- “Tumblr’s traffic has dropped nearly 30 percent since December [the month it banned adult content] … Tumblr’s global traffic in December clocked in at 521 million, but it had dropped to 370 million by February, web analytics firm SimilarWeb tells The Verge. Statista reports a similar trend in the number of unique visitors. By January 2019, only over 437 million visited Tumblr, compared to a high of 642 million visitors in July 2018.”
* After the porn ban, Tumblr users have ditched the platform as promised (Verge)
- “The UK government’s plan to impose a ‘porn block’ by requiring stringent age verification requirements is ploughing ahead, despite no consultation on the way in which peoples’ personal data will be handled … with just a few weeks before the systems are supposed to be put into place, the BBFC is still now at this stage trying to create a privacy standard for AV providers to adhere to, and is doing so entirely without external input from privacy groups and without a public consultation period.”
* UK ‘porn ban’ to start in just a few weeks, and there’s still no plan to protect personal data (SexTechGuide)
- “Ela Darling might be the only pornstar with a Ted Talk. She was a real librarian — with a master’s degree — when she went into porn and co-created virtual reality sex camming. She also has the Dewey Decimal number for Harry Potter on her back.”
* Ela Darling: The Origin Story of a Librarian Pornstar (Sex Dork | Medium)
- “One of the porn industry’s top agents [Derek Hay, the owner of LA Direct Models in Los Angeles] has been accused by women whom he represents of fraud, sexual abuse and links to an illegal escort business — accusations including coercing performers to pay off “unconscionable” fees and penalties either in cash or by performing sexual acts on him.”
* Porn Actresses Take On Powerful Industry Agent (NBC)
- “The rally had been called by a new coalition, Decrim NY, formed by current and former sex workers and local organizations that want to get the police and the courts out of their communities. In addition to Senators Ramos and Salazar, it featured a line-up of public defenders, sex workers, and local politicians. Even Manhattan Borough President Linda Rosenthal sent a letter of support.”
* ‘Whores But Organized’: Sex Workers Rally for Reform (NY Review of Books)
- “The custom nude business is on the rise, and despite critics and payment platforms discriminating against sex workers, show no signs of slowing down. Like many things done in 2019, all you really need to get started is your phone and an audience. If you can grow a self made business, pay your rent, cover tuition, and gain self confidence, more power to you. At the end of the day, a job is a job. Many people take racy photos – some people just get paid for it.”
* Inside the world of selling nudes online (Dazed)
- “Love hotels are surprisingly folksy in Japan – there’s about 37,000 of them across the country and they’re visited by an estimated 2.5 million people a day … London (and other major Western cities) has more of a cloak-and-dagger approach to the fact that some people rent hotel rooms for the purpose of sex, but the love hotel phenomenon can be found here too. ”
* Under the covers: inside London’s secret ’love hotels’ (Huck Mag)
- “An open database in China contains the personal information of more than 1.8 million women, including their phone numbers, addresses, and something called “BreedReady” status, according to a researcher.”
* China database lists ‘breedready’ status of 1.8 million women (Guardian)
- “Sealed documents from a lawsuit against a woman accused of running a sex trafficking ring with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein may be released to the public in the very near future. The documents could shed light on allegations against Epstein and his former partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, according to the Miami Herald.”
* Court Moves Towards Unsealing Docs That Could Expose Details of Alleged Epstein Sex Ring (Law and Crime)
- “Refusing to provide children with medically accurate sex education isn’t ideological — it’s negligent … Only about half of all school districts in the United States require any sex ed at all. Of those that do, most mandate or stress abstinence-only instruction. No birth control. No sexually transmitted infection prevention. No consent.”
* How to Make Sex More Dangerous (NYT)
Main post image: selected in hope you’ll support Steve Diet Goedde’s Kickstarter for EXTEMPORE.
