A Melbourne-based website that bills itself as a haven of free expression has been labelled a breeding ground for misogyny, where users freely demean sex workers and discuss violence against women, sexual coercion and targeting teenagers.
The Punter Planet website has been operating for 15 years and offers a nationwide directory of brothels, escort agencies, independent sex workers and massage venues, and a forum where users can anonymously review sex workers.
Sex worker Dallas Rayne wants the Punter Planet website to be taken down.Credit: Eddie Jim
“The things they write are vile, they’re disgusting, they’re really graphic,” sex worker Dallas Rayne said. “They’ve got topics and threads like how to get unprotected unsafe sex, how to coerce a younger or inexperienced worker … They’ve got threads on targeting teens.”
Rayne said posts also discussed graphic sexual violence and doxxing sex workers by exposing personal information like their home addresses and legal names, and because of the anonymity afforded to users, members “can post whatever they want with no consequences”.
A post from the Punter Planet website.
Punter Planet currently has 259,841 members. Its review forum is described as a space “where all the bad boys (and quite a few bad girls too) gather for lots of online action”, with the thousands of independent reviews “written by punters for other punters just like you”.
Punter Planet is headquartered at a Collins Street address in Melbourne and operated by Daniel Giambruno.
In screenshots seen by The Age, members discuss how to pressure sex workers into having sex without condoms. As part of a post about an “attractive young new fresh sexy teen keen to play”, user Kennedy1987 wrote: “New one at Carina house. No natural sex though. We will see how long that lasts.”
A user calling himself Conan The Impaler replied: “That will have to be the first time anyone has used a condom at the Carina house. Let’s hope she feels out of place and offers BBFS [Bare Back Full Service] soon. Guys don’t book her until BBFS is on the table.”
In another post, a user posted a negative review of a sex worker because she did not agree to choking or having her hair pulled.
“Honestly, don’t expect a GFE [Girlfriend Experience] cause you won’t get it,” he posted. “All I got was ‘No! Don’t choke me or hold my neck’, ‘No! I don’t like people touching my hair’.”
Rayne has launched a petition calling for the website to be taken down.
Rayne said her legal name has been posted on the website and threats made to circulate a video of her having sex. Credit: Eddie Jim
“Punter Planet is a forum that claims to offer a platform for free expression, but it has become a breeding ground for misogynistic statements and unacceptable behaviour towards women in the Australian adult industry and sex workers,” the Change.org petition states.
“The forum allows posts that promote violence against women, enabling an environment that excuses harassment and stalking under the guise of ‘freedom of speech’.”
One signatory calling herself Sarah wrote: “This website and the men on it have made me feel unsafe in my work on many occasions by threatening a bad review and to ‘end my career’ if I do not get what they want.”
Another signatory said: “Promotes misogyny, stalking, doxxing and violence against vulnerable women.”
However, another signatory defended Punter Planet. “So reviews for any other business/service is fine but for SW [Sex Workers] it’s different? Silly hypocrite,” ILove wrote.
A spokesperson for the eSafety Commission said that while it did not have the power to remove entire websites, it could assess whether content targeting a specific Australian adult constituted “adult cyber abuse”.
“The term adult cyber abuse is reserved for the most severely abusive material that is intended to cause serious psychological or physical harm,” the spokesperson said. “This may include content that sets out realistic threats, places people in danger, and is excessively malicious or unrelenting.”
Where the commission receives a report and identifies adult cyber abuse, it can direct the removal of that material.
Matthew Roberts, a sex worker and advocate for sex workers’ rights, said people had the right to be respected as skilled workers and to have their dignity and privacy respected.
“For too long, sex workers have associated the Punter Planet brand with sexism and bottom-of-the-barrel debates about women’s bodies,” he said.
Roberts also said that while clients had a legitimate right to review sex workers, it was essential for websites to moderate comments and foster a respectful culture.
However, Roberts said Punter Planet had been plagued by allegations of misogyny via its forum for years. “I doubt reforms to Punter Planet’s moderation processes can fix an entrenched culture of disrespect and sexism.”
Rayne launched the petition, which currently has more than 250 signatures, after she became increasingly concerned with what was being posted on the website.
When she asked users on Punter Planet to stop posting comments which she said were defamatory, one user disclosed her legal name on the forum and another threatened to circulate a video of her having sex.
Rayne said many sex workers were scared to speak out about the website after users had threatened legal action or to identify the sex workers when complaints had been raised.
“I have been subjected to ongoing harassment, public shaming, stalking and abuse,” Rayne said.
Punter Planet and Giambruno were contacted for comment but did not respond.
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