Journal Entry. June 8, 2018. (Patreon)

There's something bad happening to a lot of nude models now on patreon - they're getting their accounts deleted/banned/suspended for periods of time. So far, it looks like this won't be affecting mine as I've followed the guidelines in the terms of service and rules and guidelines provided by the site. But I did want to alert everyone here to that.

This is a reaction to the FOSTA and SESTA laws that I wrote about here a bit back and that you've likely seen on many model's pages depending on who you follow on instagram/tumblr/patreon. The laws essentially state, for those who have not followed this, that websites are to be held liable for what third-party users post to their sites. This has especially affected work that the government/law defines as "sexual content" as they've done a horrible job defining what 'sex work' is and entails and that can all be lumped in with sex trafficking at this point. Which is bizarre, ridiculous, and puritanical. 

Unfortunately, I've also noticed a majority of models who post about this are saying that modeling is not sex work. Now, while I would normally be inclined to agree, that government definitely does not seem to agree - which is obvious given the recent changes to websites and rules on hosting sites in general. 

Essentially, it does not matter what I think sex work is. It does not matter what any model thinks sex work is. If you do not think nude/glamour/bikini modeling is sex work, that is nice, but the US government, laws, and actions taken in recent months by websites trying to comply with those laws, do not agree. Nudity = sex to the US government at this point, and we will be affected accordingly.

So, if you are a model or photographer posting nude work on patreon, here is a bit of a breakdown on some of the rules that people have, up until now, ignored. 

1) No nude or implied nude imagery is allowed to be publicly displayed on the site. Not in the banner photo. Not in the profile photo. Not in publicly available posts. Not on the images for different tiers. No nude or implied nude imagery can be public. At all.

2) You have to have permission from photographers to post work here if it was not a self portrait. If you do not have permission, that will likely be frowned upon. I'd encourage other to write out a specific release for patreon content (can be short, just so you have something on file) that you have photographers sign when they are alright with your posting content. That's what I will be doing over the next few days despite having this in email correspondence already.

3) No explicit content is allowed on patreon, technically. They frown on erotic content being on the site. This can include strip tease, erotic video, overt sexual imagery, etc. Again, it's hard to define unfortunately. But if you are posting overt sexual work, they are cracking down on that. Most websites will allow you to have private sections (especially European hosted sites), and setting up through there or on a private tumblr blog would be well worth the effort here. 

4) If you have your patreon deposits redirected through paypal, change that. Have it directly deposited to your bank account. Paypal has been known to freeze accounts and sometimes keep your money if they think the source is for sexual content. 

5) Don't use certain banks - Chase and Bank of America are notorious for freezing accounts and holding assets for sexual work (again, what they think sexual work is, not what you think). 

And, it's still possible they will delete all of our accounts. If you are following models/photographers with nude work up, please don't be shocked or angry if you notice work gone. I guarantee, at this point in time, they likely did not disable their own accounts, and there's nothing they can do. It's really scary for those who are reliant on this for an income right now, so please be patient with them. If my account is deleted, fortunately I am not fully reliant on this for income and have mostly saved money from it for future graduate school plans. 

Okay! If you got this far, I will stray away from that topic a bit and discuss some other things. 

I've been home for about a week in Baltimore. I've done a few shoots, I'll be modeling for an art session tomorrow (life drawing!), and I'll also be hosting a few models. I'm going up to NYC on Monday to find an apartment to move into as well, so that will be good. I am currently trying to organize and pack things for my move at the end of the month as well.

I've mostly been scrambling to try to answer all of my email. Fortunately I've had a ton of modeling work coming in within the past couple of months, but it's also been a bit insane from a logistical standpoint in terms of traveling to locations for two days at a time before returning home or answering all of the email associated with that. Trying to keep my house clean and pack between everything has been especially ridiculous. Trying to finish retouching photos and post them has made that difficult.

I've also been attempting to figure out a vintage 35mm camera the wonderful Bill Lawrence gifted to me a while ago. I can't get the back of it open! And I'm so sad. I'm thinking about carting this thing about on trips in the hopes that I randomly meet someone who knows how to get it to work. I looked up a PDF online to try to open it to put in film, and I still cannot figure it out. I'm at the point that I think my fingers are just too wimpy to do it. And that makes me feel pretty lame haha.

I'll figure the thing out. Eventually. And then I will figure out how to develop it too, by myself. 

Today I'm going to the pet store, and I'm going to buy some cat toys! I'm super, super excited for that. And some more of my bebes' favorite wet food. Once I move into my new apartment, I've been saving up to buy them a magnificent cat tree! And I have one picked out on amazon finally too, and it has a little wooden kitty house, scratch posts, and little sherpa pads that are removable. I had to save up to get it because I don't particularly like the carpeted ones, and my cat's fluff would probably make one of those look absolutely heinous rather quickly. Additionally, any human going near it with allergies might die or something. So they will have a fancy one by a window. 

If you have no children, it is okay to buy fancy toys for cats instead. 

What's worse is, if I did have children, I'd likely be like my parents were and refuse to buy fancy toys for fear of spoiling them. But, you can't actually spoil cats because they are just naturally, always entitled haha. You can't fix that. It's simply a part of their personalities.

I'm also going to go to CVS today because I have a coupon. I almost always shop with coupons, and it is now a running joke with good friends of mine to make fun of my coupons. And that is alright, they can make fun! I love my coupons. Especially for food. You have to buy food, and you might as well save money while buying food. 

Clearly, I am having a very exciting day. Yes, that is sarcastic.

I'm also going to edit another set of self portraits and post them soon. I posted a set today, and will be posting one more tomorrow. Then I'll post the self portraits by Sunday. I'd like to space them out as I think it's a bit crazy to spam post all day and then end up with nothing to post the next day. 

In any case, I hope this didn't feel like an information overload for anyone. I realize many people have gotten tired of hearing about FOSTA/SESTA at this point, but it has directly impacted a lot of people I know and love. So I hope it's okay that I post talking about that here :)

I made this available at the $1 level this time in case other models in violation of the rules who haven't updated their accounts (or heard about the recent suspensions) to fit within the guidelines need a reminder to do so - so they don't risk getting deleted here.