JCC Legalizing Sex Work a Feminist Issue?

Never change Maik. Oh, right, you never have.

 

this locke haves threading writen all oover it

 

interesting article, jp. i've heard similar stories from voluntary sex workers before, and if it's working for them then that's the most important part, i think.

curious if it does anything to help victims of human trafficking? does it reduce the numbers? do they get off the streets and into safe brothels? or does it just make it easier for the "sex workers" and not the women being forced into it?

 

What if the sex worker doesn't want to do it with older people or same gender? Or fatties? I smell lawsuits.

 

It's legal here in Austria, and I suppose overall it's better than the alternative, but the main benefit is to the Johns. I've seen interviews with the workers before, I'm never fully convinced, not sure they can really speak freely, or if they're not in such a constant drug induced haze. And as soon as you regulate it, you have an illegal black market. Again, it's better than the alternative, but by no means a panacea, any more than legalizing drugs.

 

jp-30, thanks for posting that. I was especially interested by the note that migrant women are precluded from sex work in NZ, which obviously has a lot of merit as a way to prevent trafficking, but also would be a really, really hard sell in other political systems.

But those aren't the only two choices. The Nordic model mentioned in the article jp-30 linked where johns are prosecuted but prostitutes are not gives the best of all of the benefits you mentioned without straight out legalization. It also doesn't police women's sexual choices, but rather men's. Of course, under that model you still don't have any benefits (or drawbacks) of government regulation.

 

I've seen a few feature length pieces from Der Spiegel that seem to suggest the European experience is pretty exploitative.

 

my first post notwithstanding, it's not been all that easy to disentangle the legal sex trade from the problems of human trafficking and child exploitation in many places where prostitution is legal (like Austria).

 

I view prostitution in the same legal way I view (most) illicit drugs: decriminalize, don't legalize and encourage sex workers (like addicts) to seek help when they need it. I don't think the factors that drive most prostitutes into their line of work-- socioeconomic and a deeply misogynistic/homophobic/etc. society-- should be encouraged. I don't think people should be given the "choice" to commodify their own bodies because in most cases it is not ultimately a choice. I'd much rather address the societal problems that drive people into prostitution, but I suppose allowing the FREE MARKET to run its course is easier and makes certain people with money happy. And isn't that what's most important?

(I didn't read the whole article linked in the first post, to be clear. I'm too tired!)

 

That's interesting about New Zealand and migrants. In Austria, working as a prostitute is one of the few jobs asylum seekers are allowed to do. No union trying to keep wages high.

 

I would say once migrants have been made citizens, then they can work in that industry, but that is a several year process, so it makes bringing women in for the sole purpose of sex work non-viable.

 

long as you keep shaggin' sheep, buddy

 

I'm ****ing two right now, it's Saturday night baby.

 

My libertarian tendencies tend to support legalized prostitution. What consenting adults do behind closed doors is not the government's business, even if it involves the exchange of money. My one concern stems from the issue of "consent". It's no secret that a lot of women in this industry tend to be in it due to extreme pressure and/or coercion from someone in their lives (if not something actually worse such as direct threats and violence). Just because she isn't telling her John "no" doesn't mean she is freely and willingly consenting to the whole thing. I'd be interested to see what sort of long term impact has come about from the legalization of prostitution in certain parts of Nevada.

 

Hey, I actually agree with Beezer on something! Even if it's just a very small subset of propositions in a much larger nuanced issue. But yeah, I think consent becomes a lot fuzzier when economics are involved. I think the article JP posted (it might have been a different article, though) mentioned that prostitutes in NZ have the right to end a session and refuse to continue even if payment has already been made, but when you start to blend consumers' rights in with sexual consent, there's a lot of potential for things to get a lot fuzzier.

There's also the idea of meaningful consent. To what extent is a woman in the sex industry truly consenting if she hates her work, but sees it as her only economic option? There was a great episode of Death, Sex, and Money where Anna Sale interviewed a woman who works (illegally) in the sex industry and it's clear from parts of the interview that she really wishes she could get out, but feels economically dependent on it. It just seems like such a wholly different scenario than someone who works in retail or a boring office job hating their job but feeling economically forced into continuing to do it.

I'm sure there have been studies of the impact of prostitution in Nevada, but I guess it depends what aspects you want to know about - economic vs social vs anything else. Certainly one of the impacts has been the creation of a sex tourism industry within the country, and economically I would assume it's been a boon to the state. But sex tourism also coincides with some of those concerns I have about viewing sex/sexual access to women/women's bodies as a commodity and what the psychological and social effects of that are.