(Intended section in sex worker wiki)
Debates on sex worker agency
editThe topic of sexual labor is often contextualized within opposing abolitionist and sex-positive perspectives[1][2]. The abolitionist perspective typically defines sex work as an oppressive form of labor[3]. According to abolitionists, prostitution is not only the literal purchase of women and children for sexual use, but it also constitutes exertion of power over women both symbolically and materially. This perspective views prostitution and trafficking as directly and intimately connected and therefore calls for the abolition of prostitution in efforts to eliminate the overall sexual exploitation of women and children[3]. By treating sex workers as a homogeneous group of victimized women and children, this perspective fails to recognize male and non binary sex workers and the varied forms of oppression they experience both within and outside of sex work as well as they ways in which they enact their agency within their work. Abolitionists refute the idea of consent among sex workers by claiming that such consent is merely a submissive acceptance of the traditional exploitation of women. For these reasons, abolitionists believe that the decriminalization of sex work would utterly harm women as a class by maintaining their sexual and economic exploitation while “serving the interests of pimps, procurers and prostitutors”[3].
Sex positive feminists recognize sex workers as situated within a modern Western sexual hierarchy where marital reproductive heterosexual sex are respectable while transsexuals, fetishists, and sex workers such as prostitutes and porn models are viewed as sexual dissidents[4]. According to sex positive feminists, sex law incorporates a prohibition against mixing sex and money in order to sustain this hierarchy and to obscure the economic exchange inherent, indeed, in heterosexual marriage itself. Therefore, the individuals who practice these “deviant” sexual acts are deemed as criminals, presumed to be mentally ill, and have limited institutional support and economic sanctions[4]. Sex-positive perspectives challenge this hierarchy by appreciating sexual diversity and rejecting any notion of “normal” sex[5]. Therefore, people who choose to engage in commercial sex are recognized as autonomous sexual beings rather than as victims of the sex industry. Ultimately, sex positive feminists believe that a democratic morality should judge sexual activity “by the way partners treat one another, the presence or absence of coercion, and the quantity and quality of the pleasures they provide”[4]. It should not be an ethical concern whether sex acts are coupled or in groups, with or without video, commercial or free[4].
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- ^ Hakim, Catherine (2015). "Economies of Desire: Sexuality and the Sex Industry in the 21st Century". Economic Affairs. 35: 329–348.
- ^ Bernstein, Elizabeth (2007). Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- ^ a b c Comte, Jacqueline (2013). "Decriminalization of Sex Work: Feminist Discourses in Light of Research". Sexuality and Culture: 196–217.
- ^ a b c d Rubin, Gayle (1984). "Thinking Sex: Notes toward a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality". Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality: 275–284.
- ^ Windsor, Elroi (2014). Sex Matters: Future Visions for a Sex-Positive Society. New York: Norton. pp. 691–699. ISBN 978-0-393-93586-8.