221–230 of 511 posts
In other words, a world in which payment processors and content platforms rule unchallenged is a problem not just for porn creators and consumers. It also establishes a precedent, allowing private companies to set opaque, moralizing, and arbitrary censorship terms without oversight They've only just noticed this after years of WrongThinkers being deplatformed?
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>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…
Chargeback risk in these industries is considerably higher than in other industries. If your wife/husband finds a porn subscription on your credit card bill, a lot of people take the approach of denying it and charging it back. Chargebacks are expensive, whether you fight them or accept them. A lot of adult industry businesses also accept ACH transfers or crypto because there is no chargeback risk on either of these.
I totally see crypto becoming more popular with the misconception of privacy.
I investigated this a few years ago in Australia. Sex work is legal in Australia, kinda. It is legal to exchange sexual services for money, but supporting and assisting such a transaction is illegal. So a landlord who rents a property to a sex worker is breaking the law. A payment processor who processes the card transaction is breaking the law, and so on. There are some clauses around managing establishments that ba…
It’s a little too easy to be nude on the internet and make money off it compared to being a prostitute irl. There needs to be some moral policing in my opinion so online pornography doesn’t become normalized. I’m all for completely legalized prostitution, but the balance is it still needs to be on the margins to have an upstanding society.
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> it almost forces sex workers onto the street or into brothels (which often take a huge chunk of each transaction) Exactly. It makes sex work more dangerous, not less.
Cake-eating-and-having exercise. To progressives: "See how progressive we are, not criminalizing sex work!" To conservatives: "See how conservative we are, endangering sex workers and making life hard for them!"
Tribal groups are alive and well, and even if you dislike your opposing one you should try to at least understand their motives if only for selfish reasons.
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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.
It should be denigrated - it’s an abuse of another human being that’s often considered a form of modern slavery. Have a read of this from an actual day-to-day UK prostitute: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/relationships/4638679-reasons-n... NB: Being against sex work isn’t being against sex workers. Edit: You know, I was going to moan about the downvotes - but I think I’ll leave it as when ultimately [flagged] it’ll be…
So all factory work should be denigrated and is an abuse of another human being because Amazon workers have to shit in buckets and piss in bottles to meet their quotas?
Or, crazy thought here, maybe some regulation can make working conditions humane no matter the kind of labour you're doing. But first you have to give up this crazy notion that sex is intrinsically different from any other physical act you can voluntarily do with your body.
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Corporate consolidation made sure that a lot of important markets aren't free anymore. Vertical integration between corporations made that even worse - e.g. if Visa won't process your payments, people with Apple phones won't be able to pay either. These kind of things - there's too little competition across many markets so big players just itegrate with themselves and newcomers simply can't compete due to integration…
It's important to point out that this is a natural consequence of a market system, and it's exacerbated by allowing capital to rule those markets. Until we recognize that, we're not going to be able to fix it. One can't just declare that "If only the market were truly free, it wouldn't be like this." We've seen this play out on the freest market that has ever existed (the early internet) and we ended up in the exact…
First, the phenomenon you're referring to is "natural monopolies" which is a well understood situation which appears in every freshman-level Economics 101 class, but that only applies to certain industries. For instance, utilities are natural monopolies because it's far more efficient to run one set of wires to every house rather than try to have 10 competing companies all run their own power lines. But most products & services don't fall into this category.
Second, "free market" is a specific economic term which means markets which are free from governmental intervention in terms of price controls or subsidies, but are also free from monopolies, cartels or other anti-competitive behavior by any participant. Using the government to break up a monopoly or cartel moves the system towards a "free market". Having zero regulation which allows one or two participants to distort the market moves the system away from a "free market".
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Not sure if you're intentionally stopping before the obvious elephant in the room. The army has always been glorified as a country without soldiers is free pickings. It's practically a necessity, as current day tensions show. Sex work isn't a necessity. Worse, regarding prostitution and porn, most of it's clientele remains secretive to avoid shame. Even if sex was considered a necessity, the stigma alone would preven…
> The army has always been glorified as a country without soldiers is free pickings That is your own conlcusion. Historically armies were "staffed" by nobles. You couldn't be a soldier if you didn't have land or title, so it started out as something of prestigious and exclusive (as an alternative explanation why it was/is glorified). My point isn't that we should see sex work as important as being a soldier (though t…
If you as a man weren't willing to fight, be it the army or your home, good luck attracting a mate for most of history. Similar dynamics exist today.
>why is sex work different?
Already answered. History and cultural virtues.
>Who is we?
The far majority of your male and female ancestors, for one. The majority of cultures globally, for two.
>I don't understand what you are trying to say here.
The opposite of purity is lust and promiscuity. The opposite of being assertive is passivity and avoiding conflict. The opposite of wanting to fight is running away or freezing up.
The vast majority of women aren't attracted to weak men who won't stand and fight for their hypothetical children.
The vast majority of men aren't attracted to promiscuous women looking for the next meal ticket.
No amount of reasoning changes dynamics that have existed for millions of years. Culture too originates from something.
Now look back at what soldiers do and what sex workers and their clientele resemble. It has nothing to do with emotional burdens.
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You forgot the /s tag.
Hah, except that you get more of what you subsidize. Besides being immoral, it’s destructive to society.
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Hah, except that you get more of what you subsidize. Besides being immoral, it’s destructive to society.
citation needed
> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
Please don't comment like you're on reddit or Facebook.