Escorts Online: Effects of Policy on Sex Work through Digital Spaces

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dc.contributor.advisorMacLennan, Anne
dc.contributor.authorEdelhauser, Diana Monica
dc.date.accessioned2021-11-15T15:20:14Z
dc.date.available2021-11-15T15:20:14Z
dc.date.copyright2021-06
dc.date.issued2021-11-15
dc.date.updated2021-11-15T15:20:14Z
dc.degree.disciplineCommunication & Culture, Joint Program with Ryerson University
dc.degree.levelMaster's
dc.degree.nameMA - Master of Arts
dc.description.abstractIn April 2018, the Trump Administration approved two acts that frame sex work as human trafficking. Subsequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized popular adult personals site, Backpage.com, used by Canadian and American sex workers. This led to the increase in censorship of online spaces, which sex workers require to safely conduct their independent business through advertising, processing secure transactions, and maintaining safe communication with clients and the sex work community. My work aims to understand how these changes have explicitly impacted sex workers as they advertise and communicate their services, working predominantly as escorts in Canada and the United States. Governmental documents and laws like Bill C-36/PCEPA and SESTA/FOSTA, which claim to save exploited populations, may harm autonomous citizens making a living through stigmatized labour by seizing their resources and forcing them to use outdated, unsafe methods of business and communication. Most, if not all, of these regulations are developed without the input of sex workers or relevant empirical evidence. Through interviews with current sex workers in Southern Ontario and an overview of ads, a deeper understanding of the communication practices of consensual sex work, its fight for decriminalization, and the importance of the Internet is reached.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/38675
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectSociology
dc.subject.keywordssex work
dc.subject.keywordsInternet regulation
dc.subject.keywordsnet neutrality
dc.subject.keywordscensorship
dc.subject.keywordssex positive
dc.subject.keywordssex-as-work approach
dc.subject.keywordsadvertising
dc.subject.keywordsregulation
dc.subject.keywordsstigma
dc.subject.keywordsdecriminalization
dc.subject.keywordsSESTA/FOSTA
dc.subject.keywordsBill C-36
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian policy
dc.subject.keywordslabour
dc.titleEscorts Online: Effects of Policy on Sex Work through Digital Spaces
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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