Scene magazine - September 2021

Page 11

Scene 11

the full pelt, that would have given the site £360million. Even if the figure was half that, it is an astonishing amount of money. Money already processed through these banks who now want it all cleaned up. There are individual sex workers on the site earning in excess of £50k a month. That is not a typo.

No sex please, we’re Westernised... (but we will shoot you in the foot) By Craig Hanlon-Smith ) And so pornographic

site Only Fans announced it was to change its content model from October, banning all material containing “sexually explicit conduct” to focus upon more “mainstream content”. Like Tumblr before it. This should perhaps not seem such a surprise, as Facebook and Instagram – the same company – have banned such content for a number of years now. It is part of a not-so-secret cleaning up of the most popular forms of online communication. Cleaning up in terms of sex and nudity that is. Not cleaning up in matters of political misinformation, minority group humiliation and all forms of extremism, from bomb-making how-to guides, to misogynistic women-blaming for home-grown masculine inadequacies. Such as the online postings of the mass murderer in Plymouth last month. No willies, bums or other bits please, but threats of violence and murder are to be encouraged. Within a week, Only Fans did an about turn, perhaps because it realised its very existence is porn driven.

“Only Fans’ success rocketed in lockdown, and it now has over 130 million subscribers. Those of us who have kept our jobs or enjoyed the luxuries of furlough and government subsidies may want to pause for thought.” Websites, publishing any kind of material, should be subject to checks and balances, and pornographic sites in particular have become notoriously easy to upload to, with zero administrative processes examining the source of the material. We live in an age of so-called ‘revenge porn’ and child sexual exploitation and these sites need to step up to take responsibility for the material they

host. Without question. That said, the initial announcement of the banning of all material of a type is concerning on a number of levels. Does a total ban indicate that it is not possible to filter appropriate material? Are these highly advanced technical companies - which regularly listen in to our online conversations then advertise our children’s ‘Dear Santa’ lists back to us, as if spontaneously - incapable of such sophistication? No. This would require investment and a combination of human and technical resource would not come cheap. Let us not forget here that the pressure on Only Fans, as with Tumblr and Facebook before it, comes from their financial interests and partners. Banks and financial processors, themselves under scrutiny from their own boards and trustees, have threatened to stop supporting them if such content is not removed. Of course these banks have, in each separate case, waited until these high-flying tech companies have established themselves financially before making such threats. In short, we were fine with turning a blind eye before, now we’ve got all the money it is time to reveal our puritanical core. Utter hypocrisy. That there has been a U-turn is confirmation of hypocrisy: “Oh – we’re about to lose the money – the sex is fine after all.” Only Fans’ success rocketed in lockdown, and it now has over 130 million subscribers. Those of us who have kept our jobs or enjoyed the luxuries of furlough and government subsidies may want to pause for thought. Millions of people did not have any work or means of income. Some of those who did had their earning potential more than halved. If during that time, some of those people took advantage of the online opportunities available to them, so what? Only Fans hosts tens of thousands of sex workers providing explicit content to subscribers, who can earn up to £36k per year with the company taking 20% of their earnings. If there were 50,000 sex workers earning

Disappointing but not unexpected was the online response from some in our own community to the initial shift in policy. Vitriol not aimed at multinational financial institutions, nor the CEOs of these advantageous tech companies. You can guess it. Blaming those creating the content – the sex workers. LGBTQ+ people (and of course not) earning money during the pandemic. Sex work is work, and in my book the only work more valuable than any other is those of the medical professionals inserting a ventilation pipe down your throat to keep you alive. All other work is on the same level and should be respected as such. We should also be mindful of the puritanical creep. These movements begin with a whisper and start from the outside in. Our so-called civilised societies stare in shock and awe at events and regimes across the world. We gasp at the march of autocracy in far-flung lands, at their obvious oppressive approach and yet ignore the warning signs in our own front garden. In March of this year three advisors to the government on LGBTQ+ issues resigned citing a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people in Number 10, the seat of government in the UK. I am not linking a pornographic website to the LGBTQ+ community as Only Fans runs the spectrum for all. I am connecting a creeping puritanical and judgemental society to the infringement on our way of life in the long term. Since 2016 we have seen how our civilized Western cultures are extremely polarised and when the chips are down, aggressively so. LGBTQIA-YMCA-D.I.S.C.O-OPP ‘Yeah You Know Me’ rights will not be at the top of the agenda in a society whose main concern at the beginning of the pandemic was toilet paper. There were fights in supermarkets over the last packet of Andrex. Just think about that for a minute. Human kindness or toilet paper? Section 28 was introduced in this country over concerns that we were indoctrinating our children into the ways of homosexuality. Jenny Lives with Martin and Eric was considered to be a scandalous publication that would infiltrate the minds of children and suggest that a gay family was a normal family. This is a book no one in government had read, let alone the public. A book that was not freely available and actually quite difficult to get hold of. Yet it inspired legislation that meant generations of young people were met with silence on matters of LGBTQ+ understanding. Silence. The puritanical creep is real. You need to see it, notice it, and speak about it. The rest is just toilet paper.


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Gala Launch of Pride at the Ironworks proves huge success

1min
page 4

Out To Swim South celebrates Pride in the pool

1min
page 5

Chris Sarson raising £2,000 for Ledward Centre and Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents

1min
page 5

The Brighton & Hove AIDS Memorial gets spruced up!

1min
page 6

Allsorts’ #StillProud fundraising campaign raises £400

1min
page 6

Brighton Gay Men's Chorus return to performing at i360's fifth Birthday

1min
page 6

MindOut Trans 101 training

1min
page 6

Majorities in 10 countries 'support legal protection for trans rights'

1min
page 6

Terrence Higgins Trust

2min
page 7

Super Sunday cabaret marathon raises £600 for Sussex Beacon

1min
page 7

Reclaim Pride marches through Brighton city centre

1min
page 7

Queer Bloomsbury: Juno Dawson's 'Lovely Trans Literary Salon'

1min
page 8

Queer in Brighton to host Queer Walking Tour of Brighton

1min
page 8

Win Tickets to Bleach

1min
page 8

Trans Swimming Sessions at St. Luke's Swimming Pool in Hanover

1min
page 8

Bi Pride to take place this month!

1min
page 9

The Clare Project drop-in update and Celebration for Julia

1min
page 9

A QUEER SEX REVOLUTIONARY

4min
page 10

No sex please, we’re Westernised... (but we will shoot you in the foot)

5min
page 11

A JOURNEY THROUGH CHEMSEX

4min
page 14

STUDY: EXPERIENCES OF CHEMSEX

2min
page 15

Stay Sexy

4min
pages 20-21

TITANIA MCGRATH

4min
page 24

SWAPPING NOTES WITH... SAMUEL COUSINS

4min
page 25

FAN THE FLAME

6min
pages 26-27

THE ULTIMATE GAY ICON

2min
page 29

SPOTLIGHT...

4min
page 30

Homely Homily

2min
page 32

Arts Corner

1min
page 32

Stuff & Things

2min
page 34

A QUEER SEX REVOLUTIONARY

4min
page 10

Wall's Words

2min
page 34

CRAIG’S THOUGHTS

4min
page 35

More to me than HIV

2min
pages 36-37

HYDES’ HOPES

2min
page 38

Rae's Reflections

4min
page 39

Book Review

4min
page 40

At Home

3min
page 41

Classical Notes

5min
page 42

All That Jazz

2min
page 43

Art Matters

2min
page 43

Birmingham Hippodrome shares commitment to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism

1min
page 47

Southside Safe Space Returns

1min
page 47

West Midlands Music Board launches to help industry recover after pandemic

2min
page 47

An LGBTQ+ Icon

4min
page 48

VAL MCDERMID

5min
pages 31-48

QUEER HETEROTOPIAS

4min
pages 28-30

What's Cookin?

4min
pages 23-27

Burlesque Express

8min
pages 18-22

SENSORY WORLD

2min
pages 16-17
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Scene magazine - September 2021 by Scene LGBTQ+ Magazine - Issuu