> Also, perhaps I'm full of myself, but I think I made a valid point
> earlier: moralizing about one particular kind of wage labor is
> divisive (e.g., saying sex work "isn't peachy keen" rather than
> emphasizing that all wage labor is alienating). Am I full of shit?
> Is that trivial?
Let me explain. The thread got started by my objecting to Leigh pointing LBO readers to some kind of cannabis URL that was a collection of about-to-suck spreadeagled women sporting joints or marijuana plants. Now, I have nothing against the female body. I think naked women are beautiful. I go swimming every day for an hour and part of the pleasure is gazing at naked women in the shower. Also, Leigh and I have worked things out.
But as for everyone else....this isn't about naked women and it's not even about porn. It's about how over the years, the peddling of women-as-whores has simply taken over the airwaves, MTV, advertising, you name it. My eleven year old daughter is growing up in the middle of this -- this infinite proliferation of images that says whore, whore, whore, whore, whore, whore, whore, slut, chick, bitch, trick, whore..... this is the image of woman that she's growing up into. (If she were growing up in a world of multiplying images of nuns and saints, I'd be equally outraged.)
People on this list call me a prude and tell me that there's nothing wrong with being a "whore." That it's honest work and that it beats working for MacDonalds. OK. I understand that. I also understand that as the "free market" swallows everything in its wake, this proliferation of whore images should not be surprising. But folks. This is not a neutral image. And when someone puts it out as such, I need to speak up and point out that it's NOT being displayed in order to praise or liberate women, but in order to put them in their place.
My guess is that this list is about 90% men. So, I don't really expect much sympathy or understanding. But you know what, when this comes up, you can bet we'll all need to talk about it a bit.
Joanna