Deplatforming Sex: a roundtable conversation

ABSTRACT

Hosted by Northumbria and Birmingham City Universities, the Deplatforming Sex roundtable took place via Teams in October 2021. Participants included Danielle Blunt, Stefanie Duguay, Tarleton Gillespie and Sinnamon Love. Clarissa Smith chaired the discussion, which was transcribed and then edited to cut digressions and repetitions for publication. The roundtable provided the opportunity to reflect on recent moves to excise sex and forms of sexual commerce and performance from online spaces, while marking out some key issues for future research with and about sex workers, performers and other content providers. Our discussion provided critical engagement with ongoing legislative changes that are impacting content and providers directly and indirectly.

KEYWORDS:

• adult content
• deplatforming
• FOSTA/SESTA
• moderation
• platform governance
• sexual expression
• sex work
• sex workers
• shadowbanning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Detailed discussion of Section 230 can be found in Kosseff (2022).

2 The BIPOC Adult Industry Collective is a performer and sex worker-led collective offering education and support services to empower community members financially. See https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-bipocaic-provide-mutual-aid-and-fight-racism

3 ‘Honoring Henrietta: The Legacy of Henrietta Lacks’, Johns Hopkins Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/