone uses, no matter where you live. As mentioned above, sites like Twitter and Reddit will almost certainly find it easier to go the way of Tumblr and ban adult content than to comply with the new laws being proposed in this bill. If you are not a US citizen but still want to help, you can:

• Spread the word! Share this article everywhere you can, or write one yourself with your thoughts and feelings on the issue.
• Talk to your US friends and tell them how important this is. Try to convince them to contact their senators.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. That’s all I have to say for now, but I will be adding to this article if I think of anything else which might help.