Monogamy may be a myth...

[may_dryad]

...but misogyny is alive and well. This article, by Natalie Angier no less, is supposedly about the fact that monogamy doesn't really exist in the animal kingdom. But for some reason, it can't stop insisting that prostitution is the same thing as general infidelity. Even animals trade favors for sex, so where's the harm? As if trading favors for

Comments

[moominmuppet]

Huh; "page not found" on the link.

inhumane working conditions

That's my big issue about sex work (and many other types of work, as well) as it currently exists in too many situations. It's why I find the sex workers' rights organizations to be a step in a hopeful direction, but to fix the problem on a larger scale requires fixing the cultural attitudes and systems around sex workers that disempower them from either running their work in a way that suits them, or leaving the field with real options for other work.

[may_dryad]

Okay, the link is fixed

[moominmuppet]

I've really been going back and forth on how to reply to this. We're definitely coming from somewhat different perspectives on this one (it's one where I definitely disagree with Amanda as well), and it's an issue I'm really passionate about (it's been a focus of study for me for about 15 years, I've done sex work, most of my partners and a large percentage of my friends have done various types of sex work). However, I don't want it to turn into a comment-argument, or to try to really frame my views clearly and at length in-between helpdesk calls.

The one minor point I do want to make, though, is in regard to this:

I just can't buy the idea that there's nothing inherently problematic with the oldest profession. I mean, we can envision a Platonic ideal of sex work, but if it's never existed on any statistically significant scale in reality, then I don't think it makes sense to say that there's nothing inherently fucked up about it.How much of what we're trying to attain, or even have attained in the past century, had ever

[may_dryad]

I'd love to talk about it more. It's not an issue that I've thought much about until recently, so I'm always happy to talk to someone who knows more about it.

And I do agree that not being able to fix a problem completely is no reason to abandon the problem, which is why, as I said, I'm really glad that we're starting to hear from more sex workers themselves about what they want. I just get worried when people, and I'm not talking about you, act like because there are some examples of humane sex work, the larger problem has been solved. But I also think it's a major triumph that there are educated sex workers out there who aren't just victims of a patriarchal agenda. I do think sex work can exist outside patriarchy, I just think that the majority of it is hideously oppressive.

It's a very divisive issue, which means that people tend to view it in black & white terms, which is one of my pet peeves. And I think that either/or thinking is one thing that makes it such a divisive issue among feminists, which doesn't do anybody any good