Comments | feminist: The Question of Rescue (Sex Work)

lorrraine in feminist

The Question of Rescue (Sex Work)

Jul 26, 2005 12:34

Hi all,

The Question of Rescue

By MATT STEINGLASS
New York Times
July 24, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/magazine/24ENCOUNTER.html?

(Full text of article is behind the cut tag.)( Read more... )

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Comments 13

2littlewings July 26 2005, 16:52:28 UTC

Read Real Live Nude Girl by Carol Queen.

dorktastic July 26 2005, 18:25:06 UTC

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not a sex worker and I never have been, but I do know lots of people who have been involved in various types of sex work, and I know that it can be hard and scary to want to support your friends and also question whether or not they are making good decisions because the reality of sex work can be really scary (of course this depends on what kind of work, i.e. phone sex versus stripping versus escorting, and other risk factors as well). I think it can also be hard to have conversations about this kind of stuff (at least it has been for me) as someone who tries to be supportive of sex workers. One of the things I had to think about a lot was separating my own issues around exchanging sexual services for money and my concerns about my friend's safety. I'm not sure if that makes any sense because of course these issues are intertwined ( ... )

sophiaserpentia July 26 2005, 19:15:36 UTC

I haven't read any of the books about sex work, but what I've seen in discussions about it is that there is little willingness to recognize the wide variety of experience among people who've done it.

novapsyche July 26 2005, 19:33:05 UTC

Well, who wants to be stigmatized in that way?

sophiaserpentia July 26 2005, 19:02:01 UTC

Thank you for posting this. It went into inspiring this:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sophiaserpentia/579933.html

novapsyche July 26 2005, 19:38:26 UTC

It's unfortunate when women turn to sex work solely for economic reasons. Sex work can be positive if entered into for the right reasons. IMO, the money should be secondary.

If you or your friends would like to speak with someone who has had good, bad, and neutral experiences with sex work, you can email me at novapsyche at livejournal dot com. I worked in Nevada in one of the brothels, and I am willing to talk about my experiences. (I live in Michigan, too.)

out of curiosity... dorktastic July 26 2005, 20:57:58 UTC

what are the right reasons for entering sex work? I'm very curious mostly because the sex workers I have encountered have generally emphasized that sex work is a job and should be understood within the context of work.

Re: out of curiosity... novapsyche July 26 2005, 21:13:20 UTC

Absolutely it is a job and should be perceived that way. As I am a typist and get paid for my skills and time, as a prostitute I should get paid for my skills and time. Same principle.

There should be more reasons than just economics, though, in my opinion. There are plenty of ways to make money in this world, and the problem with prostitution is that as skilled labor, it doesn't transfer well into any other sector of the labor market. Many of the brothel owners (at least the ones I've run into) don't encourage prostitution as a career; it's seen as a temporary fix, as it were. So while economics obviously can play a role in one's decision-making process, it shouldn't be the only factor given any weight. More should be brought to the table.

Sex work does offer this particularly rare economic quality, though gstringgirl July 26 2005, 21:44:39 UTC

It's often possible to get the job in one interview without a resume or references, start that night, and take cash home immediately. I don't say this to recommend sex work. However, I rarely see this aspect of it addressed.

rescue gstringgirl July 26 2005, 21:41:20 UTC

If you're interested, check out this article re "rescues" from sexwork ( ... )