I have reported for several years now on sex worker advocacy and organizing.
Several misconceptions that demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding: 1-The internet revolutionized the system, eliminating the abusive pimp almost entirely. Instead, sex workers were able to operate their own fully-functional self-operated businesses via the internet bulletin board and advertising system. Nobody in their right mind desires to see abusive and exploitative mafia practices either perpetuated and continue. In fact, the whole "sex trafficking" narrative has become effectively weaponized in the past 10 years as a replacement for the flow of drug arrests now that decriminalization has become a viable project with major successes in several states. (And yes, sex trafficking does exist, it is serious, but conflating consensual sex with sexual violence only helps violent perpetrators, NOT the survivors. If you flood the police blotter with a bunch of vice arrests for consensual sex, distracting from genuine harm, that's a mess.) 2-If one accepts the idea of people not just consenting but wanting to be sex workers, who are you to intrude on their selection of that job? 3-It's not like we're seriously engaging with the actual landscape of labor that most sex workers exist in. In the Global South where sex workers are afforded a level of civil liberties, let's consider the options. a-Be a sex worker, ehich can include everything from full-service prostitution to erotic dancing to pornography produced at home on a webcam; or b-Work for pennies an hour in dangerous jobs that have next to no workplace safety standards. Would you rather do lap dances for $100 each or make $5 a day in a plant stripping precious metals from e-waste using highly toxic chemicals without any rubber gloves? This sort of neo-Victorian hectoring becomes infuriating because it denies the fact that many sex workers will be and are treated terribly -regardless- of what industry they work in. 4-Can someone explain to me the tremendous difference between exchanging fungible currency for sex and exchanging jewelry, dinner and a movie, or anything else of value for sex over either a single one night stand or the length of a marriage contract? I am completely baffled by this failure of Marxists to comprehend the only variation being the use of Marx's universal commodity, the money commodity, rather than a meal at a French restaurant. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#1495): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/1495 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76809884/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
