January 28, 2012
This amazing piece was written by a peer of mine and someone I personally like and regard highly and it’s bluntly awesome and fantastic and just stuff that really, really needed to be said.
So I have spent the previous 5 years in the sex industry, turning tricks as my primary source of income. With my life entering a new phase in the near future, i am starting to see myself leaving the industry (not forever but stopping it as my full time work) as a real option. Now before you jump on that comment as confirmation that all workers are victims trapped in their work needing saving, let me clarify: I havent seen leaving my job as a real option in the past for the simple reason that there is not another form of work that would allow me to pay my rent, pay my bills, study, eat, sleep and interact with someone who isnt a teacher or a customer at whatever cafe i were to work at because i dont hold the skills/experience/time for anything else.
Thinking about leaving hooking after almost half a decade in the industry leaves me with mixed feelings. Aside from finacial support this job has given me a medium for sexual experimentation, comfort in my body, intimacy in times i wanted it and a surface level cash cow when i didnt and also gave me the gift and privilege of a community – something not all sex workers are given or accepted into. What it has also given me is a secret identity i have to choose daily whether i want to expose or hide. This identity leaves me vulnerable to victimization, degrading comments, boring assumptions, fear and anticipation of physical violence aswell as a hyper awareness of the systemic anti-whore sentiments so embedded in mainstream culture. But this is an old story: we all know hookers are shamed and marginalised, and if u dont know that and understand why this is fucked go to www.google.com and do ur own research, u have some reading to do.
Lately when i think about what this job has given me in terms of my own world and my own “community” (whatever this may mean), i realize that what i have gained is visibility. As a straight edge white cis femme full time student, i pretty much tick all the boxes for immediate approval that my job is empowering for me and therefore hot, sexy, babeworthy and that i am now cool, glorified, sought after and most likely, a good fuck, i mean i trick dudes into giving me cash all the time by my act so i must be good at it right?
Being known as a sex worker in queer spaces allows me an imposed status as somehow fiercer, more sexually liberated/empowered and queerer than those around me who are thought to be non-sex workers. This hierarchy (besides taking away a sex workers right to be off the clock from sexualization) is fucked for so many reasons: for one this reperpetuates the notion that all sex workers are sluts, comfortable in our bodies, sexually confident and that those not engaging in the industry lack these qualities. Secondly this reduces the many reasons – both personal and structural – that may mean people dont want to/can’t choose sex work. Furthermore ignores the reality that many sex workers do not feel comfortable or safe coming out in public space or to people close to them. Yes, this includes the queer/punk/whatever scene. Surprise! your prying eyes and your lewd comments that you see as so loving and positive may actually be driving your friends further into the closet.
Many sex workers do not have a community. Many are not queer. Many are not radical or politicized. Many do not feel safe being out to those closest to them and many do not love nor hate their jobs. We are not changing the world by fucking for money nor do we wish to be seen to be doing so.
Fetishizing Sex workers allows repetition of ingrained prejudice disguised as progressive support. Would I still be hot and empowered if i was not white? If i was trans? if i was working in a gender that i did not identify with? if i had a drug habit? if i didnt have ableist privilege? if i wasnt in my mid 20s? if i wasnt working to support myself through my education? What if i told you i actually didnt like my job at all but that i needed to do it because i needed the money? Could u accept this was still my choice or am i only hot if i work when i dont need to? Why is it so neccessary to mark me as hot and empowered ne way? is this not something for me to feel for myself and use as my own energy for my own life?
After looking at these questions (and this is in no way a complete summary or checklist) you realise the only thing that brings your attention to me or makes you want to be my friend/say hi/hit on me/fuck me is that i fuck dudes for cash then perhaps u should stop to consider why this urgency for us to talk wasn’t there prior to this information. Also perhaps u might want to consider how many other sex workers in ur life u have objectified (yes it is objectification, no matter how many times u call it inclusivity) and who you have blanked out of ur vision. After this, instead of giving us ur apologies and telling us how bad u feel about it, maybe just stop doing it.
January 27, 2012
The loathsome Maggie Alderson (Australian-based author of chick-lit, prior editor of several fashion magazines and a self-proclaimed feminist) has written a misogynistic and grotesque column where she polices exaggerated-feminine fashion styles, is whorephobic and transphobic, and reduces Dita Von Teese’s worth as a human being to the type of shoes she occasionally wears.
Several of my friends and I posted comments critiquing her and in an act of prejudice, she is moderating them - while allowing comments that praise her and engage in similar woman-hating rhetoric - to go through.
SO.
I’m reposting mine and my friends’ comments here. I encourage you ALL to go and add your critiques, and reblog this post with them included. There’s a twitter hashtag going - #maggiealderson - where I urge everyone to expose her prejudice.
This kind of woman-hating crap being passed off as feminism is insulting to everyone.
THE COMMENTS:
There is so much in this article that I find incredibly offensive but I wanted to start by addressing a major fallacy that I constantly see perpetuated everywhere. Flat shoes are just as bad for your feet, and often WORSE than heels. About 6 years ago, I suffered from plantar fasciitus every couple of months. It’s an incredibly painful inflammation of the soft fleshy outer part of your foot which makes it very difficult to walk. Surprise, surprise, it was caused by wearing ballet flats on a daily basis, particularly wearing them on hard surfaces like concrete and bitumen (which comprises most walking surfaces!). After my 3rd visit to my Dr with it in as many months, he laid down the law to me and said absolutely no ballet flats, and advised me to wear nothing less than a 1.5 inch heel.
It’s an incredible struggle these days to find a cute pair of decently priced shoes that isn’t a ballet flat or a stiletto heel! I have no doubt that this is in part due to this stupid belief that flat shoes are more comfortable and better for you. I feel the same way about heels as I do about corsets; if they’re fitted well, they’re incredibly comfortable to wear on a daily basis. Two things that get an incredibly bad rap as being uncomfortable, but really aren’t. I have a small selection of cute heels, between 2 and 3 inches, which I have no trouble wearing on a daily basis (including dance classes!). The few times in the last couple years that I’ve tried wearing ballet flats (with the vain hope that perhaps their design has changed enough to be comfortable), I’ve barely managed an hour or two before my feet were in agony. Obviously, not everyone is going to have as bad a reaction to flats as I do, but there is definitely evidence out there that shows how damaging flat shoes are. If we just had access to shoes with small heels (that aren’t orthopaedic specialist shoes), perhaps this fallacy wouldn’t be so wide-spread.
Now that that’s out of the way, lets get to the more offensive parts of this article. I’m a proud feminist and devotee of vintage fashion. I feel the most comfortable and the best about myself when I’m wearing my winged eyeliner, my red lippie, a cute outfit with heels, and my hair curled in the manner of the 40’s and 50’s. I never leave the house without first applying sunscreen, blush and mascara, at an absolute minimum. How DARE you insult, belittle and demean MY choices, especially from behind the shield of ‘feminism’. Last time I checked, feminism was all about CHOICE. Giving women the space to be able to choose how they want to live their life, without limitations due to gender. How is dressing in a manner that makes you feel good about yourself ‘anti-feminist’? These looks are hardly deserving of your judgement of them as ‘repressive’. As someone who has been dressing in such a manner WAY before it was ‘in’, I copped plenty of abuse from the fashionista set for daring to step outside what was considered fashionable. I can’t tell you how absolutely freeing and EMPOWERING it was to be a very pale girl (flying against the tanned trend) wearing these beautiful girly dresses combined with my full face of make-up, and absolutely NOT give a damn about what other people thought of me or the judgments people like you were making about how I dressed. And for the record, my look is NOT high maintenance, nor does it take me especially long to look as perfectly put together as Dita. It is something I do FOR MYSELF, because it makes me feel good, not because I feel pressured by outside forces, or because I’m worried a picture will end up on Facebook, or because I’m trying to hook a man. So it’s certainly not repressive in that respect either.
Following that train of thought, burlesque is also incredibly empowering, and hardly anti-feminist; I think you’re confusing your own moral reservations and judgements with feminist ideals. To reduce this wonderful art form, one that celebrates femininity and the female form, to such simplistic terms as ‘objectification of women’ is disrespectful to the women of burlesque, past, present and future. I really think you should educate yourself about the history of burlesque, as it has such a rich past that is full of strong women making political statements, taking back the ownership of their bodies and their sexuality. Regardless of your own moral aversions to striptease (and yes, burlesque IS stripping and anyone who says otherwise is in denial), these women are an incredible inspiration, and embody feminist ideals. Dita Von Teese is an incredibly intelligent woman, who many look up to, for far more than her impeccable style. She’s a savvy business woman, an incredibly creative artist, a woman who promotes positive body image and self love, who dares women to be different, step outside the mould, reclaim their sexuality and do things that make them feel good. Hardly anti-feminist!
The very act of policing women’s bodies, passing your own judgement on other people’s choices of fashion, make-up and footwear, THAT is anti-feminist. It only serves to promote the very misogyny that we’ve been fighting against for so long. You have absolutely no right to put your own value judgements on other people, deciding why it is they’re choosing to dress in a certain manner. Unless, of course, you’ve specifically spoken to said people, and determined that they’re just mindless sheep, forced into these choices by those evil outside forces, conspiring against feminism! As a self proclaimed feminist, you really ought to know better.
(abimused)
Wow, Maggie. I hate those towering heels too. I’m in awe of anyone who can walk in them. I’m sure if I tried my hip and back would be out for days.
However, I think it’s actually possible to write an article praising flat shoes without transphobic and whorephobic comments slung in to hold the readers’ attention. Is your writing not good enough to hold our attention without those cheap shots? That’s just lazy and hateful writing.
You have a platform for speaking out provided to you via the media. How about trying to be a little smarter and cleverer with it. Now THAT would be Old School Feminism.
(MYS)
Dear Maggie,
Whorephobia and transphobia are neither chic, stylish nor clever.
Just ignorant, classist, and further marginalising to people who are already thought of by mainstream society as less-than human.
What makes you think that trans people and sex workers don’t read your blog?
(SA)
Maggie, I also prefer flats over heels. But there’s no need to go hating on every other demographic of woman who isn’t you. Next time, try writing an article that isn’t so steeped in discrimination and elitism. Geez.
(KellyMyDear)
How hopelessly retrograde to sneeringly slut-shame and deny agency to women in stripping under the guise of “feminism”. As a feminist, a sex worker and an occasional burlesque performer, I resent the implication I am nothing more than an object or that my work - whether in burlesque or sex work - encourages objectification- with no further complexity, narrative or dynamic.
As if it isn’t enough that sex workers have to deal with those in the burlesque industry denying that burlesque is strip tease with sneering whorephobic classism, now so-called “feminists” deride burlesque by calling it a “fancy name” for strip tease. With sneering whorephobic classism.
Both sides demonstrate hopeless ignorance of not only the history of burlesque - it was the FIRST form of striptease and stripping has always been inherent to it - but the agency, self-determination and awareness of strippers and other sex workers.
This is patently ANTI-feminist, as one of the guiding rules of feminism is the recognition of a woman’s autonomy and capacity to choose her path - even if you, Maggie, don’t like it.
Furthermore, you police women’s bodies and images with snide remarks about “too much makeup”, or big hair, or styles of dress - exactly who ARE you, if you believe in women’s rights, to deny womens’ ability and right to express themselves visually in whatever means they see fit? Why would you presume that women are so stupid they’re merely “taken in” and “manipulated” by advertising and marketing? Has it ever occurred to you some women LOVE looking like “drag queens”? That for some women the artifice of exaggerated femininity is fun - is enjoyable - is a very conscious and deliberate ownership of a constructed image? Or is your own insecurity in the face of such brazen self-determination so threatened you can only conceptualise it as helplessness? Not very feminist. At all.
Finally, you round it all off with a grotesque example of transphobia with your reference to “trannie hookers”. “Trannie” is a highly perjorative term, associated with violence and murder against trans women, and is not a term to use casually or flippantly - unless you want to imply you hate trans women and have no empathy or consideration for the particular discrimination they face - which is VERY closely connected to misogyny, is actually an aspect of misogyny.
And as someone whose worked the street - extremely high heels aren’t suitable. But way to perpetuate an ignorant stereotype!
This kind of misogyny, whorephobia, transphobia and prejudice dressed up as “feminism” doesn’t serve anyone, Maggie. And YOU should know better.
If you wanted to express YOUR personal preference for flat shoes, I’m sure you could’ve done it without insulting a whole bunch of other women (inculding trans women - who are also women, Maggie).
Seriously, Dita has “won you over” by wearing flat shoes and carrying the same bag? If only you could read any number of intelligent and insightful things this woman has said that go far beyond the regular wearing of flat shoes - surprise, surprise, Dita is an independent woman who has her own strong opinions, a variety of life experience that have informed her decisions, sexual, financial, business and social autonomy and - GASP - is able to choose her footwear - and openly admits to adoring towering stilettos, all by her own widdle self! But, no, instead all you need to do is reduce Dita to the clothes she wears and she becomes worthwhile to you? How strangely like the sexist standards you proclaim to be against!
Frankly, I’d rather be dressed by any one of Sydney’s esteemed drag queens than wear anything dubbed “stylish” by you.
(Starlet)
What’s the problem, Maggie? I know for a fact you’ve received more than one slamming critique for this woman-hating post, yet the only ones you’re approving are the bum-crawly ones? Afraid of criticism? Surely someone who’s been in the media biz as long as you have can cop a little dressing-down.
That you can approve Jasmine’s brown-nosing without regard for how incredibly classist and anti-feminist and woman-hating it is just indicative of what’s really motivating you here: hate and prejudice. To allow something as classist as “And don’t even get me started on the striptease and pole-dancing crazes – sorry, but if it were really about fitness/athleticism/art, you would be doing gymnastics, ballet or aerial” to go through just because that commenter is kissing your butt is gross. Because it’s not as if pole-dancing is perhaps made to seem more accessible than ballet, gymnastics and aerial (speaking as someone who has studied all four arts)? Or perhaps women just want to do something that makes them feel sexy? Oh but we should laugh and ridicule them right, cos women shouldn’t feel sexy – that just makes them hopeless victims of the patriarchy? And sexy woman are disgusting sluts, right?
Are you lot seriously so intimidated and threatened by this sort of woman that you would pass your little bitch-fest off as fashion critique?
That’s pathetic.
(Starlet)
July 19, 2011
If you have just $7 to spare, PLEASE consider pledging it to this cause.
You’ve read about sex worker rights here at this blog - many of you have asked me how you can show your support - well, this is one way!
Sex work is illegal in America which leads to the erosion of rights and huge amounts of discrimination aimed at sex workers.
SWAAY.org want to have this billboard put up for a month in a prominent position in LA where it will get a lot of attention and direct people to their website, where they will get facts and information about the TRUE reality of sex work.
Please, please, if you have just $7 to spare (or more!) head along to the above link and pledge it!
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with SWAAY, nor do I personally know anyone affiliated with that organisation, beyond following Furry Girl on twitter.
"
And every single oppression we face is a part of the whorephobic, anti-sex, abelist, anti-drug use, racist, sexist, trans-phobic, species-ist, size-ist, colonialist, English-speaking, war-mongering society that we live in. But there is one extreme oppression that we face that cannot be attributed to the military industrial complex - the oppression that anti-sex work feminisms have fraught upon our workplaces.
Namely anti-sex work feminists have chosen to campaign against our workplaces, lobby for the criminalisation of sex workers and our clients, applaud the closure of services that support us, rally to imprison the migrants among us, stigmatise every aspect of our work, discredit our political organising, undermine our demands, belittle our leadership and pathologise us through unethical and harmful research.
"
Elena Jefferys Scarlet Alliance President
(via m1nou)
I was present when this speech was given - it was amazing & powerful! <3 The whole weekend of the Feminist Futures Conference was ridiculously intense & emotional. Also, Elena is a friend of mine - yes, I know very awesome people!
March 24, 2011
A must-read for anyone who keeps allowing the ‘trafficking’ hysteria get in the way of good and equitable politics:
None of the media that published Richardson’s astonishing numbers bothered to examine the study at the heart of her claim. If they had, they would have found what we did after asking independent experts to examine the research: It’s junk science.
After all, the numbers are all guesses.
The data are based merely on looking at photos on the Internet. There is no science.
Eric Grodsky, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota who teaches about proper research construction, says that the study is fundamentally flawed.
***
The Schapiro Group members weren’t academic researchers, and had no prior experience studying prostitution. In fact, the group was best known for research paid for by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. The study found—surprise—that membership in the Chamber of Commerce improves a business’s image.
The consultants came up with a novel, if not very scientific, method for tabulating juvenile prostitutes: They counted pictures of young-looking women on online classified sites.
“That’s one of the first problems right there,” Grodsky says. “These advertisers are in the business of making sales, and there’s a market for young-looking women. Why would you trust that the photographs are accurate?”
In other words, the ads, like the covers of women’s magazines, are relentlessly promoting fantasy. Anyone who has tried online dating understands the inherent trouble with trusting photographs.
Even if the person placing the advertisement is the one in the picture, there’s no telling how old the photo is, says David Finkelhor, the director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
“How do you know when the pictures were taken?” Finkelhor asks. “It’s not illegal for an 18-year-old who’s selling sex to put up a picture of herself from when she was 16.”
And if, for the sake of argument, the photos were an accurate portrayal, how do you train those viewing the photographs to guess the correct age?
As someone who is routinely mistaken for anywhere from 3 to 7 years younger than I am, the level of disgust I feel at this ‘study’ is nauseating.
"What is demonstrably more dangerous than sex work is intimate partnership. Domestic violence is the number one cause of death and permanent disability to Australian women. So when your sister tells you that she’s moving in with her boyfriend, do you tell her to “be safe”? Would you refuse to have your friend’s wedding at your home given how you know domestic partnership to be a proven “high-risk lifestyle”? Would you let me work out of your guest room? Would you drive me to a call? Would you be my security back up without assuming I’m about to go see an axe-murderer? Would you be comfortable if my clients knew where you lived? If not, why not? If I could do any of this with a new lover but not a client, why do you think that only money makes these men dangerous? I’d like to hear your explanation."
— juliet november (via ourcatastrophe)
“BAM”
<3
(Source: )
March 15, 2011
A really excellent article. There is something validating in reading a smarty-pants academic saying things in almost the exact same words you have in the past. Some choice quotes:
**
“Daria grew up in a poor family in a large city in the Ukraine, and had to leave school at 16 to find work to help support her family. She says she chose to sell sex after seeing her three older sisters barely making ends meet working as maids and cooks. “I didn’t want to grow old looking in toilets. I wanted to travel and I wanted to have money.” “
***
“In order to fuel the rescue industry and ensure the continued existence of their funding, anti-sex work organizations are forced to adopt statistics and numbers based on shaky research and promote them as solid, incontrovertible fact. These numbers are then adopted by politicians, repeated by journalists, and finally accepted as ‘the truth’ by average people, until it seems that the world is overrun by naive, powerless sex slaves in need of our benevolent rescue and rehabilitation. But the problem isn’t just the inflated numbers and misleading statistics, but that the policies enacted based on them are so detrimental to the lives and well-being of sex workers around the world.
Sex work is populated primarily by low income women who are already among the most at-risk and oppressed members of society. In many circumstances, selling sex is the best economic decision a person can make in their situation, and oftentimes the sex workers vehemently do not want to be rescued. While yes, we should work to create a world where people are guaranteed the freedom and dignity of having their basic needs met, and a variety of work to choose from, the reality is that we do not live in that world yet, and for now there are people whose very survival depends on them making the best choice for their individual situation. And sometimes that means selling sex. By portraying all sex work as violent and all sex workers as naive victims desperate for rescue, abolitionist feminists perpetuate patriarchal stereotypes and silence the very people they are supposedly trying to help. By refusing to support sex workers in their quest for legitimacy and recognition as workers, they are condemning sex workers to lives in the shadows.
Most sex workers agree, it is not the work itself that is inherently dangerous, but the conditions they are forced to work in. When sex work is illegal it creates a terrifying constellation of conditions for sex workers to contend with, most of which put their lives directly at risk. When sex work is illegal, or even when selling sex is legal but the purchasing of sex is not, as in Sweden, sex workers remain stigmatized. They are forced to work in the most treacherous parts of town, away from safe, well-lit areas. They have no recourse to go to the police if something violent is done to them. If they do go to the police, they run the very real risk of being arrested for selling sex, or for being assaulted and harassed by thepolice themselves. Sex workers and sex work allies have shown that when a government cracks down on sex work it can lead directly to police brutality against sex workers, including their rape and murder. These crackdowns are promoted and funded by some abolitionist feminists looking to ‘rescue prostituted women’. When sex work is illegal, people who sell sex are unable to receive medical care as they are often refused treatment. Sex workers in these situations run a high risk from violence from their clients, because they are unable to negotiate working conditions safely. Furthermore, when sex workers have gone to great lengths to leave their home country and travel at considerable risk to work in another country, anti-trafficking policies leading to their ‘rescue’ often end with the worker placed in jail for breaking immigration law and eventually being sent back to the country they tried so hard to leave in the first place.”
***
“Sex workers around the world insist that selling sex can be a job just like any other. Whereas I choose to sell my body and my time by sitting behind a computer screen clacking away at my keyboard all day, sex workers decide to sell their body and time by providing sexual services to paying clients. So, why do we treat sex work so differently from other jobs that we personally wouldn’t want to have? For example, I might look at a woman working as a street sweeper and decide that it is a job that I personally wouldn’t want. But I would definitely support her in her fight to improve her working conditions and secure her rights as a worker, not endorse abolishing the entire field of street sweeping just because it doesn’t appeal to me.
Trafficking is a very real problem that we should clearly be working to stop, but it does not only or even predominantly pertain to sexual slavery. Unfortunately, the plight of trafficking victims is largely ignored if the story is deemed insufficiently ‘sexy’. Recently, 500 Indian workers brought to the U.S. to work in shipyards after Hurricane Katrina are suing Signal International and other entities on charges of human trafficking. The workers have alleged that they were brought to the country under a false premise, subject to deplorable living conditions and threats of violence. All these allegations add up to human trafficking, and yet no one is suggesting that shipyard work be abolished.”
***
However, when it comes to sex work, many people seem to think the only way to fix the ills of the industry, which no one denies exist, is to abolish the whole thing. With this argument, the moral paternalism implicit in the abolitionist stance becomes clear. They are simply repeating the same argument that has been used for so long to bolster the patriarchal attempt to control female sexuality. Women are seen as sexually vulnerable and sex is something done to them, not something they participate in, an absolute negative that is inflicted against them. A woman selling sex is seen as being exploited and in need of rescue, while a woman working in slave labor conditions in a dangerous sweatshop is to be commended for her entrepreneurial spirit. When we examine the two situations we see that they can both potentially involve low pay, dangerous working conditions, and health risks, and yet the key factor in determining which scenario abolitionists want to abolish is the sex. It always comes down to the sex.
Many abolitionists insist that the sex industry perpetuates the idea that women are commodities for men to buy and sell, and that the existence of women selling their bodies for sex creates a dangerous environment for all women. This paternalistic hysteria, which reeks of victim-blaming, is patently false. In most countries in the world prostitution is illegal, and that doesn’t stop the men living there from viewing women as pieces of meat to be bought and sold and treated like dirt. Men treat women poorly not because of the existence of the sex industry, but because of a misogyny so deeply ingrained in our society that its source is all but invisible. When sex workers are victims of violence and exploitation and abuse, it isn’t a flaw inherent in the sex industry, but a flaw inherent in our entire society.
***
The only truly feminist approach to sex work is to respect the voices and experiences of actual sex workers. When they speak we must listen. The solution to the problems within the sex industry is not to stigmatize sex workers and drive already disenfranchised people further into the margins of society, but to provide them with the space to talk, and to organize, and to demand their rights so they can work and live with dignity. The best way to fix the problems of exploitation and violence is to stand in solidarity with sex workers as they fight to transform the sex industry. When a light is shone on a problem, it becomes easier to solve. We need to bring this industry into the light, demolish the stigma that is still attached to sex workers, and insist that they be given the same rights as any other worker. I want the same thing for sex workers that I want for all workers: the right to choose the job they do; the freedom to work in an environment that is safe, dignified and protected by law; legal recourse for any injustice done; and the ability to leave whenever they want. Sex work a labor rights issue, and sex worker’s rights are human rights.
***
As feminists we must stand with sex workers to guarantee their rights as workers, help them defend themselves against the police and violent elements in their society, and assist them in earning their recognition as workers and valuable members of society worthy of protection and rights. When we paint all sex workers with the same broad brush and declare them all exploited victims, we ignore their reality, and their demands, and we put very real roadblocks in their path to progress, and ultimately, we endanger their lives.
"
Many abolitionists insist that the sex industry perpetuates the idea that women are commodities for men to buy and sell, and that the existence of women selling their bodies for sex creates a dangerous environment for all women. This paternalistic hysteria, which reeks of victim-blaming, is patently false. In most countries in the world prostitution is illegal, and that doesn’t stop the men living there from viewing women as pieces of meat to be bought and sold and treated like dirt. Men treat women poorly not because of the existence of the sex industry, but because of a misogyny so deeply ingrained in our society that its source is all but invisible. When sex workers are victims of violence and exploitation and abuse, it isn’t a flaw inherent in the sex industry, but a flaw inherent in our entire society.
The only truly feminist approach to sex work is to respect the voices and experiences of actual sex workers. When they speak we must listen. The solution to the problems within the sex industry is not to stigmatize sex workers and drive already disenfranchised people further into the margins of society, but to provide them with the space to talk, and to organize, and to demand their rights so they can work and live with dignity. The best way to fix the problems of exploitation and violence is to stand in solidarity with sex workers as they fight to transform the sex industry. When a light is shone on a problem, it becomes easier to solve. We need to bring this industry into the light, demolish the stigma that is still attached to sex workers, and insist that they be given the same rights as any other worker. I want the same thing for sex workers that I want for all workers: the right to choose the job they do; the freedom to work in an environment that is safe, dignified and protected by law; legal recourse for any injustice done; and the ability to leave whenever they want. Sex work a labor rights issue, and sex worker’s rights are human rights.
"
Selling Sex: How Abolitionist Feminists Hurt Sex Workers | Conducive Chronicle (via workingsex)
Wow, something said by a non-sex worker I can actually agree with.
Unfortunately, I think the end part from “I want the same thing for sex workers that I want for all workers…” is too easy to decontexualise in use to support the ongoing narrative that the sex industry is by default unsafe and undignified, and that sex workers lack all agency to choose or leave. But the sentiment is sound.
redlightpolitics:
The 3rd of March is International Sex Worker Rights Day. The day originated in 2001 when over 25,000 sex workers gathered in India for a sex worker festival. The organizers, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a Calcutta based group whose membership consists of somewhere upwards of 50,000 sex…
We have a saying: Only rights can stop the wrongs.
Within society, sex workers are amongst the most oppressed and discriminated against groups of people. Intersectionality has a huge presence in sex work, ensuring that many varying levels of oppression are experienced by sex workers (e.g.: being a sex worker who is also trans* who is also of colour).
Peoples concepts and ideas around what sex work involves, means and is have been so tainted by the fantasy and falsehood of media representation that even people who deem themselves open-minded and politically astute (e.g.: radical queers) have the same old stupid ideas about sex workers (we were all molested as children, all have drug addictions, all get raped regularly, etc).
For some bizarre, inexplicable reason the idea of sexual services being traded for money is considered so heinous that sex work is actually criminalised to some degree in most places of the world and sex workers are denied basic human rights in law and society.
But sex work is not going to go away. It exists for a variety of reasons for worker and client both. These reasons are complex and go well beyond some strawman moral question.
Rights are what enable sex workers to do our jobs safely, securely and with the power to control our environments so that we can protect ourselves and our clients.
I happen to live in a state where we have remarkable legal freedoms compared to most states of this country (and other countries!). A friend of mine compiled this list today to demonstrate why NSW is so privileged an environment for sex workers compared to the state he lives and works in. I’m including this list, along with a couple of additions, to demonstrate not just how sex workers in NSW are fortunate - but how otherwise arbitrary, bizarre, oppressive, unfair and downright STUPID and DISCRIMINATORY the laws are in many other places - and how they actively inhibit the ability of those who do sex work to do it in safe environments we can control:
As a sex worker in NSW I can:
a) work from a one person brothel in a residential area
b) describe services in ads
c) use photos of myself that extend beyond my head and shoulders
d) work without having to give my personal details to the government
e) have a bottle of champagne in the fridge
f) use the word “massage” without getting a fine
e) say that I am Asian without getting a fine
g) work without having a sign that implies I might be a sex slave…
h) not risk being put on a child sex offenders register because some kid stepped onto my driveway
i) post an ad looking for a cleaner
j) work without me or my landlord having to go through a probity check
k) work from the street without being arrested & furthermore have the option of two safehouses to take my clients to
l)Not have the cops confiscate my condoms and safe sex info and use them as evidence of a crime
m) Talk to other sex workers without being threatened with consorting laws.
To varying degrees, I do not have these rights around the rest of the country or in most other countries of the world.
Sex workers rights are human rights. Rights enable us the freedom to do our jobs safely and well. Sex workers are discriminated against at every level of society, sometimes to the detriment of our livelihood, our wellbeing and our lives.
Only rights can stop the wrongs.
Reblogged from wonderwomanv2 December 17, 2010
effyeahmegwhite:
i-am-the-lighthouse:
[Submitted by filmme-fatale]
From the Facebook event page:
International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers:
Join us in remembering sex workers who have been survivors and victims of violence.
“Join us in observing the 7th annual International Day to End…
oooh, yes! I love it! Do any other Chicagoans wanna go with me? :D
… I don’t know if excited squealings of loving a day to remember people who’ve been victims of violence - in many forms - is exactly the reaction I want to hear in regards December 17th. I’m sure you just meant that you loved the concept of people gathering together in solidarity, but I wonder if you would’ve reacted to other memorial/vigil events with the same lack of considered thought in response?
General address: December 17th is not a day you up your street cred by showing how rad and with the times you are by doing a fistpump for sex workers’ rights. It’s a day for sex workers to call attention to the violence we face in an ongoing and seeming unending effort for certain systemic changes to take place.
We are not a spectacle or a super-duper liberated radical hedonistic punk rock party where it’s all bent, all the time - even in your efforts to support, many of you continue to glamourise and fetishise us - but we are real people and the issues we face - this day is marked to recognise - are VERY REAL and have very real impacts on our lives, every single day.
We try to stress on December 17th that violence is not just physical abuse but institutional & societal discrimination - the things that keep sex workers on the fringes of society, meaning we have less recourse to various services - everything from legal aid to getting a bank loan to renting apartments to being active on the PTA - because we fear revealing what we do for a living in the very likely case it will result in us being looked down upon, treated with contempt, socially exiled and subject generally to lots of crappy treatment.
It is also, in many places in the world (including Western countries), a lack of medical services, access to free condoms (the number one factor that makes our work safer for us) and lack of adequate and peer-run support systems, or instead, ‘support’ systems with religious agendas.
It is also the incapacity of non-sex workers, no matter where they are in the world, to respect our work as work, to listen to us and allow us to set our own agendas and define our own needs, instead attempting to project their own values and convictions onto us whilst pathologising and attempting to victimise us.
It is in this discriminatory environment that other forms of violence - such as physical and verbal - are fostered. If predators see that everyone in society generally reviles sex workers, they feel that sex workers are ‘easy pickings’.
In my local community, my peers and I have noticed a bizarre change in attitude - all of a sudden, sex workers are ‘cool’ and knowing or being one is totally trendy. This is rarely manifesting in meaningful support and alliance, however, and is more likely to take the form of ‘do you know my friend X, they’re a sex worker!’ or ‘let’s go along to this sex worker support event, the photos of that will look super cool on facebook!’
There is the assumption that all sex workers are empowered, radical, queer and rolling in it. There is little concept of, or understanding for the average daily grind of our lives in our efforts to maintain our expenses or how that is further complicated by the discrimination we face.
Sex work has become the latest hip cause amongst fringe politicos to piggyback on and add a few radical points to their quota (or, in some corners of the comic fandom, because their favourite character did a few turns as a hooker or a stripper! Puke!). But with that comes an absence of actual CARING about the issues and concerns.
Stand in solidarity with us, but MEAN IT.
This event sounds pretty amazing and I’m glad they’ve opened it to the public. But it’s my way to be cynical when it comes to this particular topic and no true ally would be expecting a cookie anyway. I definitely encourage everyone to support ‘open to public’ sex worker events, but don’t get all high on yourselves for doing so… there’s always more to learn. Just keeping things grounded here.
Two photos from the Scarlet Alliance National Forum last week.
Some of you peeps may remember back in October I mentioned the Femme Guild Conference and that I’d organised a panel for sex worker femmes to talk. Well, the panel was nominated for a Whore of the Year award - and we came in third place!
I do have photos of all of us with the sash but I haven’t cleared it with everyone about posting those pics publicly, so I won’t.
Fun and hijinks!
Reblogged from okapidreams November 23, 2010
okapidreams:
tiaramerchgirl:
ardhra:
clownyprincess:
I really wish people would STOP talking about choice like it’s a dichotomy. Stop that shit. Stop. I had to have this conversation with someone else recently. I myself am not in the industry by ‘choice’ and yet I am. If I could choose to be doing something else right now, I would be - and that something else is very specific and I am working towards it, but it’s going to take time - and in the meantime, sex work affords me an income and flexibility no other industry would while I work towards my goal - not to mention the fact the huge gaps in my ‘legitimate’ resume make other employment options more difficult. You see how choice here is murky, not clear cut? I am not sorry I work in the industry, but I would rather be doing something else.The same is true of, I would venture to say, most workers. Just because we might not be doing our dream job, doesn’t mean we find it horrible and soul-destroying. Some of the most passionate, fierce, relentless sex worker activists I know have come from the least privileged backgrounds. They don’t feel victimised by the sex industry - in fact, often they’re embracing it for so many reasons not apparent to non-sex workers, with your fetishisation of the concept of sexual behaviour as attached to an individual’s ‘soul’ - but they want more rights for sex workers because it will enable them to do our jobs in better and safer environments. But this is hardly uncommon. Why are sex workers under so much more pressure to enjoy our jobs and name them vocational for our work to be considered legitimate than anyone else in any other industry?
Wish you’d reblogged the whole thing cos I also wanted to highlight clownyprincess’ comments about non-sex-workers taking the spotlight no matter how well-informed we might be.
But I’m gonna do that thing of talking about sex work not being a sex worker myself in a sec. Hopefully what I have to say is useful, but what I have to say isn’t about the experiences of sex workers but about abolitionist feminism (i.e. the kind that wants to ban ‘prostitution’). I will delete this if it’s not.
I think that clownyprincess’ comments show up how much abolitionism is actually about anxieties around capitalism rather than gender. Sex work is a marker of the limits of the commodification of labour under capitalism, i.e. sex is seen as being something that human beings should be able to have as a safe haven from the market. Same with family life, romance, and intimacy. This is the point that sex worker advocate Laura Agustin makes in this article.
These limits serve to reinforce capitalism. If we can pretend like there is an aspect of human life that’s beyond commodification, that’s ‘inherently’ beyond the market, we can feel okay about other parts of our lives being commodified as labour. We feel like we have moral control over capitalism when we set these limits, even though we don’t really.
The trouble is, they’re set along the work and bodies of people who are marginalised already, and abolitionism uses these people to make more privileged people feel better. Not only does it do this, it punishes them further when they don’t conform to the image they need to keep feeling that way.
Ok, time to shut up again now.
I was reading the Sex Work anthology (which was referred to somewhere in this entire conversation) and I did wonder about the capitalistic part of the debate, which wasn’t as strongly gone into as many other issues in the anthology but is still a strong important point. Are things really devalued by the addition of commerce? Are we playing into the same ideas that plague artists and homemakers - that you should be doing it for the “love” of it so forget compensation, even though “love” doesn’t pay the bills? (Excuse my unintentional puns.)
One thing that really struck me in the anthology is the amount of racism that happens within sex work, even in places like Europe where it’s not as criminalised or stigmatised. If you’re not white or pretty-bodied, good luck getting hired by more upper-class places - but mostly, good luck trying not to get into jail. Many of the contributors talked about how Black and Latina sex workers (not much said about Asians) were most likely to be jailed or horrifically treated by authorities compared to their White compatriots - and even non-sex-worker Black and Latina women were often picked up on suspicion of being a sex worker (and therefore committing crimes) just for standing at a corner or dressing in an unusual way.
I’m not sure how the crime stats and racism stats are like in Australia, given that in many states sex work is legal to some degree. I do know there are efforts by various organisations to connect with migrant sex workers (don’t get me started on how messed up the migration system is in the first place!!).
But I remember talking about how as a brown person I was finding it hard to get hired or taken seriously even to find work as models or stripclubs or hostesses (though mostly in the context of being a performer) and feeling like there was this semi-utopian “alternative” sex-positive world where you have touring shows like Too Much Pussy! and Zahra Stardust creates awesome performance work while being a Senator and magazines like Dirty Queer and Whore and the Crash Pad Series exist. But there’s also the “mainstream” - the highly commercial establishments, where the customers don’t care about any “artistic” value, where you get hired based on your looks, where you are expected to dress a certain way and dye your hair a certain way and wax it all off.
I got told off the last time I articulated those sentiments, and I can see why: it’s another case of non-sex-worker telling the sex workers what to do. But at the same time it’s not like I didn’t try getting work in the sex industry. Realistically though, like most other entertainment or looks-based industries, I’m not likely to get anywhere unless I strike it alone - and even then I’ll probably have to either work twice as hard and/or be willing to exotify myself. Just because the other customers at the club assume I’m a worker doesn’t mean the staff see me as a potential hire - I don’t look the part.
How do you get perspectives like that, about the societal racism and looksism that permeates these industries, about how it’s hard in some places to break through and create your own alternative public sexuality because of laws or resources (I’m trying to organise an erotic cabaret in Brisbane like the ones I heard of in the US or in Sydney but finding a venue is proving difficult), about how even if you did produce the best alt porn ever or can be really sexy and arousing as a stripper you probably won’t get picked up because your brown skin doesn’t come from a bottle - if only hired sex workers get to contribute? What about those that get pushed away, that would likely be able to make things better for the sex industry and its politics, only to not even be able to get the slightest bit of access because the industry as it stands won’t let them through?
One of the sex worker activist groups profiled in Sex Work worked with a Black feminist non-sex-worker activist to get their group going. She had plenty of compassion and understanding for sex workers, but most importantly she had the resources and skills of being able to get your voices heard and get things going when you’ve got so many barriers against you. With her support, advocacy, and help, the group got itself going strong.
So this is why Elise’s calls of “shut up and let the sex workers talk” kinda rub me the wrong way: I can see why she says that, and it is highly annoying (understatement) to have unrelated people speak on your behalf (e.g. burqas OH DEAR GOD) but what if the group in question has issues with its own insularity and is unwittingly contributing to similar societal prejudice?
USA, despite all their laws against public sexuality, is at least able to have active non-White sex work activists, performers like Jiz Lee, porn creators like Shine Louise Houston, countless burlesque performers that subvert notions of race and culture and sexuality - it has enough of a critical mass of cluely people that can bring their causes forward. Does the same exist for Australia, or anywhere else for that matter? Just because sex work is more legal in other places doesn’t mean it’s any more free or liberated or open-minded (hell look at all the prejudice in Europe against non-Europeans). Where are the spaces for that discussion?
Im not going to go into this too deep. But i feel like more than once ive read yr critique of sex work and found it to be really different from my personal reality. Hence why people say dont talk about what you dont know. I lived and worked stripping in Brisbane for a long time and the places i worked had diverse groups of “woman” (i use this term loosely because not all those that work as “woman” identify as so) . A lot of times working a friday or saturday night i was a minority on shift as a white person.
I have found more diversity, hanging out with babes from all round the world in the sex industry than ive found in our predominately white queer scene here in australia.
If your aiming for high class anything its still dominated by mainstream hegemonic looking babes but i prefer the trashier places. We are lucky because there are a few venues here in oz that hire trashy, tattooed, pierced, butchey whatever queer kids and we get to wear what we want, charge what we want, and dance to what we want. and we are really privileged to have that.
Word UP, Okapi.
(is this the Okapi I know?)
Tiara, I was the one who “told you off” (I didn’t actually think of it that way, interesting that’s how you intepreted it) and you acknowledged what I said only to now come back and… say the exact same things.
I said then what I say to you once again: you have really got the wrong end of the stick. Hell, I’ve just come from a shift where I worked with about ten other women of varying skin colours, looks, body size and backgrounds. There was no guessing which client would go for who. As a totally white chick, I was definitely in the minority today.
As for the ‘lookism’ of the industry, as Okapi notes, the so-called ‘high-class’ places are always going to be hegemonic, but this simply isn’t true of the industry at large. It COULDN’T possibly be, because as I said to you before, the sex industry is the refuge of more marginalised people than the privileged. BECAUSE society is racist, transphobic, anti-immigration, homophobic, classist, looksist, etc… yeesh. There would pretty much be NO industry without the marginalised. There are thriving markets not EVEN underground for people of diverse body types, body mods and racial backgrounds.
Maybe it IS different up in QLD - I’ve never worked there so I can’t say.
But please do not project that isolated experience onto the rest of the world and the world’s sex work industry. It simply isn’t true. I don’t work a shift ANYWHERE without working with several people of colour, with people with english as second language, with people with diverse body types. With people with diverse facial types!
And don’t you DARE hold sex workers responsible for ‘insularity’. As I said to you before: we just want to make a living. To varying degrees, we play a game in order to ensure our survival. As Okapi pointed out, some people working ‘as women’ are actually FTM trans-identified. Some workers exploit their prominent tattoos and shaved heads. Some new mothers exploit their lactation. Some people of colour exploit the colour of their skin. Some fat people exploit their body size. The industry is flush with people of all types and any hegemony is projected ONTO it rather than reflecting the reality. Your belief their is no market for people of colour is GROSSLY misguided and only serves to demonstrate you utter detachment from the industry.
I also find your whole attitude re ‘trying’ to get into the industry, ie as a sort of tourist experience, to be deeply, deeply problematic.
I don’t look the part.
You look the part plenty fine, trust me. There is NO ‘looking the part’ in this industry. Yeah, there is the elitist ‘high class’ market, but you wanna know something? **I** don’t look the part for that. I’m not thin enough, blonde-or-brunette enough, tan enough or pretty in the current fashion enough for that market. The broader market just doesn’t operate under this fantasy vision of it that you have developed. It COULDNT. There just aren’t enough ‘pretty thin white girls’ of the sort you conceptualise in a position where they need to work in the sex industry for the market to thrive the way it does.
if only hired sex workers get to contribute? What about those that get pushed away, that would likely be able to make things better for the sex industry and its politics, only to not even be able to get the slightest bit of access because the industry as it stands won’t let them through?
First of all: thanks for spitting in the face of all the work that current sex worker activists do, and for presuming you know the first thing about their ‘hired’ status, lifestyles, or racial backgrounds. I know a few Indian, Indigenous, Thai, African sex worker activists who would not be very impressed with you right now. I think the fact you think the current sex worker activists can’t ‘make things better’ for the sex industry simply indicates you don’t value sex worker voices.
I really, REALLY want to know where you’re getting these ideas from. You know NOTHING about the Australian sex industry at large and what you know about the American comes second-hand - and I think you’re looking through rosy glasses. All respect to my American fellow whores; I think they’re a frankly incredible, unbelievably radical bunch, but this idea they’re soooo much more advanced in sex worker activism (to which you actually have no right or entitlement, Tiara) is somewhat naive.
Tiara, you clearly have never heard of EMPOWER, the Thai sex worker organisation, or the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, the Indian sex worker organisation - both of whom could give lessons to Western groups on how to be radical and proactive - though I have mentioned and linked to them both on this blog in the past.
This idea that people with dark-coloured skin can’t get work in this industry is so wrong it beggars belief. I see many, many people with very dark skin working in this industry in Australia and, unlike yourself, they’re working because there is an IMPERATIVE for them to do so. Once again, your belief there are none or it’s incredibly difficult for them to get work simply indicates your lack of familiarity with the industry.
Seriously. Don’t talk about what you don’t know. For reals. It’s very offensive. Becuase you’re flat-out WRONG.
(Source: thefeministhub)
Reblogged from girlsgoneangry November 19, 2010
girlsgoneangry:
trannsexualferox:
In defence of stripping and sex work
note-a-bear:
thefeministhub:
(Warning: link has images that are likely NSFW)
In light of the recent question we received about feminists enjoying/supporting porn (which I answered here, and Renee answered here),…
as an “ex” sex worker i really find a hard stretch to say that zhara stardust is doing great things for the feminist cause. yes i agree with her points, yes i’m pro sex, pro-legitimate sex work (not sex slavery or sex trafficking) pro-nakedness but i mean really, mens magazines suck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK9GtT-khb0
mens magazines contribute to every shit feeling you’ve ever had about yourself and your vagina.
Zahra herself has discussed in many other platforms the issues with men’s magazines, including her frustration at being made to wear wigs and having her armpit hair photoshopped out afterwards. But why should her hip pocket take a punch when that money enables her to continue her pursuit of politics (she’s a senator in the Australian Sex Party) and her thesis (on sex work and how it is radicalised from within by workers) with comparative freedom and flexibility and enables her to set up her own alternative burlesque agency? Why should her excellent work, her outspokenness and frankness be undermined and diminished because she occasionally models for men’s magazines and uses them as a platform through which to promote herself, leading back to her other work? Most of us play ‘the game’ on some level. It doesn’t automatically invalidate her other work.
In fact, I consider it an act of subversive radicalism, that this otherwise hairy, self-described ‘grotty slob’ of a lesbian stripper has successfully infiltrated that mainstream market and is making quite a great big stash of cash from the endeavour whilst still devotedly pursuing her politics and passion.
(eg: Zahra is a committed vegan & passionate about environmental politics too & since it is de rigeur for strippers to be tanned, she’s on the lookout for vegan organic self-tan, amongst the other lengths she goes to to be a successful stripper and devoted to her vegan ethics. And she’s never one to deny her privilege, either)
November 19, 2010
note-a-bear:
thefeministhub:
(Warning: link has images that are likely NSFW)
In light of the recent question we received about feminists enjoying/supporting porn (which I answered here, and Renee answered here), I wanted to share this article. I highly recommend reading the entire thing. It isn’t about pornography, per se, and it’s just one woman’s opinion, of course, but she is a sex worker who has been in the industry for years, and she’s also a feminist. A lot of the questions she’s asked are specifically about sex work and feminism.
The introduction to the piece:
The sex industry is built upon the objectification and commodification of women and is therefore inherently sexist and degrading, according to radical feminists. Striptease artist and men’s magazines model Zahra Stardust acknowledges the industry’s imperfections but argues there is an alternative feminist narrative that’s not so straightforward.
In my opinion, Stardust has some good and interesting observations. Such as:
I don’t believe that women need to be chaste, monogamous, passive or modest to be considered a ‘proper’ feminist. Instead, sexually explorative women who move beyond middle-class standards of ‘appropriate’ female appearance and behaviour have amazing things to contribute to feminist discourses.
I also think the burden should not be placed on women to control misogynist and sexist readings of their bodies and behaviours. People who interpret the nude female body as merely an object should be answering to feminism, not the owners of those bodies.
~Rosie
I’d like to add that for me, a lot of the published critiques I’ve read—though by far not all of them—that have argued against the sex work industry have been espoused by people who also view trans identity as an attack on womanhood. I say this is not all the critiques, because there are many critiques that have also come from people that address the negative aspects and focus on those and try to deconstruct the ways in which sex work is used against women.
As far as I’m concerned, a whole lot of the argument, I think, needs to take a step back and focus on responses and critiques such as the one linked that come from sex workers themselves. Too long have vulnerable bodies been denied a space to talk about their experiences and their politics. Certainly there are many pitfalls within the industry, but I see that as more reflective of the ways we as a US—and global—community have ignored and silenced sex workers. There are a multitude of reasons people become involved in sex work, as I feel many of us know, and it is worth looking at those reasons and seeing how they relate to the more harmful aspects of the industry.
I won’t stand here and glamorize the industry, because certainly any entertainment industry—and that is what sex work boils down to, an entertainment industry—has its dark side. It just happens to be much worse because, like so many things that are not “approved” of in general politics, it has been pushed aside and considered a moot conversation. It is important in any critique of sex work, and porn in specific, to take a look at where we stand in terms of privilege and choice in relation to the subject of conversation. That is not to say that we should view ourselves as inherently privileged because we’re not sex workers so much as to look at the work that sex workers put out and listen to their input on what led them to the choice (or lack thereof) to participate in such a flawed system.
I feel that the discussion on sex work has a strong corollary to the discussion on drug prohibition in that many of the most negative aspects of the industry are there because people in power refuse to listen to those who are involved in the industry. Mind you, I do not mean they refuse to listen to the producers of the industry so much as I mean the actual participants of, in particular women. Much of the resultant violence and harm that occurs to women has to do with the fact that as a culture porn is the dirty secret. No one wants to talk about it for fear of not being taken seriously, so it is the voices on the periphery that get heard most often—i.e. those zealously in favor and those zealously against porn.
I think this is a wonderful and tactful conversation that is occurring and, for my own comfort, I would love to see more voices engaging that have direct experience with sex work. Last Spring I was at a conference and sat in a workshop about sex work and its legal standings and the current struggle for sex workers to be protected against physical and emotional harm. One of the panelists, when asked how it would be best to get involved in aid and the debate around sex work, replied that the best way would be to encourage sex workers to share their stories and their politics and to sit back and listen.
So, now that I’ve said my piece I would encourage us all to continue our studies into the matter and to really sit and listen to those accounts and critiques available from sex workers.
There is an amazing anthology called Sex Work that I would encourage anyone to read in order to get their toes wet. It is written by and for sex workers and includes a number of appendices on current groups and lobbies that handle sex work politics specifically.
Well, first off, I’m a friend of Zahra’s, we live in the same city, socialise in the same commuity and at our inaugural Femme identity conference recently, I asked her to be on a panel of Femme-identified sex workers to provide some real insight into our lives and experiences. She also interviewed me for her - and several other local sex-based performance artists - for her thesis, which is how we met. She’s a brilliant, extremely talented and intelligent woman who has a lot to bring to any environment. I’m fully behind her in what she says.
I’m also a sex worker and peripherally involved in the sex worker activist movement where I live. I used to be far more active but experienced a sense of burnout so moved back. I was employed by our national sex worker advocacy organisation for two years to work on a specific project. I’ve worked in the industry for seven years and have pretty much worked in every aspect except porn. Throughout this time I’ve had interaction with hundreds of workers from all different backgrounds - please note, note-a-bear, your narrative effectively discludes male, trans* and gender queer sex workers here.
And honestly, when it comes to this topic we only want one thing from non-sex workers: we want you to shut up.
Our voices are the important ones here, not yours.
I wouldn’t really encourage you all to continue your studies into the matter unless your studies involve exclusively listening to sex workers. We are the ones best able to define our needs and issues. Ya’ll should just shut up and listen.
Unfortunately, non-sex workers rarely bring a detachment from their preconceptions and prejudices into these dialogues. Jo Weldon wrote a great article on this which was also published on the Scavenger some months back. For so long as you bring in your ideas, your established concepts, your sense of entitlement to be involved, you will hinder us. Because then the dialogue becomes all about correcting you, persuading you, enlightening you - you derail our cause with your need to be convinced of it, your need to be persuaded that our voices are worth listening to because we’re NOT all passive victims.
Phrases like “in my opinion, x sex worker has some good points” and “for my own comfort, I would like more sex workers to speak here” fill me with rage. You all are still positioning this dialogue as hinging off your investment in it.
We KNOW we have good points. We don’t need your validation of that but that the debate relies on non-sex workers conceding to our viewpoints is quite illustrative of the various dynamics at play. Effectively, we require your permission to take part in something about us.
This is why sex worker activism is generally so radical and fierce and exclusionary of anyone who isn’t sex workers - we have to side step all you guys.
We may not speak because we’re so used to being silenced that we think what’s the point here, and wait for a battle where we can see some law reform happen from our efforts. If you can’t provide a truly safe space in which sex workers can speak, how can you expect us to?
I’m not really angry at you, note-a-bear, as I recognise this is pretty much the point you’re making, but I am angry that you had to make it such a lengthy one in order for YOUR peers to get the message. I’m angry you had to say it at all. Some of your imperatives pissed me off though. To me, from the perspective of meaningful interaction and advocacy, automatic deference to the particular group in question should be immediate and assumed. No matter what the issue.
I really wish people would STOP talking about choice like it’s a dichotomy. Stop that shit. Stop. I had to have this conversation with someone else recently. I myself am not in the industry by ‘choice’ and yet I am. If I could choose to be doing something else right now, I would be - and that something else is very specific and I am working towards it, but it’s going to take time - and in the meantime, sex work affords me an income and flexibility no other industry would while I work towards my goal - not to mention the fact the huge gaps in my ‘legitimate’ resume make other employment options more difficult. You see how choice here is murky, not clear cut? I am not sorry I work in the industry, but I would rather be doing something else.The same is true of, I would venture to say, most workers. Just because we might not be doing our dream job, doesn’t mean we find it horrible and soul-destroying. Some of the most passionate, fierce, relentless sex worker activists I know have come from the least privileged backgrounds. They don’t feel victimised by the sex industry - in fact, often they’re embracing it for so many reasons not apparent to non-sex workers, with your fetishisation of the concept of sexual behaviour as attached to an individual’s ‘soul’ - but they want more rights for sex workers because it will enable them to do our jobs in better and safer environments. But this is hardly uncommon. Why are sex workers under so much more pressure to enjoy our jobs and name them vocational for our work to be considered legitimate than anyone else in any other industry?
“Much of the resultant violence and harm that occurs to women has to do with the fact that as a culture porn is the dirty secret.”
Er… no. Apart from the fact porn has VERY little to do with violence against women. There’s more to the sex industry than porn and porn stars tend to be very far removed from their viewers.
It has to do with the fact that sex workers are, by and large, not considered to be either equal with other humans, or humans at all, creating an environment of extreme discrimination in which predators tend to view us as easy targets. In countries where our work is criminalised, we do not even have the option of reporting attacks to the police. And even in countries where it is decriminalised, like mine, we have to deal with widespread societal stigma that still ensures we won’t be taken seriously in our complaints. It is all the issues cis women and trans people and gay men face in regular society when it comes to targeted violence, with the added complication of sex work on top.
The worst thing about the industry is the societal discrimination. That’s what makes it hard for us to do our jobs. That’s what ensures a negative environment and, where they exist, exploitative ones. The perception that sex work must inherently be like this is entwined with the idea there is something dirty/sacred about sex itself and if you can’t unpick that within yourself, you shouldn’t be taking part in this debate at all, ever, for any reason.
As for producers, or if we’re going to drag ourselves beyond porn - owners/operators - don’t listen to them. They shouldn’t have a voice either. The only people who should a voice is the people doing the actual work ourselves.
Also, just FYI to anyone reading this: sitting in at workshops or reading some books will never, ever, ever make you an expert on sex work. The only thing that will is being a sex worker. Educate yourselves, yes, please do. But don’t think it ever grants you authority. Nothing will substitute for your silence as an effective ally stance. We are quite adept at beginning our own movements, we’ve been doing it for a while now and with very little support. Supportive silence is more welcome than indifferent or opposing silence, of course, but we shouldn’t have to raise our voices to be heard over yours.
Next week we are having the Scarlet Alliance National Symposium in Australia - here’s some information about it in this link. I would love to see this information get circulated.
And further, some other things I have tumbl’d about sex work (written myself or reposted):
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/1288645824/chelle-shock-not-that-i-would-expect
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/1240427939/keiren-smith-lettersfromtheattic
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/1224408510/skywriting-how-to-be-an-ally-to-sex-workers
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/1123100021/principles-of-peer-education-amongst-sex-workers
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/1066999969/whorephobia-affects-all-women
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/1053129065/ouch-western-feminists-wounded-attachment-to-the
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/915742787/sex-work-research-needs-to-focus-on-money
http://clownyprincess.tumblr.com/post/1221928369/how-to-respect-sex-workers
To my delight and surprise, my pimping of the Femme Guild Conference on tumblr actually alerted the delectable and delicious @picnic-lightning to the event and she came down to attend - so who knows? Maybe this will result in some sex workers around Australia hearing about it also.
As it is Scarlet’s 21st birthday, I will be doing a turn as Marilyn Monroe to sing Happy Birthday at 2.30pm. I’ve also been asked to co-present on ’Meaningful Representation and Inclusivity’ but I haven’t committed to that as yet.
You are invited to the Scarlet Alliance National Symposium
Wednesday 24th November 2010 1:00PM – 5.30PM
Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney
In this 21st year of Scarlet Alliance’s history you are invited to join Australia’s leading practitioners as they discuss and present the key policy issues affecting sex workers in Australia.
Alongside presentations of contemporary and future policy issues the afternoon includes a short interlude into Australia’s history and recognition of the important contribution to Australia’s response to HIV and public health outcomes in Australia by sex workers who have effectively implemented safer sex practices into their workplaces. This culture has sustained against a backdrop of diverse legal frameworks that have enhanced in some cases and in others hindered this success.
A diverse range of provocative speakers from throughout Australia will contribute to this celebratory event making this symposium essential to all working within policy, law, policing, OH&S, education, BBV prevention, human rights labour rights, and anti-trafficking.
The symposium will end with networking and social drinks.
RSVP required.
Contact Mish or Heather at Scarlet Alliance on 02 9326 9455 or admin@scarletalliance.org.au, or book online at www.trybooking.com/HHS
Pricing scale: $110 general admission, $55 small community organisations, $22 concession/unemployed/pensioner, FREE for Scarlet Alliance members.
http://www.scarletalliance.org.au/
There is also a SEX WORKER ONLY party on that evening, at which I will be performing a burlesque show, with a slew of other amazing sex worker performers.
Please only enquire about this party if you are a sex worker (if you do, or have, worked in BDSM, prostitution & escort, stripping, erotic massage and peepshow). We have whoredars and will know if you’re faking it.
The Scarlet Alliance 21st Birthday Party will be held on the evening of the 25th of November at the Red Rattler theatre in Marrickville. More information about the Red Rattler can be found at http://www.redrattler.org/. If you are interested in performing at this event please contact Janelle.fawkes@scarletalliance.org.au.
This evening of performance and celebration is SEX WORKER ONLY. If you are a sex worker and would like to attend, please contact Heather on communications@scarletalliance.org.au or Mish on admin@scarletalliance.org.au.
