“…But I do feel a special place of contempt for the absolute army of twenty-something, socially privileged, very well educated, young white women, who speak about prostitution in terms of “sex work” and “empowerment” and this utter nonsense when they have spent years educating themselves… in order to keep themselves out of the social class of women who are most commonly used in prostitution.“And you know… formally prostituted women like myself have been delivered and expected to digest the most galling lie about our own histories, that is, we have been told that our imprisonment was liberty – that our slavery was freedom. And when we talk about prostitution, we’re talking about an area of life where women are ritualistically coerced, abused, forced, and silenced. And somehow, in some magical realm that is dressed up as reality, we are expected to believe that these deeply dis-empowering elements add up to empowerment. This is bulls**t, and it is dangerous bulls**t – so blatant that it is worthy not only of our utmost contempt, but of our relentless resistance. And it comes from one particular category most forcefully: and those are the women, the young, white, privileged, college educated women I’ve just described.”
6 comments
July 29, 2015 at 7:51 pm
lovinglilystevans
She’s right. It is BS for sure. It’s all about concern only for, “me, myself and I” on the part of these women.
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July 29, 2015 at 7:54 pm
lovinglilystevans
I just wrote the following down a couple of days ago but I think it is pertinent here.: I think that getting sexual harassment law on the books was absolutely brilliant because when women first gained the right to work outside of the home, it would have been very easy for that “work” to slide into stripping and prostitution. That is so much how men see women anyway, as sex objects. I mean if women’s bosses had been allowed to coerce us to take off our jacket, bend over or “consent” to unwanted touch or sleep with them how different is that actually from prostitution ? You are allowing it because you need to make money. Middle to upper class women in universities lauding the virtues of “sex work” don’t really understand how precarious their position actually is and could have been or could still end up being.
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July 29, 2015 at 9:28 pm
The Arbourist
@lovinglilystevans
Class consciousness is so important to keep in mind. The pratfalls of much of liberal feminism come from ignoring the greater struggle of women as a class to overthrow their oppression – and instead focusing on making personal ‘choices’ and somehow envisioning them as being empowering.
Prostitution, more often that not, is not a choice and, except for a small minority, is not an empowering lifestyle choice.
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July 30, 2015 at 2:17 pm
lovinglilystevans
It’s not an empowering choice for anyone, not even men/males. There are women who are doing it who are not in economic need but they have been through severe child sexual abuse and can’t set boundaries or protect themselves. There’s one Danish woman who tells her story of it, Tanja Rahm does a good job of pointing out that even when it it upper class prostitution on silk sheets, it’s immensely damaging. Another Danish woman wrote in the newspaper about how she was involved in a sugar daddy relationship where men were buying her $10 000 shoes and it was so degrading and damaging that she had to get out of it and she gave away the shoes, she couldn’t stand them.
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August 4, 2015 at 7:04 pm
Joanne Geddes
Just as you are offended by others speaking for you, don’t you find it hypocritical only you should be allowed to speak for others? Your truth is not a universal truth…
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August 4, 2015 at 9:11 pm
The Arbourist
@Joanne Geddes
All I can detect in your comment is a concern with the tone of the article/comments on this post.
Tone trolling is kinda boring.
Is there an issue that you’d specifically like to refute with the article – how awesomely empowering prostitution is for women perhaps (just taking a shot in the dark over here)?
Anyhow, please feel free to leave a further comment to expand your position. :)
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