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Bi-Weekly Sexual Freedom Newsletter Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Top Stories This Week
What’s happening at Woodhull;
Age verification laws;
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act;
Sterilization procedures post-Dobbs;
Abortion rights and birth justice;
Solitary confinement of trans people; and
Woodhull’s take on online censorship and sex ed
Woodhull Launches Fact Checked By Woodhull
Debunking Sex Myths and Misinformation with Analysis, Data
Woodhull is excited to announce the launch of Fact Checked by Woodhull. This program uses peer-reviewed research compiled and analyzed by professional researchers to debunk the myths used to justify the repression of sex, sexuality, and gender expression.
The mission of Fact Checked by Woodhull is simple: to provide you with the facts you need to make informed decisions. Whether it’s dissecting complex policy debates, debunking misleading claims, or verifying the accuracy of statements made by public figures, we’re here to separate fact from fiction with precision and rigor.
Persons working in the sex industry are often the “canaries in the coal mine” for online censorship. As some of the first workers to face removal from online spaces, they’ve made us aware of the longstanding and widespread censorship of sexual speech and behavior online.
Woodhull commissioned a study to examine how sex workers use online platforms and experience censorship thereon, and they have data to talk about!
For the past year, Melissa Ditmore, PhD and Samantha Majic, PhD worked with sex workers across the U.S. to develop a survey and interview guide to study the effects of digital platform closures and other platform measures to restrict sex workers’ access to online spaces on sex workers themselves. Their findings to date reveal both sex workers’ marginalization online and also the measures they are taking to challenge and resist this.
Our May Censorship Series program will delve into their findings. Join us for one of the very first public discussions of their research!
Age Verification: It’s not the measure; it’s the means!
Age verification laws attack our right to sexual freedom. Ricci Joy Levy writes: “Online age verification systems are becoming increasingly common as websites and platforms try to comply with laws restricting access to certain types of content for minors. From porn sites to social media networks to online gambling, users are frequently asked to submit some form of identification to prove they are over a certain age threshold. While the goal of preventing children’s exposure to age-inappropriate material is laudable, the required methods of age verification raise significant privacy concerns.”Read more.
Inside America’s School Internet Censorship Machine (WIRED)
As we at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation and SIECUS recently explored in a jointly-authored resource, if you care about online censorship, you should care about sex ed. Unfortunately, accessing sex ed on the internet is increasingly difficult. Todd Feathers and Dhruv Mehrotra write: “Thanks in large part to a two-decade-old federal anti-porn law, school districts across the US restrict what students see online using a patchwork of commercial web filters that block vast and often random swathes of the internet. Companies like GoGuardian sell software that governs students’ internet use in thousands of US school districts. As the national debate over school censorship focuses on controversial book-banning laws, a WIRED investigation reveals how these automated web filters can perpetuate dangerous censorship on an even greater scale.”Read more.
(Photo by Sina Schuldt/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
Medication Abortion Belongs on College Campuses. Schools Need to Step Up. (Rewire News Group)
Everyone, everywhere deserves meaningful abortion access. Universities are uniquely posed to respond to relentless attacks on our right to reproductive freedom. Laila Salaam writes: “Since my graduation from George Washington University last May, a campus movement has gained steam: a student-driven campaign demanding the university administration provide medication abortion access on campus. [...] University health centers are uniquely positioned to reshape the abortion access landscape across the country.” Read more.
(Shutterstock/Austen Risolvato/Rewire News Group illustration)
How Abortion Rights and Birth Justice Are ‘Inextricably Linked’ (Rewire News Group) As Jacqueline Hammock, president of the Birth Rights Bar Associationputs it, abortion rights and birth justice “are inextricably linked by the human right of bodily autonomy and the reality of pregnancy as a process with multiple potential outcomes, including abortion, miscarriage, and birth.” Thalia Charles writes: “Birth justice organizers and advocates have previously told us about how Roe, even when it was the law of the land, insufficiently protected the interests of birthing people. The data backs it up: From when Roe was decided in 1973 to the June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned it, over 1,800 people faced criminal investigation, prosecution, and/or imprisonment because of their pregnancy outcomes.”Read more.
Trans Prisoners Overwhelmingly Thrown In Solitary Confinement, Report Says (The Appeal) We will not achieve sexual freedom without the liberation of trans people, who are routinely denied their most basic human rights, including while incarcerated. Adam M. Rhodes writes: “Hundreds of transgender people incarcerated in state prisons face solitary confinement and urge officials to craft new housing policies to keep trans people safer behind bars, according to a new report by the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice and LGBTQ+-focused advocacy organization Black & Pink. The February report was based on a survey of 280 transgender people—mostly trans women—incarcerated in 31 states. The report spells out both the disproportionate abuse trans people face—and the novel solutions they said are necessary to ensure their safety and their humanity.”Read more.
Woodhull’s Take: Improving Access to Gender-Affirming Care in Hawaii (Woodhull’s Sex & Politics Blog) Access to quality, comprehensive healthcare – including gender-affirming care – is a human right. We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation share our take on improving access to gender-affirming care in Hawaii: “Thankfully, lawmakers are considering a bill that would remove the arbitrary and needless obstacle of an in person appointment for people wanting to obtain testosterone. HB 2079 proposes to relax the in person requirement for drugs prescribed as part of gender-affirming care. Critically, HB 2079 would also extend the protections of Hawaii’s ‘shield’ law—which ‘guards abortion patients, providers, and anyone who helps someone get an abortion from out-of-state legal action’—to gender-affirming care providers and parents or guardians of minors who receive care.” Read more.
Woodhull Freedom Foundation is the only national human rights organization working full time to protect the fundamental human right to sexual freedom. Our work includes fighting censorship, eliminating discrimination based on gender or sexual identity, or family form, and protecting the right to engage in consensual sexual activity and expression. We do this through advocacy, education, and coalition building.
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