As sure as flies like to hang around shit, the Pornocalypse keeps on truckin’. The seemingly systematic and relentless pursuit of adult ents workers and other associates with rule changes, misapplication of T&Cs and the general feeling of ill-will towards sex workers continues unabated.

BaDoink encountered another victim of the trend; one more name to add to the mysterious and unpredictable blacklist that many social media sites and other platforms aren’t shy about wielding. This time we spoke with Cheryl, PSO and owner of Hushes.

Can you tell us in a little more detail as to what happened in this latest event? We understand you were warned about nudity when there is none on your page…

It was Facebook. No, there was no warning. I had to log back into the account and received a message that nudity was not allowed. Before I could do anything with the account I was forwarded to the photo section and asked to review the images and remove any that did meet up to the standards of the TOS. It seems they had an issue with my account as opposed to the page.

Is this the first time you have dealt with such obstructions and diversions or not?

No, I have detailed every infraction on my blog. After 15 years it gets a bit hazy. So, I always made a point of publishing this nonsense. Let’s see. I lost my Tumblr account which really sucked because I set it up using my service mark. This is the only message I received from them.

Your request (Ticket 1784429) has been updated.

We’ve terminated your Tumblr account at http://phonemistress.tumblr.com for spam or affiliate marketing. Per the policies you agreed to when creating your account, Tumblr prohibits such activity.

The ol’ affiliate marketing excuse. Yeah, I don’t advertise anything outside of my own stuff. But whatever.

Google Plus shutdown my stuff numerous times BUT at least I had a chance to remove whatever didn’t meet the TOS. Though some of the stuff was fairly innocent. For example, as I follow a no-pink policy I had black and white photos of a woman showing her bare shoulders which was apparently too much. As was an image of a woman’s mouth. The fact that my Google Plus account is tied to my YouTube account rendered my videos useless until the suspension was resolved.

Last fall it was Facebook again!

I made a point of never posting any pictures because I have seen so many ladies lose their accounts. My suspension was due to nudity, and I was pleased to find months after the deletion of two pages that my RebelMouse account maintained a copy of what Facebook deleted. No nudity!

Aside from the public excuse of ‘protecting minors/sensitive from material’ and so on, why do you think Facebook and their ilk go after adult content/accounts with such zeal?

There are not a lot of people within the adult entertainment community who maintain their own merchant accounts so this may seem foreign to most. I believe the policing of mature images has very little to do with morality (definitely not children) and more to do with bringing their properties in line with Visa/Mastercard guidelines or whatever app policy the big guys are using.

What message would you give to such companies who censor sex/adult workers?

I was an editor for nearly 10 years at DMOZ. I would love to know who are these people taking down these accounts. I think every company should have an adult industry liaison and they can hire me as a consultant! Clearly there wasn’t someone in the boardroom when Nymwars became a thing. Some women use professional names to protect themselves AND their families. When I got into this business two cam models were murdered by their customers. Before getting on social media I had to tell my parents what I do for a living because as my father says “my name is borrowed”.

If left unchecked how bad do you think things could get?

If left unchecked, you could see the end of access on social media.

And there you have it. The individual incidents, the years of being persecuted for your life choices and the sense that a futile resistance is being waged. Not all workers are as clued up, headstrong and willing to fight as Cheryl. This is the juncture at which we should all pull together. Fight for yourself, fight for others. It’s like Alexandre Dumas wrote: ‘One for all, and all for one’. Heed the lessons, seek out information and allies, and let’s stand our ground.