Sex work is one of the oldest careers known to man. The earliest records of prostitution date back to 2400 BC in ancient Mesopotamia. Various forms of pornography have been documented throughout history. Sex is innate to the human experience. Yet, pornography is still considered taboo and immoral to many.

OnlyFans, an online platform that popularized independent pornographic content, recently reversed their decision to ban sexually explicit content from the website. Prior to the reversal, many politicians were quick to voice their support for the content ban, including Utah Rep. Burgess Owens and Sen. Todd Weiler. This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering Utah’s ongoing battle against pornography, which former Gov. Gary Herbert declared a public health crisis. And in March 2021, Utah lawmakers voted to require all cellphones and tablets sold in-state to automatically block pornography.

Politicians like Owens and Weiler have tried to frame the anti-porn movement as a health crisis rather than a moral battle, arguing that banning pornographic content will protect children and minimize sexual exploitation. But if Utah was truly interested in minimizing sexual exploitation, politicians would invest in safer pornographic platforms, and provide resources for sex workers. These kinds of radical alternatives may not be popular among the LDS-dominant faith, so Utah politicians gain public support by maintaining a puritanical distaste for all sexual content. This conservative approach harms sex workers and is ineffective at protecting children from explicit content.

Porn isn’t going anywhere, and neither are sex workers. Utah politicians concerned with sexual exploitation should focus on decreasing human trafficking. Utah is ranked 4th in the nation for human trafficking per capita, and the state saw a 123% increase in reported human trafficking cases in 2018. Pornography isn’t the problem.

Pornography has been used as a scapegoat for sex trafficking, but initiatives that target porn haven’t been shown to decrease sex trafficking. SESTA-FOSTA, a bipartisan bill package turned law in 2018, intended to hold websites accountable for online sex trafficking by targeting sex ads. However, since its passing, SESTA-FOSTA has been widely critiqued by both free speech advocates and sex workers for its disastrous impacts.

“Though the exact legal applicability of FOSTA is speculative, it has already had a wide-reaching practical impact; it is clear that even the threat of an expansive reading of these amendments has had a chilling effect on free speech, has created dangerous working conditions for sex-workers, and has made it more difficult for police to find trafficked individuals,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review said in an analysis of the bills.

Their research concluded that law enforcement has struggled to track human trafficking since SESTA-FOSTA’s implementation, and resources have been diverted to target consensual prostitution instead. Websites like Craigslist that allowed sex workers to screen their clients stopped platforming sex workers out of fear of being held liable for human trafficking. SESTA-FOSTA has not succeeded in decreasing human trafficking.

Utah politicians and lawmakers assume the prevention of illegal sex trafficking will always come at the cost of sex workers’ safety. “I am deeply disappointed by OnlyFans’ dangerous decision that will undoubtedly continue troubling patterns of sexual exploitation and call on the Department of Justice to launch an immediate investigation into this platform,” Owens said in an interview with KSL. OnlyFans should be investigated, and we should ensure platforms with explicit content are used safely. What Owens fails to recognize is that banning explicit content would not decrease sexual exploitation. Banning explicit content would not prevent minors from accessing the site. The solution isn’t censorship — it is revolutionizing the online porn industry.

OnlyFans should invest in more vetting and verification, so sex workers can safely sustain themselves while keeping the platform inaccessible to minors. The BBC published an expository investigation showing how easy it was for minors to access OnlyFans. Sexually explicit content will always exist on the internet. And without a drastic increase in security measures, children will be able to access it.

Reducing options for online sex work results in increased street prostitution, which increases crime and STDs. Working indoors, screening clients and having a community are all positive aspects of online sex work. Pornography intake has only increased since Gov. Herbert declared porn a public health crisis. Initiatives to censor sexual content in the past have been incredibly performative and haven’t decreased human trafficking or porn viewership. If Owens is concerned about sexual exploitation, he should support the use of safe platforms where sex workers can exercise their own autonomy.

By hiding under the guise of saving children from human trafficking, politicians gain public support while passing smokescreen initiatives like SESTA-FOSTA and censoring porn on cell phones. To create a safer world of online pornography, we first have to accept its existence. It is in the best interest of children and sex workers for Utah politicians to stop the war on porn, and focus on creating a safer internet.

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@maggie_bring