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A big thank you to Francois Tremblay over at The Prime Directive for such a clear and concise break down of why its okay to hate prostitution and work to end it. He knocks this one out of the park in his post titled “The assumption sex is power“.
“In prostitution and pornography (which is, after all, organized prostitution), the imbalance is, at least on the surface, financial in nature; johns and porn directors trade money for sex, either with themselves or other people (and for those who object that pornography cannot be prostitution because porn directors don’t make actresses have sex with them, some johns have prostituted women have sex with each other too). Prostituted women and porn actresses are often coerced into unwanted sexual acts so they can get the money they need, and are exposed to high risks of sexually transmitted diseases, extremely high death rates, and extremely high percentages of PTSD (equal or higher to that of war veterans).
As has been pointed out by feminists, making women have sex with you by giving them money means they wouldn’t want to have sex with you in the first place. They’re doing it because they need the money, which makes it non-consensual. Furthermore, if consent is granted beforehand, and cannot be given or revoked for specific sexual acts as they happen, then it’s not consensual either, simply because it’s then very easy for a john or a porn director to decide to add new sexual acts and force the woman to do them under the threat of not getting paid.
And all of that is predicated on a capitalist society which makes work contracts and organized prostitution possible, as well as normalize the position that everything is potential property, including people’s sexuality.
But the more profound power imbalance, I think, is psychological: psychologically healthy men who have no qualms exploiting women who have been abused in childhood and devalue their own sexuality, or otherwise have bought into their “womanly” duty.
I can already hear the pro-prostitution advocates hissing like the snakes that they are, “see, you do hate sex workers!” I don’t hate prostituted women, I listen to the voices of ex-prostituted women who speak up about their experiences and who tell us that it was their devaluation of their own sexuality that led them to accept prostitution as a way of life. Pro-prostitution advocates tell us to listen to the voices of prostituted women, but they want you only to listen to the privileged white women who got what they wanted out of prostitution and then joined pimp-led advocacy groups. Of course such women have a vested interest in hiding the truth.
But to pro-prostitution advocates, anyone who disagrees must hate “sex workers.” To pro-pornography advocates, anyone who disagrees must hate porn actresses. As if hating an industry means hating the people who work at the lower echelons! Hating capitalism has never meant hating the workers, it means hating the institutions that exploit the workers. I hate prostitution and pornography and the people who defend those institutions, not the women whose sexuality is exploited by them. The power is generated by those institutions, not by a woman taking her clothes off.”
Go over to the Prime Directive and check out the rest of FT’s work, you won’t be sorry.
The Feminist Current is a great site for understanding and staying up to date with feminism in Canada. This quote is from the conclusion of an article about the Vancouver Slutwalk, but addresses what many feminists find problematic about what Slutwalks are about. The italics are mine.
“Despite numerous criticisms, it appears as thought nothing changed for Slutwalk in Vancouver. Except for, according to Charlie Smith, the author of the Georgia Straight article, a more overt message advocating for the legalization of prostitution.
The fact that an event that could have addressed male violence against women is instead being co-opted in favour of promoting prostitution as a potentially empowering choice for women and working to normalize male power and privilege by decriminalizing pimps and johns is, well… it’s fucked. I simply fail to see how decriminalizing violent and abusive men will prevent sexual assault and promote equality. I fail to see how advocating to further entrench a deeply misogynist and sexist industry works towards equality or addresses sexual assault. Yes, we want to stop blaming victims for their own abuse, but do we want to do that while simultaneously normalizing an industry that hates women? It is even possible to stop victim blaming and sexual assault while simultaneously working to reinforce male power and privilege? Somehow I doubt it.”
Some of the prostitution laws of Canada have been successfully challenged in Ontario.
“An Ontario court has thrown out key provisions of Canada’s anti-prostitution laws in response to a constitutional challenge by a Toronto dominatrix and two prostitutes in 2009.
Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice ruled Tuesday the Criminal Code provisions relating to prostitution contribute to the danger faced by sex-trade workers.”
Specifically: prohibitions on keeping a common bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade have all been deemed unconstitutional and need to be replaced or revised by parliament.
“The women and their lawyer, Alan Young, held a news conference Tuesday afternoon and expressed elation. “It’s like emancipation day for sex-trade workers,” said Bedford, adding the ball is now in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s court. “The federal government must now take a stand and clarify what is legal and not legal between consenting adults in private.”
Ah yes, the clear letter of the law scrubbed clean of any of the realities of the world of the sex trade and human trafficking. Statements like the above seem handcrafted out the dreams of Utopian libertarians, how quickly the privileged point of view obscures the reality for many women for which the highly touted notion CONSENT has never existed. But, before more doom and gloom more pretty flowers!
“We don’t have to worry about being raped and robbed and murdered,” she said. “This decision means that sex workers can now pick up the phone, and call the police and report a bad client. This means that we no longer have to be afraid, that we can work with the appropriate authorities.” Moreover, sex workers can set up guilds and associations, health standards, workers’ compensation programs, as well as pay income tax. “We want to be good citizens and it’s time, now we finally can,” said Scott.”
Wow, it is like just totally amazing. Organize crime and others who exploit women will just disappear from the scene because now the dehumanized, marginalized women won’t have to worry about being raped, robbed and murdered. They can simply call the police. Holy Frak Batman, it is just like 911 suddenly became available to sex trade workers now! All the coercive pressure they experienced before must also magically disappear because wow, you gain power as you further legalize the commodification of your body. That must be how it works! Who knew?
Apparently Austrailia, the Netherlands and other jurisdictions that have legalized the sex trade it works a little too well, human trafficking has also increased in these areas. It is also a very Canadian problem. Letting the laws lapse will not help the causes of sex-trade workers or victims of human trafficking. We need to have laws against the purchase on any sex act and reverse the onus of responsibility when it comes to the legal sharp end of the stick. The Johns must be made fully responsible for their actions and we should spare no legal expense to go after those who exploit vulnerable women and children.
We in Canada should adopt the Swedish model of prostitution laws which makes the the act of procuring sex illegal, while maintain the act of selling sex to be legal. The people who work in sex trade are to be treated as victims of sexual exploitation and assault and provided with counselling, housing, and addiction programs to get them out of the egregious cycle of having to sell themselves to others.
What a crazy egalitarian notion this is? Treating all people as human beings instead of commodities? You have to hand it to the Swedes for leading the way in this area. We’re still talking about it here in Canada. At least the Conservatives get some things right this from the National Standing Committee on the Justice and Human Rights 2007:
“Prostitution as a Form of Violence, not Commerce
In contrast, like many witnesses who appeared before the Subcommittee, members from the Conservative Party see prostitution as a degrading and dehumanizing act, often committed and controlled by coercive or opportunistic individuals against victims who are frequently powerless to protect themselves from abuse and exploitation. They believe that the most realistic, compassionate and responsible approach to dealing with prostitution begins by viewing most prostitutes as victims.
Questioning Consent and Harmlessness
Unlike other parties, the Conservatives do not believe it is possible for the state to create isolated conditions in which the consensual provision of sex in exchange for money does not harm others. They believe that all prostitution has a social cost, and that any effort by the state to decriminalize prostitution would impoverish all Canadians — and Canadian women in particular — by signalling that the commodification and invasive exploitation of a woman’s body is acceptable. In their view, such a notion violates the dignity of women and undermines efforts to build a society in which all members are respected equally, regardless of gender. Furthermore, considering that gender-linked social and economic hardships are often what push women into prostitution in the first place, the Conservatives question how often “consent” is truly given out of choice, and not necessity.
These members also feel that because of the negative elements it attracts, prostitution is unacceptable in any location — commercial, industrial or residential, including massage parlours and private homes. They feel it would be unethical for a government to voluntarily degrade or endanger any community by permitting increased prostitute, john and pimp traffic, and subsequently exposing locals to elevated levels of harassment, luring and drug use.”
It is nice when the Conservatives actually get something right, for once.
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