Thursday, January 24, 2008

Do you think it's immoral to be a sex worker?

No, this question again frames sex work as a decision made by women when it's really not much of a decision for most. It is not immoral to do what you feel you need to do in order to get the money you need to survive. It is not immoral to be so damaged by a patriarchal society that you somehow see giving in to the demands that you act as a submissive sex object as less work and more rewarding than fighting the system.

That said, it is a bit immoral for some of the women who go around lecturing the world at large on how much they love sex work and therefore it's not a bad thing to do what they do. They may be suffering great emotional and mental upset for which I refuse to blame anybody ever, but they are certainly defending and promoting a system which is inherently sexist and does horrible things to people. And often they are doing it with no concern for the fact that they, as educated, articulate, conventionally attractive, western, and/or white women approach sex work from a degree of choice and privilege that most women in the world are not allowed, which is classist and/or racist.

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