If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ve probably seen me talk about my work at O.school, an online platform for pleasure-focused, trauma-informed sex education. I’ve been involved with the company since fall 2016 and started livestreaming at O.school when their platform officially launched in October 2017.
In my time with O.school, I’ve taught online classes about sex after trauma, masturbation and mental health, sexual freedom, abortion rights and access, reproductive health, and sex toys. I made cherished connections with people in the O.school community—O.school staff, community moderators, Pleasure Professionals, and livestream viewers alike.
Thanks to O.school, I’ve lead workshops about healing, pleasure, and sex after trauma at New England colleges, attended sexuality education conferences both in the United States and abroad, and traveled across the country to connect with other Pleasure Professionals (O.school’s term for educators).
I was proud to be part of a company that was revolutionizing what it meant to access truly comprehensive, inclusive sex education, especially during a politically tumultuous and dangerous time where so many people in our field are systematically silenced and censored.
Today, I left O.school.
What Happened?
Important background information to know before reading further: since O.school’s launch in October 2017, Pleasure Professionals have been paid a flat rate for each of our streams in the form of a “thank you gift.” This “thank you gift” was never written into our contracts, but it has been standard practice at O.school for six months. It is unclear at this time if every Pleasure Professional received “thank you gifts” or received them at the same rate. Additionally, a few months ago, O.school removed channels for Pleasure Professionals to communicate openly with each other about payment and income on the platform. Any financial discussions were moved to 1:1 private messages with a company staffer.
For a couple of months, I’ve been concerned about a lack of transparency at O.school, particularly regarding payment structures and company communications. When I questioned why Pleasure Professionals were prohibited from discussing finances in an open forum and pushed for open modes of communication around payment, I was relegated to private, direct messages with O.school staffers. Additionally, I’ve been increasingly unsettled after hearing from marginalized friends and colleagues who had been on-boarded as Pleasure Professionals and then dropped from O.school without warning.
These issues came to a head on Monday, April 9, when I received a private message from an O.school staffer letting me know they would no longer be paying Pleasure Professionals a flat rate for each of our streams, and that instead we’d be relying on tips ($2.50 per tip after a 50/50 split with O.school) and special “incentivized” streaming topics to make any income on the platform. Because these communications were no longer public, I touched base with my friend and colleague, Andre Shakti, to ask if she received the same message. She had.
Later that day, Andre posted a message in our O.school Slack channel (our main method of communicating with O.school staffers, livestream moderators, and fellow Pleasure Professionals) with a request for greater transparency within the O.school community. In her message, Andre raised concerns about payment, as well as O.school’s brand new policy prohibiting any and all discussion of sex work during livestreams on the platform, which was implemented after the passage of SESTA/FOSTA (but before Trump signed it into law) without consulting any sex workers at the company.
In her message, Andre noted that if she could afford to boycott streaming on O.school until the sex work censorship was lifted, she would—but given the attacks on her financial security and livelihood after SESTA/FOSTA was passed, that was not an option.
After Andre posted her message, I responded with one of my own. For clarity, transparency, and accountability, I have shared that response below. (Note: I have only shared direct quotes from O.school communications I authored. In this post, I have not included any direct quotes from O.school staffers, community moderators, or fellow Pleasure Professionals without their consent.)
Hi all. First of all, @andreshakti, you have my full support. I’m incredibly disappointed to hear these developments, and I so appreciate you doing the emotional labor to write this message and share all of your thoughts. Thank you.
I have deep ethical concerns about the sex work censorship, the lack of transparency around payment, and the abrupt dissolving of the stream “thank you gifts.” It is simply not okay for a company that lauds themselves as feminist, ethical, and supportive of marginalized and oppressed people to do ANY of these things. I’m especially concerned about the decision to censor sex workers on O.school’s platform without consulting ANY of the sex workers who educate on this platform. SESTA-FOSTA is intimidating, like Andre said, but silencing and censoring sex workers here at O.school is just… shameful. I understand the company may have concerns/funding/legislation to take into consideration, but there were better ways to do this.
As I mentioned, I also have deep concerns about dissolving stream “thank you gifts” as well as the decision to stop the split tip waivers. This is essentially asking underpaid, marginalized people to do unpaid, free labor. I was under the impression that payment and financial equity were tenets of O.school’s mission. I understand the “thank you gifts” are not written into our contracts, but they have been given out since O.school launched, so I’m very, very disappointed in this abrupt shift. I will no longer be able to support or promote O.school if the only payment Pleasure Professionals receive is $2.50 x whoever is able to tip for that stream. We put a HUGE amount of work into our streams – and we are worth more than this.
Andre mentioned not being able to financially afford boycotting streaming until the sex work censorship is lifted. I am in a financial position to be able to do that – so I will. I am committed to the inclusive, beautiful vision O.school set out to achieve, but to me, all of these points are pretty big detours from that vision. I want to support O.school, and I do support all of you incredible PPs – but these issues are too large to ignore.
Sarah
Soon after posting my response, I received a private message from an O.school staffer asking me to jump on the phone to discuss whether O.school was a good fit for me. I refused, citing the importance of having a written record of the conversation. I offered to have a discussion via Slack messages, but never received a response. I soon learned a similar message was sent to Andre, as well as Bianca Palmisano, who also spoke out to support Andre’s concerns about O.school’s new sex work policy and agreed they would join in on boycotting personal streams.
On Tuesday, April 10, Andre was fired from O.school.
Later on Tuesday, an O.school staffer informed me that because I was boycotting my personal streams on the online platform, O.school would also be canceling my upcoming college workshop on healing, pleasure, and sex after trauma that they booked for me. Once again, for clarity, transparency, and accountability, I have shared my response below.
Boycotting my streams and boycotting my college events are two completely different things. I am currently negotiating an $800 contract with the University of Maine, and in the past, once the date is set, I work with the universities independently on my workshop topics and payment. Taking that away from me without consulting me – just saying “I am canceling them” is just not okay.
As I mentioned in my response in general, I am more than committed to O.school’s original mission. I am incredibly disappointed in the decision to take away this important gig and payment from me – especially after one of the points I spoke about yesterday was the need for equitable pay.
All this says to me is that if you speak out – and yes, even if you decide not to stream in solidarity with sex workers who are being silenced – that you’ll be then silenced in return.
This only hurts everyone involved – O.school, me, and the students I was going to present a workshop for.
After sending an adapted version of this response to the staffer who requested a phone call with me to discuss whether O.school was a good fit for me, I was told that O.school does not have confidence I can be a good representative of their company any longer. After asking the staffer to elaborate on that, I received no response.
On Wednesday, April 11, I continued to wait for further explanation as to why I was no longer viewed as a good representative of O.school.
On Thursday, April 12, I left O.school.
At the time of my writing this, O.school has reinstated some policies Andre, Bianca, and I took issue with. They revived a payment channel in our Slack group to publicly discuss finances. They reinstated monthly stream payments solely for the month of April. Late on Tuesday night, I was told O.school would send me $400—half of the payment I was to receive from the University of Maine—but only after I pushed back about the workshop cancelation.
As I am no longer involved with O.school, I am not privy to company communications, so I am unaware of any further changes or adaptations to the reinstated policies and payment decisions listed above.
Speak Up, Get Punished
Leaving O.school wasn’t a decision I made lightly, but it also wasn’t a very difficult one. Despite actions the company took to rectify the issues around transparency, payment, sex workers’ rights, and equity, I am not satisfied. My ethical line has been crossed.
I cannot support a company that preemptively prohibits sex workers from talking about sex work and silences sex workers when they raise concerns about policies that affect their income. It’s true that SESTA/FOSTA is an incredible threat, as Andre details here, but deciding to stop hosting educational content about sex work without consulting sex workers who that policy directly impacts is unacceptable. I cannot support a company that fires dissenting sex workers for speaking up.
I cannot support a company that does not equitably pay sex educators, most of whom are marginalized, especially when economic justice is supposedly a core tenet of the company. I cannot support a company that expects educators to subsist on $2.50 tips from a community of viewers, many of whom are marginalized and facing economic barriers themselves, to sustain their work. If a company isn’t financially secure enough to pay people equitably and consistently, they shouldn’t onboard educators until they’re able to do so.
I cannot support a company that removes Pleasure Professionals from the platform without warning. As this was not my experience, I’ve asked former Pleasure Professionals to weigh in:
[O.school] checked in with me January 28th, but I had been asking about payment and analytics that they promised us… I responded to that check in on the 29th, and heard back from [O.school moderator] telling me to follow up with [O.school staffer]. I did, and didn’t hear anything back.
…On March 11th I got an email telling me they are deactivating my account. I told them I understand and wish I had been given a heads up, then again asked for my money. Then on the 12th they finally informed me my stream made all of $5. So to think I had been chasing them, for a payout of $2.50 was really disheartening.
…Whenever they talk about having options for people it never felt inclusive. I honestly felt like they used me to seem more diverse. – Carly
I was really excited to sign up for O.school after all the hype. I have friends who have worked closely with them, and I thought it would be great and that they’d be understanding of issues I face with illness. Once I got halfway in, though, it became apparent that there was an expectation for people to continue to keep a streaming schedule and to move around their travel and work needs to do so. Some days I can’t form sentences and others I’m unable to sit up – I have concerns about this. When they deactivated my account without warning and very little communication – during a major flare up when I probably should’ve been in the hospital no less – it solidified my belief that O.school isn’t here for many marginalized people, but especially if you have an unpredictable illness. – Kirsten
I cannot support a company that robs college students of a promised workshop on healing, pleasure, and sex after trauma because a Pleasure Professional has decided to stop streaming in solidarity with sex workers who are being censored on the platform.
I cannot support a company that punishes people who speak up about critical ethical concerns.
I am leaving O.school in solidarity with Andre and other Pleasure Professionals who were pushed out of or let go from the company. I am also leaving O.school to advocate for myself and hold myself accountable to my own ethical standards. I am leaving O.school, but I am committed to support Pleasure Professionals still on the platform and lift up their work whenever possible.
So, what now? What you do with the information presented here is up to you. This blog post is simply meant to convey my deep ethical concerns with O.school. As someone who has built my career calling for an ethical standard of conduct in this industry, this post was too important not to write. Please do continue to support Pleasure Professionals who are providing education on O.school, whether you tune into their streams or choose to seek their education and expertise elsewhere. Pleasure Professionals who rely on income from O.school should not have to take a financial hit because of issues that are the responsibility of the company.
For more information, read fellow former Pleasure Professional Bianca Palmisano’s post, Something is Rotten in the State of O.school.