More phony sanctimony in the country I still want to love: Porn stars seeing their bank accounts closed because they do porn.

[SenorGato]

 

 

April 29, 2014 2:01PM ET

by Massoud Hayoun @mhayoun

 

It’s not easy to shock porn star Chanel Preston, but that was what happened, she says, when City National Bank closed her personal account without explanation.

“When I went to deposit my check, my account had been shut down. They didn’t explain why,” Preston said. “I asked, ‘Is it because I do porn?’”

The bank didn’t answer. Preston said she felt humiliated and that a “basic human right had been infringed upon.”

 

Almost a year later, Preston says she never received a response to queries as to why her account was closed, amid reports — corroborated to Al Jazeera by adult entertainment trade association the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) — that JPMorgan Chase Bank has in a little over a week closed hundreds of adult entertainment industry professionals’ accounts. Chase declined an interview request from Al Jazeera. Numerous porn actors have reported that they received no clear explanation of why their accounts were closed. 

 

“Out of left field we got a notice our two personal and two business accounts were being closed,” said Joshua Lehman, the husband and former manager of ex-porn actress Teagan Presley. Lehman said that branch and telephone bankers told him it was “because of our industry,” but staff at corporate headquarters “categorically denied this” and gave no reason for their decision. “For us it's awful, as we aren't even in the adult business anymore, but we have since opened other accounts,” he said.

 

“They used social media and Google to link our personal names with our professional names, obviously.”

 

Presley agreed with her husband, adding that a customer support representative on the phone said her account posed a risk but wouldn’t specify how. "I think it’s crazy that in 2014 that you wanna give a bank money and they won’t take it. Who doesn’t want money?"

But porn professionals haven’t only accused Chase. Tasha Reign, 25, is a porn actress, adult industry entrepreneur and student pursuing a degree in gender studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. For over a year, Reign has attempted to open PayPal accounts — the only payment method available on many websites where she performs for customers via webcam. Repeatedly, the accounts have been shut down.

 

After a series of emails and letters, PayPal finally responded, in an email obtained by Al Jazeera, that Reign’s transactions posed a threat to its network "security" but did not specify how the money transfers were any less safe than others. A separate email said her account "violates some of the agreements you have with us," citing potential fraud. Reign said all the activity she engaged in was legal in her state of California. Reign tried using both her given and professional names, but her account was repeatedly closed.

 

PayPal did not respond to a request from Al Jazeera at time of publication.

 

Reign said the Chase issue was, although unnerving, “a good thing,” because it reminded her that action is necessary to protect adult entertainment workers’ interests.

Still, for her, “it's a much deeper issue than just banking. We live in a puritanical and patriarchal society that discriminates especially against female sex workers. Every one of you watches porn! You’re just shamed for it.”

 

 

Read the rest of the article here:

 

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/29/porn-star-battlesstigmawithsexawarenessamidbankaccountclosures.html

 

The absurdity of this is right in line with a number of abominable attacks on citizen rights I've noticed in this country since Janet Jackson's nipple popped out. We proles won't care - I get that already. If anything this is going to be funny to some people and most definitely there will be many who defend the banks. These are porn stars, not real people. They're less civilized, less educated, less morally gifted...Nothing happening to them can have any effect on me. I'm different. I'm better.

 

I...we're  going to be the most punchless proletariat in the history of the planet and it will be voluntary. It's all I see.

[The Crusher]

Pretty sure this will turn into something nobody wants here.