The War on Sex Workers was the reading that struck me the
most although I had to re read it a few times to really understand the
arguments presented. Sex work in my opinion is one of the most psychologically
damaging types of “work” that exists. I know it is argued that some women chose
this type of work, however I find that hard to believe. Personally, I think sex
work is never an option but more of a last resort. Poverty is the leading cause
for these women “choosing” sex work, along with drug addiction, violence etc
that derives from living in poverty. Then we have the women that are exploited
to do this kind of work by their “pimps” which can also be a cause of living in
poverty. A few semesters ago I was assigned an investigative report on sex
trafficking, which is why this article struck me the most. Women are lured in
to this crazy lifestyle in exchange for “a better life” meaning being given
glamorous clothes, brand name material things and even money to help their
families. Melissa Farley says “Prostitution is paid rape”, I couldn’t agree
more with her statement and it was one of the statements that struck me the
most.
Reading further, I realized that some feminists actually
believe that sex work can be beneficial to women. I think this is bizarre and
started looking online at sex work and feminist and came across an article that
I thought was very interesting written by a feminist that believes this same
theory. Below I have attached the article and I invite you to at least read
through it. Kelly Bell talks about how women can benefit from sex work to
express their sexual creativity etc, but then goes on to say that prostitution
should be illegal. This raised a question for me, what makes prostitution so
different than pornography? Are they both not people being paid for sex?
Remember how I mentioned that sex work is a consequence or a
way out of poverty? I found this video and thought it was exactly what I was
talking about. This couple has sex in front of a webcam just to support their
family. Every night for 5 nights a week they tuck their daughter in and turn to
their amateur porn session to maintain the roof over their daughters head.
When I began to read this article I was confused as to why
there were so many contradictions, which is partly why this particular article
interested me the most. As I moved thought writing this blog and doing a little
research of my own I began to notice I too was contradicting myself. I came to
the conclusion that this topic is extremely controversial with direct answer.
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