I think we have all seen the hand-wringing and panic over the passing of these bills. Nobody knows what the future will look like, but we all agree that things will be very different. The thing is that some of these changes may actually benefit Pro Dommes rather than it being completely bad. However, I want to start with the basics, at least as far as I understand them, and move onto how I project the future will look.

SESTA/FOSTA are US based federal regulations that are focused on attacking advertising mediums, not individual providers (remember that this started because Backpage kept beating the federal government in court and their eventual shutdown of their adult forums was a business decision by them rather than them being legally required to). Because the regulation has provisions to allow individuals to sue those mediums for harm done to them, the main impact (in my opinion) will be a combination of a self-censorship chilling effect by these sites (which we are already seeing even though it is not yet a law and the effective date is not until Jan 1 2019.. and it will probably be tied up in the courts for constitutional issues for many years to come) and "vigilante justice" where those who hate sex work will create situations that allow them to sue any sites that do advertise it (basically private sting operations that lead to lawsuits rather than arrests) if it isn’t overturned.

If they ever actually go into effect, I don't expect that the federal government will be spending its resources going after every platform. Instead, it will hit only those that flip them the bird in the way that Backpage did for so long (if you notice, they never went after Craigslist for personals after Craigslist shut down their adult forums), and certainly not individual providers unless they run houses/brothels rather than just renting dungeon space. The real risk of having a dungeon, and it is completely existent today rather than something new with SESTA/FOSTA, is that a local municipality can utilize RICO to seize all of the assets of the dungeon (and the physical building itself) because it was utilized in the commission of a crime (i.e., prostitution). This can extend to your own private residence if that is where your dungeon is located.

Not that anyone has actually announced plans, but we should expect the shuttering of sites like the one we are on now, Max Fisch, Dickie Virgin, etc… This decision will be driven by the financial fears of the owners of the site rather than the federal government specifically censoring the internet. For those sites that instead choose to move out of the US, don’t expect that means those of us in the USA will still be able to use them. The US owns the rights to issue .com, .net and .tv root domains. That means that violation of US law allows for seizure of any domain name under those root domains which essentially shutters the site.

We have already seen this in the past in regards to off-shore gambling, where violation of that set of laws led to exactly this action by the US government (which, btw, almost nobody in the sex work industry was upset about... so excuse me if I don't give into the whining about how others outside of sex work are not stepping up to the table now). So, if you look at what gambling sites did in response to the seizure and prosecution of some sites and owners, and what Backpage and now TER have followed suit on, is to block US based IP addresses from accessing their sites (which kills the client base that US based Dommes are trying to get to) in order to avoid this financial liability, even if they are based completely outside of the US.

In addition, social media platforms that the sex work industry has adopted as its main communication methods will no longer allow that kind of content on their site. That means, that if you have an account that happens to be called @DommeTravel on Twitter and that is solely based on advertising session availability for Dommes across the globe ... expect it to just disappear on some random day rather than just being shadowbanned. Which means, just like you can’t talk about specific acts you may perform during sessions that are illegal, you won’t be able to advertise that you offer live, or possibly even online, sessions through those platforms. This will include not just Twitter, Instagram, YouTube but also sites like FetLife.

Finally, the one part of this that I haven’t really heard much discussion about is the electronic portions of the financial transaction (which in most cases is just deposits, but could be the entire session cost). Today, corporations like PayPal specifically go out of their way to prevent these types of payments to come through their platform, but others like Venmo or GiftRocket don’t really care. This will probably change the first time that any of these companies get nailed with a SESTA/FOSTA based lawsuit. On the other hand, we do have platforms that do offer services for pay that shouldn’t be under the jurisdiction of SESTA/FOSTA, like NiteFlirt. since there is no physical interaction.

So, the extremely bad news for Dommes is that there will no longer be easy ways to advertise your availability for sessions to people who don’t already know you. In addition, it will be extremely difficult to discuss things like FemDom Mansion, OOI, Eden, etc… and the way that deposits are provided may have to radically change (again). However, the good news is that this particular set of regulations does not have any effect on other ways in which Pro and Fin Dommes make money and communicate with subs (although, this is probably just a first step because you can already hear the drumbeat on the right about porn in general AND the payment methods may have to change), so you may actually find ways to make subs pay to have those first conversations (which will eliminate all of the Domme Yankers and a good deal of the time wasters who just want to jack-off to the idea).

My expectation, therefore, is that your advertising will now almost exclusively occur through content rather than it being another revenue stream. Instead of going to an advertising site, or your website where you provide that information, potential clients will see your pictures/clips (in many cases, paying for them) in order to understand that you are a Real Life Domme and you do Fetish work/modeling. You may still discuss some things that you may have done to “Client A” in different social media forums, but the veneer will be that the context was as a personal sub/slave rather than someone who is paying for your time, skills and attention.

Although initial inquiries may still happen through email (I recommend utilizing ProtonMail.com as well as requiring that the sub also create an account on a secure platform you approve) or your account for secure texting (for that, I recommend Signal). However, potential clients may now have to put money forward to actually have the kind of business conversations (like deposits, tributes, activities you offer and that they want to explore, limits, etc…) that you don’t wish to document through email. If that is the case, then these will have to happen through personal interactive methods through a platform like NiteFlirt or WhatsApp. Again, utilizing these platforms to arrange sessions may or may not be risky because if it becomes known that these platforms are the way that sessions are arranged, they may have to treat known Sex Workers the same way that Twitter does and ban them from the system (and the conversations can be recorded and retained just like email but are much harder to say “that wasn’t me”).

So, summarizing what I think the future looks like…

1) Direct advertising sites and Social Media as a place to do FinDom or arrange Pro Domme sessions in the US will disappear. The same goes for all review sites. Social Media sites as general brand promotion will still exist and advertising of content for purchase or platforms to contact you.

2) Personal Website content will no longer include things like rates/deposit policy/availability, etc… However, “personal” interests lists (like you would see on FetLife), blogs that discuss your travel plans or current location, links to contact information and pay sites (for either content or direct contact with you) will still be there.

3) Purchasing content or access to you to discuss possible sessions may be the way that subs will have to make their initial approach rather than through a contact form on your site. Direct email from a secure, non-us provider to your secure, non-us provider for free as initial contact may still be an offering for some Dommes.

4) Deposits may no longer be explicit, as in “I need a $50 Venmo deposit” but instead once everything is arranged through other means the client can call your special $50 per minute NiteFlirt line or get access to your high-end onlyfans page with the explicit understanding that this is a deposit for the session you have arranged through other means (I am sure there are other ideas that are the equivalent of this as well).

5) Crypto-currency (such as BitCoin) will become a much bigger part of the industry as more and more payment methods will look to eliminate Sex Workers utilizing their systems.

I could be completely wrong and I am sure I am not completely right. However, I do think that this is exactly the kind of forum to have this discussion… at least while it is still here for us.

Asp