I think of progress as having to do with ending prostitution of every kind. Perhaps, the first step of this progress would be to recognize the extent to which we all prostitute ourselves to survive in this "free market" by which we are all consumed. But it would just be the first step.
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I'm going to state, at the top, lest I be accused in this instance of acting as Satan's cheerleader (huzzah for evil!) and being all kinds of bad, bad-ass bad-ness, that I do not advocate prostitution.
Not the kind I practice - also known as *work* for the machina corporatica - and not the sort practiced by sex workers.
Indeed, I was raised (if you'll forgive the biographical interlude, unaccompanied by music sadly) in a religous tradition which frowned on the role of both the customer and the prostitute in the sex worker system. This belief was easily trans-located into feminist/socialist/something else *ist concerns when my politics developed.
But still...
I'm going to channel Tracy Quan for a moment since she's not here and tune the frequency through the filter of my sensibilities while I state some facts and ask a question.
Sex work has been around for a long time in one form or another.
It's endured the rise and fall of who knows how many civilizations and ways of life.
Some contemporary sex workers have decided that criminalization (or other efforts to *end prostitution* as practiced by adults - no defense for child exploiters let's be clear) are futile, destructive and come from puritanical preoccupations.
And, also, are doomed to failure since the sex worker role finds its way into every culture.
And so, they've organized to argue their case.
Women who are not sex workers and men who aren't customers judge the entire affair as being horrible and exploitative and worthy only of destruction. But it's not quite so cut and dry.
What would you say to these women who do not believe they're trapped by a *false consciousness* (aargh), do not harbor ill will towards their customers and argue that they simply want de-criminalization, regulation (to prevent child exploitation and other real problems), respect and to be free of interference from law enforcement, feminists, socialists and other non-fans?
DRM