In this session, we’ll examine the surveillance of sex work and the intersectional queer, anti-racist and feminist movements against it. What digital technologies, specifically, are used to surveil sex workers and sex worker organizers? What strategies can sex workers and sex worker organizers use to stay safe from policing on the internet?

Joined by sex worker organizers, Gabriella Garcia (Decoding Stigma), and Jared Trujillo (NYCLU), we will also discuss to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the sex work landscape and brought increased policing and surveillance online.

Moderated by S.T.O.P.’s Albert Fox Cahn.

Panelists:

Gabriella Garcia (she/her) is a writer, performer, and poetic technologist based in New York. Her research focuses on cybernetic intimacy and the promotion of sexual ethics in the tech design space. Her current work is Decoding Stigma, a collaborative effort to bridge the gap between sex work, technology and academia.

Jared Trujillo (he/him) serves as policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union (ACLU of New York), where he leads the organization's work on criminal and juvenile legal system policy reform, and he is an adjunct professor at Hofstra Law School. Additionally, Jared serves on the steering committee of Decrim NY, an coalition of organizations that exist to decriminalize, decarcerate, and destigmatize sex work in New York. Through Decrim NY, Jared has worked on successful campaigns to repeal the state's antiquated "Walking While Trans ban," to pass the Survivors of Trafficking Attaining Relief Together ("START") Act. He actively works on campaigns to decriminalize unlicensed massage, to redirect resources from the policing of sex workers and their clients to supporting sex workers and their clients, and on the campaign to decriminalize sex work in New York. Jared's work and commentary has been featured in the Advocate, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, and other outlets.

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