AUSTIN, Texas — Andrea Baricca, CEO and Founder of O.School, inadvertently set the Twittersphere abuzz last night when she posted regarding a speaking engagement at the upcoming SXSW Festival.
Baricca tweeted, “This International Women’s Day I’ll be speaking on a panel at @sxsw covering censorship, tech and how it’s affecting our right to accessing accurate information & healthy conversations regarding our sexual health and well-being.”
The Special Event panel, “Censorship and Tech’s Prudish Stance on Our Sex Lives,” is one of several covering sex, tech and wellness kicking off the popular fest at the end of this week.
The tweet was met with mixed reviews — while some applauded the inclusion of the panel in general, it sparked backlash from other users who criticized organizers and SXSW at large for an apparent lack of inclusion on behalf of sex workers.
Suz Ellis, a sex writer and clips artist fired back — “With all due respect to the panelists, it’s completely ridiculous this conversation is happening without any sex workers involved. SESTA/FOSTA and internet censorship affect sex workers first and foremost.”
She continued, “Excluding a marginalized group from the conversation about an issue that not only directly affects that group, but is centered around that group, is so many ways of wrong. Sex writers/educators really need to not step over sex workers here.”
Panel organizer and moderator, Daniel Saynt of New York’s NSFW Club, came forward shortly after to set the record straight attesting, “As a POC, queer sex worker FESTA/SOSTA has directly impacted me, costing me thousands in revenue.”
“That being said, this panel isn't about censorship’s impact on sex workers. It's about how censorship impacts sex education and [by extension] all women, not just sex workers,” said Saynt. He went on to defend SXSW, making it explicitly clear that, “SXSW did give the mic to the marginalized group. That is why I'm on this panel.”
The debacle shed some much needed light on the importance of support and camaraderie amongst advocates for sex workers rights. “This is a fight we're all in,” said Saynt.
The panel, organized by HUD and NSFW, additionally features Sophie Saint Thomas, Katie Wilson and Suzannah Weiss and will take place at 4:25 p.m. local time this Friday.
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