In Shut Down & Shut Out: Access to Financial Services and Online Payments for Sex Workers in the U.S., the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR) examines the issues and effects of account closures and denials by financial companies on sex workers and adult professionals, with the stories of sixty-four sex workers and adult professionals collected by SWOP Sacramento and Reframe Health + Justice.
The report shows how the overcriminalization of sex workers and overbroad laws targeting human traffickers including laws like FOSTA-SESTA deter banks and fintech companies from providing service to sex workers and to legal adult-oriented businesses or professionals. As a result, sex workers and adult professionals can have their accounts shut down, and they can find themselves shut out of the financial system.
Being shut down and shut out from the financial system can have serious financial consequences that can limit options and create obstacles for sex workers and adult professionals to getting the necessities, housing, and financial security they need to support themselves and their families.
