A parliamentary inquiry into Queensland’s online vilification has revealed that sex workers are being “outed” online.
One woman describes her incident to NCA NewsWire as a targeted hate crime.
“He used my advertising to attempt to blackmail me into sending him nude images,” she said.
“When I refused he splashed my ads out. He knew because I was a sex worker I would be fearful of people knowing my identity and that I would be targeted.
“All you have to do is look at the comment section of an article about sex work and you will see what happens to us in online spaces – you can’t escape it whatever platform you choose to use”
Respect Inc state co-ordinator Elena Jeffreys told NCA NewsWire that sex workers were “very disappointed” in the recommendations included in the state parliament’s Legal Affairs and Safety Committee report released on Monday.
“The review has resulted in no changes to he vilification attribute to protest us,” she said.
“Our submission collated experiences of high levels of vilification and hate crimes occurring unchecked against sex workers in Queensland – they have been ignored”
In other workplaces, sex workers in Queensland have been outed xjmtzywto their colleagues when employers become aware of their current or previous work in the sex industry.
Respect Inc told NCA NewsWire that individuals were targeting sex workers online, identifying their address and publicising workers’ personal details to family and friends.
“Sex workers are under-protected and unreported.” Ms Jeffreys said.
“Hate speech towards sex workers is concerning.”
Radical feminist Facebook groups have threatened sex workers for their choice of work, referring to their children and that they know where the person lives.
The character assassination spills into other minority groups in Queensland, such as online attacks based on religion.
“Give me a gun and I’ll sort the Muslims out,” one man posted on Facebook.
“The worst thing is that it’s made by (generally) men who have their full name, including pictures of their wife and kids, which just shows how accepted the comments are online and how they know that there won’t be any consequences,” the inquiry was told.
Multicultural Australia highlighted another recent incident where a video of a young person being racially harassed in a school bathroom was uploaded on TikTok.
The Jewish Board of Deputies reported that 30 per cent of Jewish people in Queensland had experienced online hatred.
Online hate speech was outlined by the committee as a “national and global problem”.
For many, the cost of vilification can include loss of housing, lost income, alienation from family and community and poor mental health – impacts that anti-vilification protections are designed to prevent.
