Sex News: NYT ignores misogyny in anti-porn feature, Munroe Bergdorf faces off with creeps, that Black Mirror ‘porn’ episode, unpacking the anti-sex business of tech

• This is an interesting article, but even I am amazed how NYT managed to omit the key role misogyny and white-right campaigns against sex workers (like censoring ‘brigades’) has in this issue. “Amid the recent surge in hate crimes and shootings, some of the suspects in racist attacks and their supporters have invoked the societal ills caused by pornography in manifestos or online forums. White nationalists, misogynistic clubs and online forums have also drawn a connection between pornography and anti-Semitism. Many of the adherents appear to be young men who blame the prevalence of pornography online for their own struggles and what they perceive as society’s decline.”
  * Among Some Hate Groups, Porn Is Viewed as a Conspiracy (NYT)

• This link is straightforward coverage, but the context is important. Ms. Bergdorf is an out trans woman who is handling this situation with an outstanding amount of grace and sex-positivity. And the issue is now wrenching open a long-needed public discussion about the negative sexualization of LGBTQ people. “Childline has cut ties with Munroe Bergdorf three days after the transgender activist announced she had been appointed as the charity’s first LGBT+ campaigner. A representative for Bergdorf has accused the organisation of “bowing down to pressure from a transphobic lobby running a hate campaign”, pointing to Twitter users who described the appointment as “inappropriate” and referred to her as a “porn model”.”
  * Trans activist Munroe Bergdorf says NSPCC bowed to hate campaign in dropping her (Independent)

• Spoiler: the harassment epidemic (being ignored by platforms) is coming from anti-porn incel-style right wingers. “Porn performers have long been harassed on the web, but recently this targeting has spiraled into an industry crisis. In May, the Adult Performers Actors Guild—the adult industry’s union—sent a letter to Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, alleging that nearly 200 performers have had their accounts “terminated without explanation,” over the course of several months. The accounts didn’t bear any particularly scandalous content: In many instances, the letter alleges, there “was no nudity shown” on the shuttered accounts and “it appears that [individuals’ accounts] were terminated merely because of their status as an adult performer.””
  * Instagram’s ‘Solicitation’ Policies Are Exposing Porn Performers to Harassment (Daily Beast)

• I have very mixed feelings about Booker capitalizing on gender sex-exploration and the ‘porn ruins you for real life’ myths. “… the first of its three episodes, titled “Striking Vipers,” boldly goes where no Black Mirror episode has gone before: the world of porn … Rather than Gamergate or the homoeroticism of fighting games, Black Mirror co-creator Annabel Jones maintains that “Striking Vipers” was more about porn and how the brave new world of VR porn could affect people’s offline relationships.”
  * Inside ‘Black Mirror’s’ First Porn Episode: ‘It’s a Sexual Playground’ (Daily Beast)

• “Silicon Valley’s biggest companies have partnered with a single organization to fight sex trafficking — one that maintains a data collection pipeline, is partnered with Palantir, and helps law enforcement profile and track sex workers without their consent. Major websites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others are working with a nonprofit called Thorn (“digital defenders of children”) and, perhaps predictably, its methods are dubious.”
  * Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something’s wrong with the war on sex trafficking (Engadget)
  See also: Behind the writing: Sex trafficking orgs, lies, and profit (Patreon | Violet Blue)

• “For the past six weeks, XBIZ has been conducting an extensive investigation into the deletion of an unusually large number of Instagram accounts of adult performers since the beginning of this year … Infantilism and secrecy, coupled with tech-bro culture, makes Silicon Valley the second element of this Perfect Storm against sex workers”
  * Instagram and the ‘War on Porn’: An XBIZ Explainer (XBIZ)

• “… while OhMiBod’s vibrators have enhanced the level of interaction between cam models and their viewers, these devices are not directly activated by tips. Rather the sex toys respond to the sound alerts models receive each time they get new tips. For this reason, I feel they are missing that exciting edge that that rival company Lovense has. Albeit with the slightly questionable and heteronormative tagline, ‘”Let him control you,” Lovense’s line of remote sex toys have revolutionized the sex technology industry. In particular, the Lush vibrator is especially popular among cam models.”
  * Cam Models Are Using Tip-controlled Sex Toys to Boost Income (and Intimacy) (Future of Sex)

• “Jennifer Tilly: This scene where I take her finger — I just thought, “Oh, [I’ll] put it in my mouth!” I improvised that. She’s like, “Oh, where’s this finger going? Oh, it’s not going south, it’s going north. Ok, now it’s going south.””
  * Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon revisit their lesbian neo-noir ‘Bound’ (Entertainment Weekly)

• “Riley Reyes, through her work with the Adult Performers Advocacy Committee (APAC) — like Lain and the FSC, Alana Evans through her advocacy with Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG), and others — has seen the effects of untreated, unacknowledged suffering … “The biggest threat sex workers face to our mental health is stigma. Most problems performers face lead back to that. Working in a stigmatized profession can lead to loss of housing, banking and even the support of our own families,” she said. “The judgment and shame heaped on us by society can be an incredibly isolating force. It’s easy to forget that, while many fans idolize us, many other people demonize us. And neither is accurate.””
  * “Listen to Us!” Performers, Advocates Speak Out on Mental Health, Self-Care (XBIZ)

• “About 100 people stripped naked in front of Facebook’s New York headquarters on Sunday, as part of a protest against what they view as censorship regarding Facebook and Instagram’s policies around artistic nudity. As dawn rose over the city, the demonstrators lay naked on the road, each with large images of male nipples covering their genitalia.”
  * Demonstrators bare nipples outside Facebook HQ in censorship protest (CNN)

• “Mexico City lawmakers have given the green light to decriminalize sex work in the capital, hoping it will be a first step to a crackdown on sex trafficking that traps thousands of Mexican women and children.”
  * Mexico City will decriminalize sex work in move against trafficking (Guardian)

Main post image via Lotus Lain on Twitter.