While many Democrats are still busy slapping themselves on the back over the election of Joe Biden as US president, a porn star is raising fears over vice-president-elect Kamala Harris’ history of targeting the industry.
In a scathing opinion piece on the Daily Beast, adult film star Cherie DeVille outlines why many in the adult industry are worried stiff about the election of Harris, saying she will bring a “lifetime of animosity toward sex workers” to the White House.
The veteran adult actress says porn stars have been raising concerns about Harris since her time as San Francisco district attorney, which ran from 2004 to 2011.
DeVille blasted Harris for opposing a San Francisco ballot initiative to legalize prostitution and for trying to prosecute the owners of a classified ad website. DeVille says she continued her efforts when elected to the Senate and the result means that anyone who posts an online sex work ad can be jailed.
“In the name of protecting women, Harris has pushed sex workers back onto dangerous street corners,” the porn star said of the incoming vice president’s crusade.
DeVille explained that porn performers’ fears are compounded by the fact that credit card companies have poured massive funding into Biden’s political rise. The actress says the companies are one of the sector’s “biggest adversaries,” effectively deciding what porn is allowed to be released.
“Few Americans realize Visa and Mastercard dictate what porn they want,” she said. “For instance, I refer to myself in precise language when I market my legal adult videos because the credit card companies enforce strict rules. Even though I only produce legal videos up to code, credit card companies decide their regulations.”
The situation is compounded by Facebook policies which censor legal content. DeVille says the Silicon Valley behemoth has a monopoly in the realm and the incoming Biden administration has deep connections with the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company, including hiring many of its former lobbyists and executives.
“It’s disheartening because Facebook is worse than cable companies. They control what we see, and they’re a monopoly. That’s frightening. Nobody knows this better than the sex workers that Facebook censors,” she said.
This censorship isn’t like when public outrage prevented Larry Flynt from selling Hustler at a particular bookstore. He could still sell the magazine at other stores. Facebook would be like if we had one newsstand.
“Sex workers support the Department of Justice’s attempt to break up Facebook, but considering Harris and Biden’s ties to Facebook, I worry they will stop the break-up,” she added.
DeVille’s warning cry comes at a crucial moment for the porn sector as the industry leader Pornhub scrubbed 10 million videos from its site last month following media reports that the platform was “infested” with child abuse and rape videos.
The move did little to appease credit card companies and Visa and Mastercard subsequently stopped processing payments for the porn giant’s site in the days after the changes were announced.
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