Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Cult of True Prostituted Womanhood
filed under: Erotic Elite by Melissa Gira
Why do debates around prostitution fall apart so completely? Laura Agustin, author of the new book Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry, offered this in an interview with Susie Bright this week:
Traditional prostitution debates are theoretical, focusing on the abstract question of whether selling sex can be considered a job— or must be defined as violence against women. Often debates seem to be a search for a single moral truth, in which the words of the subjects themselves are irrelevant.
Those committed to stopping commercial sex are certain of their own ideas and don’t trust those of anyone who actually works in the sex industry. They accuse people like me of selling out to patriarchy, being paid by pornographers, or being a pimp, and they accuse professional sex workers of having false consciousness or being irrelevant elites. They believe there is an essence that all biological women have in common— and they know what that essence is. They feel comfortable talking about women’s experiences across all cultural and linguistic boundaries. Fundamentalisms are on the rise, and this is one of them.
All the irrelevant elites in the sex wars, please stand up.
Comments
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
The government likes to class prostitution as a job in some countries so they can claim the taxes.