Oct. 11: Elizabeth Warren, Deepfakes, and Trans Representation
Over 90% of all deepfakes are porn, new report claims. 100% involve women.
Welcome back, everyone. Today on the Weekly NSFW News Roundup we’re chatting about Senator Elizabeth Warren’s comments on decriminalizing sex work, the rise in deepfake porn, and building intimacy outside of sex.
It’s been a week. Let’s dig right in.
Elizabeth Warren signals she’s “open” to decriminalization. Be skeptical
Gage Skimore/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Early Thursday morning, Senator Elizabeth Warren made an unprecedented claim on Twitter: she is "open to decriminalizing sex work." She said sex workers deserve autonomy "like all workers," and that they are "particularly vulnerable to physical and financial abuse." It was a surprising shift toward decriminalization, given that Warren voted for SESTA-FOSTA in 2018.
But don’t celebrate quite yet. Warren didn’t promise to decriminalize sex work, she merely said she is “open” to it. That contrasts sharply with the sentence right before hers; imagine if she also tweeted “I am open to pushing for landmark new anti-discrimination legislation.” It’s a weak statement, one that signals she’s still assessing whether to support sex workers’ rights. And sex workers are taking notice.
“Warren introduced a bill that would have barred sex workers from having a bank account. She signed SESTA which stripped sex workers of their autonomy, particularly LGBT workers who she claims she wants to help,” Reese Piper writes. “She has great ideas but her actions speak differently.”
I’m siding with DecrimNY on this one, personally. It’s a good first step, but there’s more work to do. And we wouldn’t even be here without organizations like DecrimNY and the sex workers who have pushed for this change for years.
For more, check out EJ Dickson’s fantastic take for Rolling Stone.
Porn has a problem with trans representation
Pastel Girlfriend (Fair Use)
Over at The Daily Dot, I covered trans representation in porn for my Trans/Sex column. As it turns out, we still have a long road to go. It’s also why DIY adult content made by and for other queer trans folks is so important. Here’s an excerpt:
When porn hyperfixates on a marginalized’s star’s body size, race, gender, and/or capabilities, marginalized viewers take a toll. We end up feeling alienated, undesirable, or undeserving of pleasure. This is doubly the case for people who are regularly stereotyped as monstrous or grotesque, such as trans women. We come to believe that our bodies are fundamentally unlovable, or that they can only be desirable on another person’s terms.
This isn’t true. But it’s easy to believe if no one ever hands you the camera and asks you to create porn for yourself.
Casual sex, skin touch, and platonic intimacy
Part of having a healthy relationship with sex is understanding when it can breed intimacy and when it can’t. Sex educator and therapist Christina Tesoro speaks to this for Autostraddle, pointing to platonic intimacy and how it's largely written off in our society. She also points to sex workers' relationship with physical touch and how our society degrades their work, leading some to consider sex work a form of "naked" therapy. This is a problem in its own right because it further stigmatizes sex work that isn't "therapeutic.”
Here’s an excerpt:
When I began to consider platonic intimacy as a practice that might be healing for me, I also had to get quiet, ask myself a lot of questions, and listen to my body. What kind of touch did I want to experience, and in what circumstances? Did I want to cuddle? Nap together? Give massages? Hug or hold hands? Did I want to dance? How well would I have to know the person I wanted to experience this kind of intimacy with? What would it mean to me if my request for touch from a friend was rebuffed? And how would I know what my limits are, or whether I would feel comfortable verbalizing them?
My own exploration of platonic intimacy, so far, has mostly remained in the questioning phase.
Report: 96% of deepfakes are porn
Deeptrace (Fair Use)
Deeptrace, a cybersecurity company that relies on machine learning to detect deepfakes, released a new report pointing to the video manipulation format’s most common usage: porn. In "The State of Deepfakes," the company claims 96 percent of online deepfakes are "pornographic," while only 4 percent are "non-pornographic." Here are some other key findings from the full report:
Deepfakes rose by over 80 percent between December 2018 and October 2019
There are a collective 134.36 million video views between the four biggest deepfake porn sites
Among the top five deepfake porn sites, 100 percent of content involves women
Most deepfake porn is posted on sites dedicated to the practice, but 6 percent have reached mainstream porn sites. 80 percent of the top 10 porn sites have deepfake videos
The "majority" of creation communities are on dedicated deepfake porn sites as well as "established" communities like "Reddit, 4chan, 8chan, and Voat."
Check out the full report here. (Warning: Site asks for your email to download it)
Ayme Sotuyo (Fair Use)
Here’s what else you need to know this week:
Speaking to Teen Vogue, Senator Bernie Sanders said decriminalization is "one of the areas that I want to think about.” But he also wants to "hear all sides of the issue." That isn’t a promising statement. Don’t forget, Bernie voted for SESTA/FOSTA too
Dutch sex working site Hookers.nl was breached this week, with approximately 250,000 users' data stolen. That includes usernames, IPs, and encrypted passwords. If you've ever used the site, now is a good time to change your passwords and turn on two-factor authentication (if you haven't already).
Sophie Ladder just updated her list of site restrictions for kink and fetish content. It’s an incredibly useful resource for online sex workers. For instance: Did you know hypnosis is banned on Amateur Porn and IndieBill, and nood.tv doesn't allow peeing?
Jessie Sage's Q&A with her husband is a refreshing look into how couples navigate sex work together. It's short but sweet.
Check out Hot Day, the adult comic by ace queer Latinx artist Ayme Sotuyo. The project landed over 300% funding on Kickstarter this week, a sign that the world longs for more ace, queer, Latinx representation in porn.