As a member of SWOP, and an advocate not only for sex worker rights but for a liberatory conception of sex work itself, I do have strong differences with you. I personally have had mixed experiences in sex work (the worst has been facing dscrimination from property owners as potential landlords), but overall prostitution has beeen an enormously positive influence in my life, and I believe the horrific conditions in sex work you note above to be both atypical and primarily distortive products of state and societal persecution of the sex industry, not aspects of sex work itself.
I’m proud of what I do and know many women in the Life who feel similarly. Actually, there is simply an enormous variety in how prostitutes feel towards their work, and an immense variety of experiences within prostitution. Personally, I think there is much exploitation in prostitution and of prostitution, but I find the notion that prostitution itself is exploitive simply untrue to my own experience and to the logic of human action; sexuality has always been one of the celebrated sources of human happiness and will remain valuable long after heirarchy and patriarchy have returned to dust. I personally find prostitution both the best available practical alternative in life and deeply personally meaningful.
That said, I think this is one of the few cases where I would agree with right-libertarians that questions of value can be left aside in the context of a free society. Normally, I don’t agree with this approach– because what right-libertarians usually mean is that they can’t wait to use social authority as men, landlords, parents, or employers to achieve what the state could not. But precisely because you are one of the few libertarians to oppose social oppression as well as the political kind, I feel I may simply thank you for your politics and leave the differences at that. In a free society- free in every sense of the word- I would simply practise as I wish. I do not believe you would wish me to abandon a vocation that has brought me much happiness in life, and I don’t believe in a world free of statism and patriarchy anyone would be able to stop me.
my regards,
Lady Aster
P.S. I know Daisy, and I think she is a wonderful spirit despite some disagreements (she supports political action to outlaw some forms of sex work she percieves as exploitive, against the desires of some other sex workers). Daisy came to SWOP’s San Francisco vigil for End Violence Against Sex Workers and protested it. I am glad to see her poem quoted above- especially as she herself has been retributively targeted by the state in a simply unconscionable way.
Incidentally, when I spoke at the vigil I made the same point you made about state violence at the same vigil… these kind of anti-violence events can be very easily coopted by our state ‘protectors’ who in fact enforce and maintain violence of the most systematic kind, as well as an atmosphere conducive to private violence.
]]>While reading your post, I also noticed you mention that Alternatives for Girls was “near here in Detroit”, which made me realize that you are a Michigander. I then read your “about” page and discovered that we live in the same town! Unfortunately, I’m moving this week from Ypsi to the northern suburbs of Detroit (blah).
Anyways, best wishes to you and keep up the good work!
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