Irish Socialist Party Article on Prostitution

[Cable87]

An acquaintance of mine who has recently joined and become active in the Socialist Party as well as taken a turn toward the more 'radical' side of Feminism posted this article on her FB page today. I gave it a read, and thought it had some good points, despite the RadFem premise.


http://www.socialistparty.net/theory/1259


Overall it has some very balanced arguments, though of course I (nor most here, I imagine) would ever be in full agreement with it all. As you'd expect from the Socialists in their eternal struggle to unite the workers of the world against the exploitative masters of the capitalist system, while they show some kind of support for sex workers (there was some show of support shown after recognizing that sex work/workers will NOT simply 'go away', no matter what they do), they really find it problematic to characterize them as 'workers who sell their labour', as ALL OTHER WORKERS IN ANY OTHER JOB DO, no matter how exploitative it is. This perspective is due to the RadFem angle of the author, as she goes on about 'The Patriarchy', and how Capitalism is inherently Patriarchal, as it (supposedly?) seeks to help perpetuate sexual inequalities between men and women. Escorts/prostitutes, they argue, are ALWAYS 'forced' by their socio-economic circumstances into the work, and since the vast majority of clients are men, it is a case of 'double-edged' exploitation, a 'one-two punch' of both Capitalism and The Patriarchy which 'force' women into the 'choice' to work as an escort. This is all the standard stuff we usually get from the RadFems. She even makes at least two references to the work of Rachel Moran, but I won't go down that road...


BUT surprisingly, the author goes on to make a valid argument AGAINST the Swedish Model, and outlines why it should NOT be embraced/advocated for in Ireland. While the author supports the decriminalization of sex workers, she also argues (though in an indirect way) that the purchasers of sexual services (read:men) should not be criminalized, but should active choose NOT to see sex workers, as we men should all come to realize that by doing so, we are only reinforcing the exploitative aspects of Capitalism and Patriarchy.


It's a long article, but overall, it's not too bad, though of course there are several cringe-worthy sections and opinions there; for those of you who'd like to narrow down your reading, I found the sections titled 'Extreme Exploitation', 'Legalisation,' and 'Criminalising the buyers of sex' to be the best and most informative. Happy reading.

[LaBelleThatcher]

Cable you must remember that sex work gets a double whammy around the left - the usual taboos - and then "white van" on the backswing...

Sex workers are fully paid up members of the "white van" classes *NOT* PAYE workers...sex work is small capitalism any way you hack it, and lefties don't even understand that, let alone like it, and usually favour eradicating it all, often with a wistful backwards glance and the guillotine and a full set of tumbrils...

Of course, it is really all one and the same up to a point...capitalists avoid income tax and PAYE lefties fiddle expenses and "grants"...but at the end of the day lefties strive to be "part of the commune" and we of the white van persuasion remain privateers.



Must have a read of that.

[Half Man and Half Dildo]

Thanks Cable, Interesting reading.

[LaBelleThatcher]

Very long winded and bristling with misinformation but it arrives at the simple, obvious point i would have expected EVERYBODY to get:

There is no excuse for trying to make sex work harder, let alone getting rid of it until you have removed the things that drive people into sex work by leaving them no realistic alternatives in the first place.

Come back when you have sorted THAT out and *then* we can talk, except, of course, you will never sort it out.

The people who sell sex because they have no alternative *are* the frontline reason why IT IS MORALLY WRONG, in fact, DOWNRIGHT EVIL to legislate against sex work in any way...

Because when you take away sex work they will have nothing else at all.

Simples.