cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18475086
I’m not against those who work for sex, but the idea to earn for a living doesn’t seem nice. IMO, sex should be for 2 people (or more for others who prefer polyamory) who wants to be intimate/romantic with each other. My point is money should not be the purpose.
I think it should be legal, with extra protections for the workers to protect them from exploitation and abuse. Unfortunately though, our entire economic system is exploitative, so I’m not sure if it would ever entirely be by choice that somebody turned to prostitution, though labor itself is never entirely by choice. I only work at my job because I have to, not because I really want to. A worker selling their body to perform legal labor for money is on par with a person selling their body for another’s sexual gratification. Making it illegal just makes it worse for the workers, since they’re obviously going to do it anyways and won’t get any protections from the law.
Sex doesn’t always have to be for love, equating it with love is something religious people have forced on the world to get over their own religion-induced guilt over the whole thing. Bonobos have a crazy amount of sex and use it for all sorts of social interactions, it’s something animals do to feel good and relieve stress. There’s instances of other primates even engaging in prostitution as well, where they trade sex for food, and prostitution is one of, if not the oldest job among humans.
No matter what happens, so long as humans exist, they will want to fuck how they like. Its natural for a product of evolution to do it, the taboos against it exist only in our minds (aside from age limitations and informed consent; we still need to be rational) The more it gets stigmatized the worse it’ll get for people not already on top of the social heap.
There are other ways in which we sell our bodies in exchange for resources. A lot of people point to soldiers, but for those of us in knowledge work, we sell our brains in exchange for stress and depression if things aren’t in balance. Think about construction workers who break their wrists drilling down floorboards, or caregivers that expose their immune systems to a high quantity of kids who are likely to spread any bugs they pick up because they don’t know better.
Sex work just involves people selling entertainment or enjoyment in a more intimate setting. The fact that it is intimate doesn’t change that it’s work, and that resources can be exchanged for service.
I think this all comes down to stereotypes specific to a certain culture. Hoping I see my culture in America make it more legal so we don’t have some of the issues that come from this market not being legal
Always a great question to ask software nerds. Great thread idea dude!
Work is work. It deserves every bit of respect and protection as anything else.
If it is strictly voluntary, it is a work If it is forced for any reason, obviously not.
honestly if my body was anything else, I would try an OF or similar.
Do I approve of sex work?
So, yes, sorta, mostly, but I don’t think it’s straight forward.
For one, sex work is a very broad category that ranges from selling feet pics to having sex to which you wouldn’t otherwise consent with strangers. So under that large umbrella of “jobs wherein you assist someone with getting their rocks off in exchange for money” there’s a lot of variation and differing considerations for the impacts on the workers and the clients.
So I guess I approve of sex work in the general sense that I approve of any service industry labor that doesn’t intrinsically harm the worker or the consumer. But on the other hand, sex work, particularly having sex, and even stuff short of having sex, bares some higher risk than your average behind-the-counter job. There’s risks of violence, disease, and emotional or psychological harm, some of which is higher because of illegality or stigma, but some of which is higher simply because of the intrinsically intimate nature of sex. And sure, there is something kinda squicky about commodifying human intimacy.
But on the other hand, the demand is there (not like I don’t consume porn), so the supply will always follow to meet it. So best you can do is ensure that whatever labor sex workers do is as safe as possible, and that the people who do the labor do so freely (to the degree possible in a society that’s still capitalist).
Sex work is work. Therefore, yes, I support it.
It is noble work.
I approve. I think it should be legalized. I’m not sold on the libertarian view of complete decriminalization though. Capitalism is innately exploitative, and If it’s not regulated to maintain workers’ safety, and rights, then I’d expect working conditions to be just as bad if not worse for the laborers, which I think is a big reason why so many people want to keep it outlawed in the first place.
which I think is a big reason why so many people want to keep it outlawed in the first place.
Well, that and religious indoctrination.
Totally fine, work is work, you decide what you want to do with your life and if that fills the gap more power to you.
We need more regulation though, like Amsterdam where if you’re working you have to get weekly check ups, and psychological counseling should be freely available.
Sex work is a good industry but it also harbors trafficking which needs to be cracked down on hard.
Absolutely because then we can start talking about protecting and helping the sex workers that need help, and give them a chance to work in a safe environment.
Sex worker have been a thing since at least when we invented writings and still going strong today.
Might be time to give sex workers the dignity and respect they deserve.
Sex worker have been a thing since at least when we invented writings and still going strong today.
I’m pretty sure it was a thing before writing, there was just nobody to write about it.
I know, but we have at least some writings to prove that it happened back then. But sex workers probably exist since the dawn of humanity in a form or another.
It seems like you answered the question “should it be legal”, not “do you approve of it”.
I could technically disapprove of something and still want it to be legalized, but you normally approve what you want to legalize.
But to be clear, I approve of sex workers because to me, it is a job like any other. But since we built society on puritan values, they get a bad reputation and a terrible work situation.
I could technically disapprove of something and still want it to be legalized, but you normally approve what you want to legalize
A very enlightened and humble attitude. I commend you.
Yes
When I see that I think both should be illegal.
At least that’s a consistent viewpoint. What I despise is demonizing sex work but not exploitative labor practices. It’s totally illogical to me that people will pride themselves on working 12+ hour days, skip breaks, come in on days off, work nights and weekends and holidays, etc but look down on people who have an OnlyFans or whatever. I don’t really understand criticizing one without the other.
Personally, I don’t give a shit about sex work. If it were fully legal and workers were protected and everything, I still don’t know that I would pay for it, but I sure as shit wouldn’t fight to take that choice away from others. It just wouldn’t really affect me. Same thing for access to safe drugs or abortions. I’m not going to advocate for other people to not have choices in their personal freedoms, so I guess I’ll fight for people to have access even for things I’m not that interested in for myself.
Oh I agree with you on sex work in the present day. I just go a step further for the future. People should work because they want to, not have to. The value of a person’s work should not determine the value of the person. One thing I do wonder though. If we didn’t have to work, many people still would because they enjoy the work. Would people do sex work in that situation? If they want to, I support thier right to do so. But it was a thought that came to me reading this post, that I haven’t fully explored in my head yet.
Excellent question. Idk, I can see indirect sex work like camming or porn still happening because that could be connected to a desire to perform for an audience. Maybe less prostitution but I’m almost certain that it wouldn’t go away completely.
Well, I suppose by the time we no longer have to work for a living, we will easily have extremely good sex robots. So it will probably be an irrelevant question.
Thats what it takes, and what we lack today - fighting for personal choice even when we dont like one or more of them.
Instead today people harp about freedom until you even scratch the surface and find out they mean the freedom to make the same choices they did and none other.
Sex isn’t special in the sense of being on a pedestal. Sure, it can be magical in that two people in love come closer together, but that is also true of many intimate experiences. The physical act should not be restricted from being performed, shared, or even monetized because of the sense of morality of others.
Sex workers are working. They may get someone off via their actions, but they’re providing a service, same as someone who fixes your broken phone, provides medical care, or unclogs your toilet. It’s a form of labor.
My life doesn’t include a special realm or being beyond that of people to provide incentives or guidance on how to live. That’s entirely decided by people and their own sense of decency. Treat others well, as you’d wish to be treated, and try not to live in a way that negatively affects others. That’s the whole of morality to me. I think this will lead to a good life. In no way would paying for or receiving money for sexual acts be affected by it.
Hell, give me enough money and I’ll perform whatever sex acts you want.
Yes because it’s none of my business what other people do with their autonomy and they should be protected in their right to do what they want to do with their autonomy
If you believe that laws forbidding gambling, sale of liquor, sale of contraceptives, requiring definite closing hours, enforcing the Sabbath, or any such, are necessary to the welfare of your community, that is your right and I do not ask you to surrender your beliefs or give up your efforts to put over such laws. But remember that such laws are, at most, a preliminary step in doing away with the evils they indict. Moral evils can never be solved by anything as easy as passing laws alone. If you aid in passing such laws without bothering to follow through by digging in to the involved questions of sociology, economics, and psychology which underlie the causes of the evils you are gunning for, you will not only fail to correct the evils you sought to prohibit but will create a dozen new evils as well.
—Robert A. Heinlein, Take Back Your Government
it should be decriminalized and it shouldn’t be financially compulsory for the desperate