Last weekend, Fei and I went to Catalyst-Con – a conference about sexualtiy, acceptance and activism. Attendees included educators, coaches, activists, therapists, academics and others. You may wonder what Cuddle Sanctuary was doing at a conference about sexuality given that our events and cuddle sessions are non-sexual. One answer is that some people in the field of sexuality don’t know much about professional cuddling and may have clients who needs our services. Fei was on a panel about platonic touch for that very purpose. (Go Fei!) Another reason is that some clients who request our services may actually need support around sexual issues. The more educated we are, the better referrals we can give. A third reason is that sometimes I give talks about consent and sexuality to colleges.

So what does this have to do with politics?

I’ve been to this conference several times before and it’s usually humming with the excitement of meeting new colleagues and sharing information. This time the tone was somber. Many attendees were upset and worried about legislation that was signed last month. Before the conference I was aware of it but didn’t really connect the dots that it might impact the cuddle industry.

The nickname of this legislation is called SESTA-FOSTA. The purpose of SESTA-FOSTA is to decrease sex trafficking. I’m sure we can all agree that this is a good goal. To understand what the law does, I’ll give you my understanding of it with an example. If someone used craigslist personals for the purposes of sex trafficking, the Founder of craigslist, Craig Newmark, would be guilty of a criminal offense. Before SESTA-FOSTA this wasn’t the case.

Though I don’t know Craig personally, I feel confident he doesn’t want his platform to be used for sex trafficking. But Craig doesn’t have the resources to vet every single person who posts there. And so because of SESTA-FOSTA, Craigslist personals is gone.

Many professional cuddlers in the U.S. were using Craigslist to find clients. And so there are professionals and clients right now who aren’t able to find each other. Bummer. There’s another impact of this legislation that’s important to mention.

Even though SESTA-FOSTA is intended to stop sex trafficking, it doesn’t differentiate between consensual sex work and nonconsensual sex work. Though sex trafficking is what makes news headlines, there is are scores of sex workers in the United States who do so happily and consensually. They enjoy their work, care deeply about their clients and continue to learn about healthy sexuality at places like Catalyst-Con. Yep, Fei and I were in class with sex workers, participated in discussions with sex workers and enjoyed a catered hotel lunch with – you guessed it – sex workers! (FYI, I respect the rights of sex workers to offer their services and believe prostitution should be regulated industry.)

So what does this have to do with cuddling? There may be an increase of sex workers posting on professional cuddling websites. This could have the craigslist affect. Our colleagues whose business it is to help hundreds of professional cuddlers advertise – may be at risk. Could this mean that one day access to professional cuddling services will be severely limited? I hope not.

I love my blogs to be inspiring and upbeat, but I’m not feeling it right now. Do you agree that this is all concerning? Am I being a worry wart? Feel free to share your thoughts.