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here’s finally some headway being made on one of the biggest issues facing sexworkers today: Financial discrimination. After years of tireless work, we’re finally seeing a potential light at the end of the tunnel with an official federal report calling out the issue facing our industry by name. Still, many remain skeptical that the current state of politics in the US could hold anything positive for our industry.
Most sexworkers experience banking and financial discrimination. A 2023 report by Free Speech Coalition (FSC) found that almost two out of three adult industry workers have lost a bank or financial tool because of their work and 50% were denied loans for the same reason. It may seem absurd that banks could bar entirely legal businesses and workers from basic services, but as private institutions it has been entirely within their rights. By labeling the adult industry as “high risk” banks and financial institutions have denied access to banking, payments, loans, and capital without assessing the individual risk of those they’re discriminating against. As adult industry professional Allie Eve Knox put it in a 2023 interview “They can call us ‘high-risk’ even though the data and the facts don’t show that. It’s just this narrative that they run on.”
Financial discrimination is difficult to fight against for the same reason it exists in the first place: the broader world doesn’t respect sexworkers. The issues we face are considered frivolous at best and rightly-deserved punishments for our depravity at worst. Few will stand in solidarity with sexworkers without there being something in it for them. Thankfully, there has been: the fact that financial institutions hold so much unchecked power to deny basic services is an issue which affects more than just the adult industry.
Many legal businesses and their workers have faced the same financial discrimination that’s wreaked havoc on the adult industry. In fact, it's proven to be an unexpectedly bipartisan issue. For years the FSC has found allies on all sides who, despite not all respecting sexwork, have chosen to align themselves with the goal of ending financial discrimination against legal businesses. As Knox put it in the previously mentioned interview, “The Republicans have already dealt with this with guns and oil [...] and the Dems want the marginalized to be represented and they have experienced this through cannabis, so we’re having both sides agree with us and stand in support of us.” This overlap with Republican interests is the key factor that’s allowed for our recent bit of good news: financial discrimination against the adult industry finally being pinpointed as a problem by the federal government.
This December a report was issued by a bureau of the United States Treasury which finally acknowledged and pushed against the denial of banking services to the adult industry. The report, titled “Preliminary Findings from the OCC’s Review of Large Banks’ Debanking Activities,” came as a result of an August 2025 Executive Order by President Trump seeking to end “politicized and unlawful banking” and ensure that banking decisions are “made on the basis of individualized, objective, and risk-based analyses.”
The CC’s report analyzed information from nine of the largest banks under its supervision to determine if they may “have debanked or discriminated against customers or potential customers on the basis of their political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities.” The report found that certain industry sectors were subject to increased scrutiny before being granted financial services, with the adult industry being one of nine named examples. It also found that imposed restrictions were often tied more to “how it might appear to the public if the bank provided access to financial services” than to “ability to comply with applicable law or the ability for the bank to extend financial services in a safe and sound manner.” The report also announced plans to make reporting of illegal banking activity easier, publish bulletins to communicate with banks about their expectations in this area, and “hold these banks accountable for any unlawful debanking activities, including by making referrals to the Attorney General.”
The adult industry is only named on one page of the report, yet even this simple acknowledgement is a breath of fresh air for a business sector so often excluded from serious discussion. Free Speech Coalition, frontrunners in many legal battles for sexworker rights, posted a statement expressing gratitude in response to the report. There, FSC Executive Director Alison Boden states “We are grateful to the OCC for recognizing how systemic banking discrimination has affected a wide-range of industries and businesses, including ours,” as well as insisting on the importance of protecting adult industry workers from these practices and giving credit to the FSC for their long history of work against them.
Still, many are more trepidacious than hopeful. As one financial advisor specializing in the adult industry mentioned to Politico “I’m honestly just really surprised that they’re calling out the industry specifically. But if I’m being honest, I’m a little concerned.” While the inclusion of the adult industry is exciting, it seems clear that the executive order’s goals only incidentally extend to the adult industry. The order’s “Purpose” section opens with concerns about financial institutions “targeting persons [...] associated with conservatism and the political right following the events [...] on January 6, 2021” and goes on to describe the alleged targeting of peer-to-peer transactions including terms like “Trump” and “MAGA.” Even the OCC’s report which mentions the adult industry by name only does so as one small part of a long list of other sectors with more conservative backing such as coal, oil, gas, firearms, and private prisons.
If the only reason to be skeptical was the focus on conservative issues over the adult industry, there wouldn’t be much of an issue. After all, as Executive Director Boden states “Debanking shouldn’t be a partisan issue and our ability to access the financial system shouldn’t be either.” Having allies on all sides is wonderful. Unfortunately, there’s reason to believe that the outcome of this and future executive orders will not benefit sexworkers much. This administration in general has been far from supportive of sexworkers, going as far as explicitly excluding us from the benefits of a previous executive order earlier in 2025. Vice President Vance has expressed support for an outright ban on pornography, something also called for within the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Mandate For Leadership better known as “Project 2025.” This document, whose contributors were overwhelmingly members of Trump’s first administration and/or transition team, famously states “Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.” It’s hard to get much more anti-adult industry than that.
Still, ‘a win is a win.’ Any public acknowledgment of the absurd discrimination we face in the adult industry is better than none and there’s real reason to be hopeful that this could mean positive change in the future. The hard work of FSC and its members cannot be overstated and it’s wonderful to see one of their causes getting national attention.
