Is sex work just another job?
No.
In the same way that enslaved person is a better term than slave, prostituted person is a better term than prostitute, and is far better than sex worker.
Money (even with unionisation and a pension thrown in) is not a fair exchange for sexual intimacy, nor for the emotional vulnerability, humiliation, degradation and physical pain that is invariably involved. There is no shame in being a prostituted person but calling it sex work gives credence to the lie that it’s OK to use other people for sexual gratification and that women are for sex and sale.
Prostituted men and women do not go to careers fairs and chose this line of work. The usual route is impoverishment, abuse and drug addiction. The middle-class world of dinners with well presented men in suits for ‘escorts’ belies the real power exchange that’s going on when someone’s body is bought.
Students working in topless bars, because they make lots of money from tips, unfortunately adds legitimacy to the sex worker wedge. Undergraduate tequila girls may be the thin end and underage sex trafficking of girls and boys plus extreme violence may be the thick end, but calling it just another job allows this exploitative wedge to be pushed in more easily.
Rather than hypocritically removing the stigma from prostituted people by elevating them to sex workers: stigma, not legitimacy, should be attached to those who profit from prostituting them.
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Hi Jo: I'm wondering if you read Chris Hedges' article:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/lee-lakeman-and-the-whoredom-of-the/comments
I like it very much. Maybe you'd like to post your column in the comments there. His followers would like you (and I think you should have more!).
Thank you, Jo! I am so disturbed by so many people using the term “sex worker” thinking they are being PC or enlightened or something, imagining that they are giving these victims agency. I would love to see your article everywhere.