"if we are only allowed to discuss prostitution (of any kind) as a value-neutral activity, then I do not see any basis for a critique of capitalism."
The way I read it, the prostituting of mind, body, soul, heart, whatever....whether in a brothel, factory, board room, etc., is not value neutral. Whether workers or sex workers are unionized or not, prostitution and exploitation is still taking place.
Unions allow workers to organize and gives them a means to make their condition as good as possible within Capitalism, but it does not allow anyone to change the fundamentally alienating and prostituting nature of this system.
Joanna
Miles Jackson wrote:
>
>
> On Sat, 7 May 2005, joanna wrote:
>
>> I have never and do not now advocate the punishment of prostitutes,
>> pimps, pornographers, sex workers etc. but if we are only allowed to
>> discuss prostitution (of any kind) as a value-neutral activity, then
>> I do not see any basis for a critique of capitalism.
>
>
> For my part, my opposition to your moral posturing about prostitution is
> in fact based on a critique of capitalism! Try this: by stigmatizing
> some activity--placing some workers higher in a moral hierarchy than
> others--you help to forment divisions among workers. To get a little
> maudlin, janitors, teachers, journalists, lawyers, and (yes!)
> prostitutes all need to develop alliances and work together to
> create a better, noncapitalist world. (Yeah, okay, it's bloody
> unlikely, but that's my goal.)
>
> So in fact the "value neutral" status of sex work is a precondition
> for any kind of worker solidarity, and thus
> I suggest you have it exactly backwards: it is the moralizing you
> advocate that provides no basis for a critique of capitalism and
> indirectly provides ideological support for capitalist social
> relations.
>
> Miles
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