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Week 4: The politics of sex work (Defining sex work (3 main spaces of sex…
Week 4: The politics of sex work
Defining sex work
3 main spaces of sex work- street sex workers, brothel/sauna and parlour workers and private/independent escorts (largest sector), well-educated and work legally.
'The sexualisation and utilisation of the body to provide a service/experience/moment to a customer for a fee'
What makes you a consumer? Paying for direct, contact sexual services, paying for direct, non-contact sexual services, paying for indirect, non-contact sexual services, non paying for indirect, non-contact sexual services
Stigma- different levels and types, why? all involve: sexualisation of the body, consumption of some sort, an exchange, body work/performance
Comparing pole fitness with stripping
The origins of the debate
Positioning of sex work during the war, prevent soldiers from sleeping with prostitutes
Immoral discourses- sex work constructed as dangerous and 'other', infected, deadly, ruin lives, ruin families, challenge to social sexual norms and moral values
Deviant femininity and sexuality, undeserving and constructed as outcast
Allow a certain perception that puts women in danger, allowed people to disappear and seem disposable
Feminism, morality and sex work
The theoretical debate
Radical feminism- all prostitution is exploitation,, linked to patriarchy, men are abusers of women and children, women are objects to be used, oppressive to all women, goal to eradicate prostitution. Dworkin
Sex positive feminism- pro rights, choice lobby, sex as work, labour, deserving of workers and human rights, deserving of public protection from the criminal justice, about control and choice. Stryker
Research and policy implications
Largest survey of sex workers in the UK- positive, and negative connotations
Sex workers experiences, most did it due to flexibility, etc. However over half worried abour safety
Immanuel Kant not a fan of sex work
Treat persons as ends, not objects, we must treat ourselves with respect
Human beings should not offer themselves for profit in satisfaction of their sexual propensities
Markets and morality
Scruton doesn't think certain goods should be sold on the market
As a pro-capitalist, rejects marxian ideas of commodification and the commodity fetish
What money can't buy- commodification risks 'crowding out any form of judgement of what the good life should be'
Sandel posits two possible objects to sex workers: one based on fairness and another based on corruption