today we're here to talk about self
sovereign sexuality and sort of are some
personal stories from our journey and
what we've learned from them and how you
know how we've come to some of the
conclusions that we've come to and how
we think that the etherium community and
the sex worker community are more
aligned than most people think so I want
to start out with just a sort of
high-level thing about rationality
itself so rationality is about having
mental models that are calibrated with
reality so it's about asking yourself
why do I believe what I believe and then
not believing the things that you don't
think are true even if you want to so
when we started spanked Shan most people
thought it was a really bad idea
and even at joke and this was like about
a year ago in the heyday of like sort of
virtue signaling I see oh everybody's
shaking each other's hand and you know
and I thought it was basically all
[ __ ] and and I thought like you know
where where is blockchain adoption going
to happen first like where does this
actually matter like who gives a [ __ ]
about this and that's what drove me to
realize that you know the adult
entertainment community this community
that's been routinely discriminated
against ostracized from the financial
institutions like this is where it
starts right because this is this is the
people who having a safe place to
securely store and transact their funds
is actually really important and so I
think now you know a year later we had a
lot to prove but I think we've done a
pretty good job and it's become somewhat
accepted that we're decent devs and that
we're trying to do good in the world and
I hope that as the going gets weirder
the community doesn't write us off as
crazies and takes a moment to reflect on
our logic and draw a sensible
conclusions
okay so I'm gonna start with a story
about a personal experience mm-hmm about
about a year ago I was feeling pretty
depressed ego depleted pretty low
self-esteem I didn't spend a lot of time
on tinder because it took you know I was
working a lot and it takes a long time
and when I tried to hang out with girls
I kept like fumbling it up somehow and I
was lonely and it was affecting my
productivity and ethan been going up a
lot so I had more disposable income than
I was used to so I spent a few nights
checking out the escorts in my area
before I finally worked up the courage
to text one and it was a lot of like you
know me sitting there looking at me like
I'm not the type of guy who does this
and and then the rational part of me is
like how do you know right like yeah why
not like how do you know you wouldn't
enjoy it all right well you have a point
so I talked to an escort set up an
appointment and about an hour before I
went to go get cash and I realized that
I hit my daily limit in the ATM
withdrawal and so I reached out and I
started texting all my friends to see if
anybody could come deliver me cash and
nobody could I went to a bunch of other
ATMs and eventually had to give up until
the escort that like hey sorry I know I
made it to our appointment but we only
do one and that I would make it up to
her but then she got there and after
we'd established a rapport
I introduced her to the world of crypto
and helped her get set up on an exchange
and sent her her first ethers
and and and she ended up staying the
extra hour and so yeah that that was
like my first experience and since then
I've I've sort of come around to this
idea that like you know some one of the
slides I really liked in last
presentation was a morality is not equal
to legality I think we should all keep
that in mind okay without further ado
cool all right Chelsea take it away so I
guess I'll give a little intro on myself
because I'm pretty new to spank chain um
I was a sex worker for a number of years
before I found crypto I really wish I
had known about crypto when I was a sex
worker it would have been super super
useful but the three or so years that
I've been a Bitcoin educator I have
approached crypto as a technology with
the knowledge of the things I went
through in the ways that with some weird
gray areas I got exploited with
implications so I've been coming to this
tech for a while with the idea that it
could really help people not go through
[ __ ] I went through and I was like a
lurking fan of spanking and really
seeing how they were playing in this
space of expanding the Overton Window of
what it's acceptable to talk about they
were showing that crypto people sex
workers and other people kind of on the
fringe of things have a huge amount in
common so so yeah basically I mean I was
like I was like lurking in there discord
for a year as a Bitcoin maximalist
liking their crypto economics so like
that said something like I was like holy
[ __ ] this is brilliant on a technical
level so yeah we're just gonna go
through this kind of summarizes the
slides to follow so we're just gonna go
through some of the shared concerns of
crypto people and sex workers so trust
but verify which I found out is a Ronald
Reagan original very very clever of the
man so we see in crypto you know full
nodes we depend upon people running for
we depend upon the idea that this
decentralized technology can be spun up
from scratch by anyone and that you can
verify all your own transactions
similarly sex workers especially
face-to-face sex workers have to verify
who they're meeting and in fact that's
one of the biggest attack vectors is one
of the worst experiences I had was I had
blocked someone and he went through the
agency I was working with under a
completely different name and then I
opened the door of a penthouse and was
like oh my god it's that guy
so technologies that allow us to create
layers of protection for ourselves
pseudonymous layers ideally are really
important to both of us but in both
cases we're putting some trust in these
systems that were opting into we're
putting some trust into the larger
cryptocurrency framework we're putting
trust into the sex worker client
relationship and that goes in both
directions yeah one of the other fun
things about this is the cold start
problem for full nodes like who here has
tried to sync parody or get and like who
here felt pain yeah so a lot of times
you know escorts will require
verification from another one so if
you've never done before you end up
having to share like your LinkedIn or
like your work email or something that's
a whole thing anyway similarly and I
mean title of the talk here self
sovereignty is core to both of these
communities crypto we don't want anybody
to get in the way of how we transact
between between ourselves and sex work
we don't want anyone to get in the way
of how we use our bodies in general
these are two of the cutting edge areas
in which we're starting to see that we
actually can create we can create
off-ramps from legacy systems that have
restricted us and told us that whatever
the dominant morality of the time is in
fact the legality privacy this is see
this is this is an interesting one
because within crypto you know when I
first got into Bitcoin I thought it was
relatively anonymous I did not
understand how easily traceable all the
[ __ ] I was doing
and so we we've seen like a lot of great
presentations from like the Z cash
community here and stuff like ZK snarks
being integrated with aetherium we've
got these tools um I think that in sex
work it becomes more complex because
reputation is much more important within
sex work and networks of you know being
able to verify that someone's going to
deliver on something that they're going
to you who they say they are now it's
funny because originally when we were
discussing this presentation Amin was
pointing out like sex workers using
privacy enhancing technologies
protonmail stuff like that I was really
bad at that and when I got into crypto I
was really bad at being a responsible
crypto user too so this is actually
somewhere where I think creating user
facing tools for sex workers that are
comprehensible and easy to understand
will be a win because like when I I
started out as a stripper and I would
have like a beer and then start
accidentally using my real name because
I'm just not used to pretending like I'm
like I'm Chelsea I mean made-up name
damn it so it is something that's super
important for sex work and it's
something that literally can endanger
your life if you're not good at it
yes sex workers are like straight-up
cypherpunks like they've got protonmail
accounts multiple identities used to
dealing with large quantities of cash
and uh the the ever familiar wrench
problem the xkcd representation of this
is the best I know of so it's been
brought up in crypto that we create
these complex systems oh I don't have my
ledger on me and I don't have you know
like you can't force my private keys out
of me well you can hit me over the head
with a wrench
until I give you my you know digital
assets and the oldest profession in the
book has this as the oldest problem in
the book for it like that is really in
its usually implications like not direct
extortion not direct threats of violence
but the implication of violence is
something that's constantly a threat
when what you're providing as a service
is literally contained upon your purse
like you're providing a service that
when you get right down to it
someone who's sociopathic and be like oh
I could just take this right now this is
a vulnerable moment for you so I do feel
this is an area where in both directions
crypto and sex work can really enhance
our understandings of how to move past
this so to continue on the safety
concerns in crypto we're always you know
thinking you know you lose your private
key then you lose your coins right and
in sex work and you know in general STD
prevention is a huge deal if you get
AIDS it's game over right it's a very
serious and so in both I hope that we're
able to develop infrastructure for a
safer world
personally I don't intend to live in a
world where STDs are a thing I recently
found out that you can get $100 at home
15-minute result STD kits mailed to you
and it takes like two weeks that come
from Singapore so I think that we're
gonna actually did that and then I
stream myself doing it live which would
have been really awkward if I tested
positive for anything but I was lucky
enough I actually I skipped two of the
tests so I did the syphilis Hep B Hep C
HIV herpes but the gonorrhea and
chlamydia are urethral swabs so I didn't
stream that live but I I might for
science right yeah I mean we can't let
our you know prudish nature get in the
way of safety so that the other tests
were blood tests so I picked all five of
my fingers cuz they're all separate
blood this could get much better in the
next couple of years and if it costs
like a hundred dollars for a single unit
that I get shipped it could cost like
$20 if I bought like 10,000 and then you
could imagine that somebody you know
comes to your house that's registered to
administer this test they come at 12:30
you set up an appointment on an app and
then they leave by 1:00 p.m. and you
know your results right $50 something
like that and generally speaking like I
think it's just interesting to imagine
in a world where STDs are not a thing
like what does the world look like if
STDs are not a thing think about it so
challenging the status quo it's
something that I know we all like to
imagine ourselves to be actively doing
within this field in crypto it started
with rejecting Fiat and I see in the
etherium scene one of the things that
pulled me slowly out of Bitcoin is that
it seems like the economic use cases the
only thing most of my friends in Bitcoin
care about but I see in the etherium
space and I've seen at Def Con like
ridiculously ambitious approaches to
rejecting nation-state governance to
rejecting traditional centralized
management of resources etc in sex work
there is an imperative to reject the
status quo because the status quo
rejects us like we're not a lot we're
we're allowed to exist on the margins
but were afforded no protections and no
sympathy when something happens to us so
censorship resistance is at the
forefront for both of these communities
and particularly again the the finance
and economic use case is where we see
like a foothold in for literally sex
workers can be blocked immediately from
all traditional banks in North America
from all legacy you know payment
processing etc so that's an area where
even though it's kind of hard for
end-users to use some of the tools being
built they are so enthusiastic from
within this community because there are
no other choices really yeah and to be
clear like spank chain is you know fully
compliant with all the laws in all the
countries in which will operate so like
if somebody was advertising sex work on
spank chain like we would have to remove
their account because that's going
illegal right but you know you can
imagine that for decentralized payment
services right then nobody has control
we couldn't you know have any impact on
it if we wanted to and further like if
we do succeed at building decentralized
communications infrastructure then
that would also be possible so there's a
there's also a case for
decriminalization of sex work it is
illegal in pretty much everywhere and in
some places it is legal but then it gets
regulated and so then the only people
who can do it without getting heckled by
the government are the people who get
the licenses from the government and
then it's sort of a boys club type thing
anyway and so we found that the the
criminalization of sex work means that
sex workers are you know less likely to
for example call the police if there's
an issue because the police are less
likely to side with them or might even
imprison them or arrest them for doing
sex work in the first place and so this
is a really unfortunate consequence of
the the criminalization and so if if
we're able to succeed at reducing the
stigma then you know they'll have more
of a voice and and the ability to like
use the services as Chelsea was saying
so how many people have here have heard
of posta and cesta okay so pasta and
cesta the hostess stands for fight
online sex trafficking act and cesta
stands for stop enabling sex traffickers
act these past in the House of
Representatives and Senate earlier this
year I think in this Senate it was like
ninety seven to two in the house it was
like 400 and like 80 set three - I don't
know like three or something like it's
like literally the only thing that the
Republicans and Democrats agree on that
I've liked it at this scale it's kind of
mind-boggling and it's partly because
like it while it says that it's fighting
sex trafficking what it's actually doing
is dismantling internet freedoms so
sites like back page reddit even they
had sections for personas and what fossa
incest does is it it says that
the websites are accountable for
user-generated content right this has
been a hallmark of Internet freedom for
years and by targeting sex workers
they're able to make this difficult
enough to oppose right because nobody
it's really hard to stand up and be like
actually you know I want to oppose the
the sex trafficking bill right so that's
hard
so I'll just say crypto is amazing for
sex workers and I like to compare like
all of the early adopter performers on
our platform are like bitcoiners in
2013/2014 of like they want to tell
their mailman about this they're so
pumped do they want to tell everyone but
I mean there's still a spanking platform
is pretty easy to use I was really
surprised the first time I used it how
like kind of the user interface just
make sense you don't have to become a
crypto expert but in general we have
moving crypto around with getting it
into Fiat to pay your bills etc there's
confusing UX and UI key management is a
nightmare pretty much everything that
the the presentation before us was
talking about like these are things that
are going to be problems for end-users
and while performers have like an you
know a complete drive to be on board
with this you know you we we've got to
get customers who can use legacy
platforms and they're not gonna get
their bank's shutdown necessarily we got
to get them on board and one of the
things I've seen
a number of times and this is why I kept
my mouth shut about being a sex worker
my entire time as a Bitcoin educator is
the assumptions that will be made of oh
you're a sex worker and that means this
about you and so I think that's the main
thing that like as a group we can really
do is make sure that we're not making
assumptions about the capability of sex
workers because all of the ones that
I've met in my personal experience have
been freaking brilliant and next slide
we've got you know like like Brenna
sparks had the best quote on this that
has been revisited a bunch from eath
berlin blockchain offers freedom from a
world that doesn't want me like that hit
me
in the heart and it was like I you know
I did not come out of the closet
everyone in my personal life
face-to-face knew I was a sex worker but
I kept my mouth shut about it because I
was so terrified that I would be just
kind of discarded based upon this one
element of what honestly what was really
a fiscally responsible decision
throughout the period of time that I was
able to make it so you know like we got
to walk the walk on inclusion inclusion
shouldn't just be about quotas it should
be about taking each human being who
comes into this community for who they
are and not making assumptions about
them and my my last points on this are
that I have seen sex workers have some
skills and brilliance --is that we need
particularly we're always talking about
incentive design like holy crap the
sorts of creative campaigns that like
ham girls will come up with I remember
seeing the like Oh get all of my content
for October if you send point zero six
six six Eve and it's all like like
spooky costumes and stuff like that so
there's that and I find that the best
understanding of consent comes from the
sex work and the kink and fetish sorts
of communities because once we
acknowledge the transactional nature of
sexuality we can have much more real and
open conversations about it this is a
reality for everyone who gets
objectified and it's much weirder to
navigate when we pretend it doesn't
happen so yeah thank you thank you so
much
[Music]
[Applause]
let's do some questions we're gonna
maybe two or three questions we're gonna
go there there Chelsea we're gonna dye
your hair pink they all did it right
after I chemically dyed my hair dark
blue so it would fall out I feel so left
out cuz they look super dope hi thanks
your presentation um I learned recently
that more than 50% of sex workers are
victims of human trafficking so I'm
curious about your thoughts on the
platform and I think it sounds really
great for sex workers who want to be sex
workers but most of them probably don't
and so I'd be curious to hear your
response to that yeah this is this is a
really important piece to me um and it's
why I'm out as a sex worker who is a
voluntary participant who had choices I
feel that the own I feel it's a really
really difficult problem to attack
especially because I experienced
firsthand that there are sociopaths who
specifically want a non-consent
experience and trafficking will never be
will never be ended as long as that
exists however my hope is that by
reducing stigma overall and by those of
us who are voluntary participants in the
industry speaking on behalf of others
like basically someone who has been
trafficked and then feels that even if
they've got a way out they'll always be
judged and it's assumed that you know
like they're ruined or something like
that that gives no exit path to exit for
them so I feel it's a really difficult
problem and certainly when we can't
solve right now but I feel reducing
stigma overall is the best thing I
personally can contribute to that and it
is a huge priority for me I'd also call
into question the accuracy of that
metric I don't think it's 50% I'd be
curious to know where you got it
yeah I it might be geographical do you
know if that's like more centered in
Canada 50% 5-0 in Canada that's
interesting to me so like you know if
you look at like the seeking arrangement
stats there's like 1.2 million students
in the United States that are part of
that I doubt they're trafficked I think
they're just trying to pay off student
loans but like yeah we can talk more
after clearly nobody here is a fan of
sex trafficking right like that's not
what we're trying to accomplish where we
acknowledge that sex trafficking makes
this harder because the more that you
know if we remove barriers to sex work
we might make the lives of sex
traffickers easier all right if we could
accomplish this and make sex trafficking
harder with for example more emphasis on
the identity part of it maybe needing to
like verify yourself as you know
consensual and voluntary then we might
be able to make headway but I'd have to
think more about how to actually do that
yeah I mean Sheila thank you very much
that's very very great what you guys
doing and I was opening and thank you
for educating us so my question is
what's the the biggest challenge you
have today is like what's the things
that if you could resolve or if it could
change will make everything much easier
for you so I think part of this I mean
there's there's a lot of aspects of like
what is the biggest problem right so if
we're talking about in the context of
like you know embracing this movement
then I think it's actually a numbers
game like I think the more people who
have positive respectful interactions
with sex workers as peers and performers
as well then the more people will
realize that like
this is you know not this like crazy
dirty terrible thing or it doesn't have
to be and so as that grows and and and
that the you know that they're real
people right and as that happens I think
that everybody's minds will change so
the hardest thing about getting from
here to there is like we all have to
change our minds about it right if we if
we have biases if we have preconceptions
and it's pretty hard to change a bunch
of people's minds right it like bitcoins
been out for 10 years now
all right and like everybody here
probably thought it was a joke or a scam
the first time they saw it if I can just
add add also like bringing a background
to the self sovereignty thing I think
the limitations of nation-states
trying to regulate in order to protect
is actually the biggest barrier I see
and that's why I jumped on board super
hype is because like I come from Canada
and when they criminalize living off the
avails of prostitution they were trying
to criminalize pimping but they made it
so that that extends to a landlord who
knows that they're they're you know
they're renting to a prostitute can go
to jail so it took all protective
mechanisms out people can't be security
guards for prostitutes etc so I do feel
the more we can have self sovereign
tools and platforms and especially
online platforms where you can be your
own boss you can be pseudonymous and you
can make your own choices I think that's
the bit that's the biggest thing we
gotta pursue yeah and the regulation so
far like haven't actually worked right
like the folks that Cessna that put more
prostitutes on the street
and that's what's been reported by like
police all over the country and and
they're you know end up targeting people
for facilitating prostitution for like
handing out condoms at like clinics to
people who are known prostitutes which
doesn't make any sense we're gonna do
one final question let me see if there's
anybody in the back that wants it just
because thank you for the talk I was
wondering over let's say over the next
year how
and we individually or as community help
you guys and help spank chain if we're
not if we're not either users or service
writers on the platform well I would say
really the I I'm biased but the the
cultural inclusivity part is is huge for
me because there are just kind of like
like immediate snap judgments of like oh
what's this is this replicating you know
patriarchal objectification etc so I
would say like like welcoming in we're
we by onboarding all these performers
we're onboarding them to the crypto
community so they're gonna be around
they're gonna be chilling they're gonna
be like dropping memes and stuff so just
be inclusive and recognize that like
they're super brilliant honestly and
like they need to be part of this and
help us shape this yeah be respectful
don't make that turgor jokes stuff like
that like when you talk about it you
know talk about it as if you at any
other job
you