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Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

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Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#61

Post by igorkraw »

horsestaple wrote: post #39

Quoted post unavailable.

This can be a consistent position if you can do two things: 1. Propose what to replace sex work with for those engaging in it voluntarily or as a way to make ends meet (i.e. the same duress that we accept as normal in capitalism) and 2. draw a distinction between "sex work" renting out your body and a bunch of other jobs that share characteristics:

- actors (non-porn, but sex scenes, full or partial nudity, kissing etc)

- gastronomy (hooters as an extreme example, hostesses at conferences/buffets less so, the emotional and physical expectations placed on normal waitresses)

- modeling

- construction, truck driving, health care and other "will wreck your body and possibly mental health" professions

- butchers, executioners, soldiers and other jobs which are "voluntarily" doing things which in current norms are not acceptable to do in public or regularly

I'm personally not convinced we should target sex work per se if we want to save people being forced into it by circumstances or people, but we should target the circumstances or people that cause the duress. If people still want to do sex work then, hey, it's a free country.

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#62

Post by lkslkdjfsl »

horsestaple wrote: post #39

Quoted post unavailable.

Do you apply the same logic to being a soldier?

I would argue that being contracted to kill other people other people is very different from other jobs. But we still provide them with insurance, healthcare, acceptance, etc, why not sex work?

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#63

Post by alistairSH »

jrm4 wrote: post #27
LatteLazy wrote: post #13

We're really seeing a counterrevolution around sex and sexuality. From Row vs Wade to crackdowns on pornography to this, America is getting back to its puritanical roots...

Real talk. As someone who was raised Catholic, I just sort of assumed that sexual repression was a by-product of strong religious beliefs, and now I'm both fascinated and dismayed to discover that religion is in no way a requirement for this. America has managed to reinstate sexual repression, and it's odd how there's no clear "source" for it beyond "habitual capitalism" or something like that.

religion is in no way a requirement for this

What makes you say this? Roe was tossed aside by a largely reactionary Catholic bench[1]. State-level anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ, and anything else dealing with sexuality is largely pushed by Evangelicals or other fundamentalist Christian politicians.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Co...

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#64

Post by Bubble_Pop_22 »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #12
dtx1 wrote: post #4

Quoted post unavailable.

Again with the denigrating of sex work. It's a pervasive and ancient part of human society, but it should not be studied, because? We study bookmaking and banking and families and art, but not this because, it's naughty? it's taboo? it makes some uncomfortable? All that is a clear sign to me, that we need more such scholars.

No post body was provided.

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#65

Post by dani_german »

horsestaple wrote: post #39

Quoted post unavailable.

I think this is such a progressive view because many religious and some secular people still uphold the belief in the sanctity of marriage. To them sex never stopped being the most intimate and precious thing to share with a spouse and no one else. Add the fact that the rebranding of prostitution into sex work is still a very recent thing plus some things falling under the umbrella of sex work being very illegal in many places means that outside of twitter and extremely progressive spaces like universities no one wants to associate with someone that has turned the most socially taboo act possible into a business.

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#67

Post by lazide »

jrm4 wrote: post #27
LatteLazy wrote: post #13

We're really seeing a counterrevolution around sex and sexuality. From Row vs Wade to crackdowns on pornography to this, America is getting back to its puritanical roots...

Real talk. As someone who was raised Catholic, I just sort of assumed that sexual repression was a by-product of strong religious beliefs, and now I'm both fascinated and dismayed to discover that religion is in no way a requirement for this. America has managed to reinstate sexual repression, and it's odd how there's no clear "source" for it beyond "habitual capitalism" or something like that.

Hardly a uniquely American thing.

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#68

Post by lkslkdjfsl »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #57
horsestaple wrote: post #39

Quoted post unavailable.

Legitimizing the industry helps make cases of coercion more obvious, as people gain more legitimate means to report things without self-incrimination. Physical laborers rent out their bodies in a way that often causes permanent damage. It's literally degrading their bodies. Some construction workers live with chronic pain for their entire lives. There's a psychological component as well, which is more vulnerable in s…

> but there are no shortage of people who also end up with psychological damage from their jobs outside of sex work

Not to labour the point but: cf Soldiers.

Men can take the emotional and physical toll but women can't?

edit: just to expand on this, talk to people who have been on military tours about the horrors of draging dead bodies (that they might have killed) from the road side, the pain of loosing friends, being away from your family etc.

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#69

Post by dylan604 »

giantg2 wrote: post #42

"It also establishes a precedent, allowing private companies to set opaque, moralizing, and arbitrary censorship terms without oversight." Yes, this is done with other things as well. On one hand, I think that the free market would create payment processors willing to work with the groups rejected by others. On the other hand, it seems that many financial things are set by international organizations, which the proce…

>On one hand, I think that the free market would create payment processors willing to work with the groups rejected by others.

These already exist and are sometimes known as "high risk" processors. They charge a lot more for the privilege of accepting payments for what industry has deem high risk transactions due to larger rates of chargebacks. Typical examples are paid subscription to a porn site, but then the card owner claims it was not them that paid for it. CBD/Delta-8/Delta-10/Delta-9 sales are also considered high risk for various reasons with one due to their legality questionable in some states.

Re: Why are sex workers forced to wear a financial scarlet letter?

#70

Post by rayiner »

hackeraccount wrote: post #56

There's a libertarian ethos that says anything between two consenting adults is the their business. I'm more and more skeptical not just of that principle but the self awareness of the people who purport to support it. I know that the choices I think are correct may not be - either for myself, for everyone or for any particular person. For that reason I don't think that anyone should run my life or that I should be t…

> I'm beginning to wonder though if there isn't some space short of stopping a person from doing something

That’s why moral norms exist in every human society. Most people need some sort of support from society to make good decisions for themselves and their families. It’s no different than how an exercise or diet regimen is easier to stick to if you do it along with other people to provide support and yes shaming if necessary.

Intellectuals project their own capacities onto sex workers, and say that if they did sex work—which they don’t—it would be for “freedom of expression” and “economic rights.” But the fact is that sex work is like myriad other dangerous and unpleasant jobs society has seen fit to regulate or ban. Society seeks to create a floor below which people can’t sink through desperation or bad choices.

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