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Sex Work Activism- Three: The Problem with Creating a Monolith

Ren

If I’ve said it once, I’ve probably said it 123,675.2 times:  The Sex Industry is not a monolith.  People will often argue this point with me endlessly, but that does not actually make it a monolith, and when one is looking at the topic from a harm reduction based realm of activism, making it a monolith is actually very counter productive for one very simple reason:  If the assumption is the industry is a monolith, and the problems therein are also monolithic, well, you’re not really going to be able to help much of anyone, because needs and concerns vary wildly. 

The point, you see, is it is not all the same, and treating it as if it were fixes absolutely nothing.   Decriminalization (within the US) is a good example.  Strippers, pro-Dom/Subs and pornography performers/pornographers do not have the pressing issue of their jobs being illegal like prostitutes do.  And that is the mere tip of the iceberg as it were.  While all aspects of the Sex Industry might be sex based, the many layers of the industry are very different, and the people involved?  They do not want or need the same things.  How do I know this?  Well, I ask, and I listen…which is what anyone interested in actually helping should do.  Oh, wait, there is one thing almost all sex workers can agree on:  safety.  They’d like their jobs to be safer.  Safer working conditions, safer ways in which to deal with clients/customers, safer sex practices, more recourse with law enforcement, and yep, sure enough, safer from the judgments and hate thrown at them by society in general.  That seems to be something everyone wants.

After that, it gets pretty diversified.  Needs are different.  A contract porn performer is not going to need the same things a street based worker is going to need.  A stripper will have different concerns than a male escort.  There is no one plan, one course of action, one set of needs that can be applied in a monolithic fashion to people in the sex industry, because they do very different things for very different reasons in very different settings and with varied levels of acceptance, autonomy and legal standing.   You can’t help with anything until you determine what actual wants and needs are, and making the sex industry a monolith does not assist in that.

Hence, my repeated mantra of not a monolith.

Just something to ponder…

Posted in Sex

24 thoughts on Sex Work Activism- Three: The Problem with Creating a Monolith

  2. Just out of curiosity, could you give some examples of those differing needs (perhaps in a future post)?

    I agree with your stance that harm reduction is needed and I’m for decriminalization. And it certainly seems obvious enough that one sex worker / sex job is not like another.

    But, and perhaps I’m lacking imagination here, I can’t think of these differing needs. Seems that the same things are needed across the board, safety and less stigma as you mentioned, and better treatment from law enforcement, and maybe condoms, and health insurance, and access to drug addiction treatment. These are just things that come to mind.

    Granted, not every single person needs each thing, but it seems to me like the things are as much needed in porn as in prostitution, for example. A given sex worker in either field who, for example, never does drugs, is free to turn down that resource, but it still seems needed in general.

    Just interested in some clarification and elaboration.

  3. LC: You’d think so, wouldn’t ya?

    Shae- that would be a huge ass post, but some basics…a woman who enters the sex biz with a high school or higher education has better chances of being able to get a job should she leave, where as someone who entered in their early teens will not have that level of education. Male, female and trans sexworkers all have various different needs, and really, at this point, often times the ciswomen are the only ones who have organizations at all. There are porn performers who would like to have a union, similar to SAG…and more say in the level of safer sex practices on their shoots. The sex worker who has no drug problems does not need drug counciling, and the one who does? Might not be too interested in sitting around waiting for people to get to her/him because folk are working on how to get a greater say in negotiating stage fees in strip clubs. The worker looking to get out might need help with learning how to build (and possibly fudge) a resume or an application to a trade school or education program…the in for life indy fetish performer could probably care less about that…

    Some examples off the top of my head, anyway…

  4. You’d think so, but I’ve read a lot of ‘what to do about sex work’ that, while otherwise well-intentioned, was clearly written from a perspective that was totally focused on some particular community of sex workers and suggested fairly broad programs and laws that would range from irrelevant to actively harmful for other groups.

    A big part of what this mean is that it demands an understanding of sex workers that is subtle and complete before sweeping pronouncements are made. It counters the ‘escorts are well-paid and relatively happy, so legalize prostitution’ and the ‘women are illegally trafficked into sex work, so keep criminalization in place’ arguments that are accurate within their spheres, but fail in important ways to address the entire issue.

  5. I know LC thinks this one is blindingly obvious, but I think this is the one assumption that underlies much of the anti-sex work BS that I’ve seen.

    Some assume that all women in the industry are prostituted people, that no men in the industry are exploited, no woman could choose this career, etc.

    These assumptions are just as dangerous as “all women like babies” and “all men want sex all the time.” They dehumanize all the individuals who participate in the industry.

  6. Ren, I swear this is a legitimate question, and not snark. I like reading your stuff, but I’m really not familiar with these issues at all. (I know, my privilege is showing.)

    Why do you think that porn is legal but prostitution isn’t?

  7. the ‘women are illegally trafficked into sex work, so keep criminalization in place’ arguments that are accurate within their spheres

    RIIIGHT, because the best way to help women who are victims of trafficking is to bust in and arrest them, and then deport those trafficked workers who won’t or can’t cooperate with an investigation, along with anyone working there who was not trafficked.

    ______

    Shae, to expand on what Ren was saying, here are some more needs that people might have… A big issue in stripping (and this is true in the legal brothels in nevada too) is that workers are generally classified as independent contractors (meaning they don’t get benefits, workers comp, overtime, their taxes are higher, etc. etc.), while the places at which they work TREAT them as employees and not as contractors. And like Ren said strippers are often charged stage fees to work also. Obviously that doesn’t apply to illegal aspects of the sex biz. As far as condoms, well, you aren’t suggesting going around handing out free condoms to strippers, middle and high-income escorts, and pro-dommes are you? It’s more of an expense for some people than others. Of course, the fact that law enforcement seizes condoms as “evidence” of prostitution is an issue that affects everyone involved in the illegal side of the sex biz. Honestly, that one can affect non sex workers too, since law enforcement also arrests people for “loitering for the purposes of prostitution” if they think that where they are, how they are dressed, how they are behaving, the fact that they are trans, etc. means that they MIGHT be involved in prostitution. Yes people get arrested for just walking down the street for that one. People who have left the sex biz still get arrested for that too, because to the police they are a “known prostitute” and therefore if they are walking down the street it must be because they are engaging in prostitution. Safety and better treatment from law enforcement are needed by anyone involved in illegal prostitution, yes, but those things are needed more urgently by street and survival sex workers than others. Less stigma is needed across the board, in the legal and illegal parts of the industry.

  8. Kristen – absolutely. But is it harmful to recognize *patterns*?

    For instance, when I was stripping at various clubs, I met lots of women, and a few were students, a few were artists, dancing in order to have more time to devote to art and academics. But most of them were economically disadvantaged women with multiple children to feed, swamped by debt, medical bills, and working under the table for cash because they were undocumented or otherwise “unhireable” and out of luck (non-English speakers, lack of education and familial or community support, etc).

    I find it disingenuous to avoid acknowledging that there ARE more sex workers who face financial pressure & work for survival, compared to the number of those who have a host of other options and freely choose the work because they enjoy it. (I don’t think Ren ignores this issue – she has been honest about her privilege- but I think a lot of pro-sex feminist discussion does tend to).

    So, yes, no monolith. BUT, let’s be honest – there are significant trends and the scales are tipped.

    I’m sure we’d agree that in an ideal world, all sex workers would be people who loved doing it, had full rights, and a host of other options should the desire arise!

  10. I should’ve said safety and better treatment from law enforcement can be needed in legal industries too when people are victims of crime (the whole slut = she deserved it thing), but I think that’s even worse on the illegal side. Like in new york, rape shield laws don’t apply to prostitution convictions. Etc.

  11. “Why do you think that porn is legal but prostitution isn’t?”

    In other words why is it illegal to pay someone to have sex with you but legal to pay people to have sex with each other?

  12. After that, it gets pretty diversified. Needs are different. A contract porn performer is not going to need the same things a street based worker is going to need. A stripper will have different concerns than a male escort. There is no one plan, one course of action, one set of needs that can be applied in a monolithic fashion to people in the sex industry

    Word.

    I’m sure most people realize, in a superficial way. I’m no expert, and I totally defer to your knowlege and experience. But, without revealing any details, I did have a former GF who was in the business. And her concerns were, I would imagine, pretty different than a street walker. She had a hard time renting a house, because she didn’t have verifiable income. No job references. Getting health insurance could be a hassle. I never thought about it too much before, but it is a total hassle obtain and maintain some of the basic things in life most of us take for granted, when one doesn’t have a verifiable income, credit, or employment references.

    I would imagine the guy or gal who works on the street has some of the same concerns, but I guess there’s more an emphasis on safety and security. Some of the more primal needs.

  13. Awesome post. And yeah, it seems obvious to some of us, but we all know self-proclaimed feminists who define the industry in a way that puts all sex workers in a neat box and themselves outside the box dictating what’s best for those inside. So a well-crafted reminder, which this is, is quite on point.

  14. “Why do you think that porn is legal but prostitution isn’t?”

    prostitution is generally understood to be the bilateral trading of sex for money, while pornography involves the customer of an adult film paying money to watch other people have sex, yet receiving no sexual favors themselves in return.

    Also, porn is protected as free speech/artistic expression via the first amendment. Prostitution is not.

  15. Ren, you know I love you beyond the telling of it, but

    The trans women sex workers are women too – is it too much to ask that they be identified as such instead of as a third gender? Like trans women, cis women, and cis men? Or transwomen, ciswomen, etc. I’m not that picky.

    …feeling kinda othered, even though not a sex worker…

  17. Lisa-

    WRT to S.W. activism, I use the terminology that I do because in sex work, cis and trans workers do face different issues quite often and it is important to address what they are. Trans workers are often the most marginalized workers within the sex industry, and to lump them in with cis workers and pretend like we ALL have the same problems, is well, ignoring the problems they face that others do not. It’s not meant to be othering, it’s done to address very real and legit problems.

  18. alicepaul,

    I agree…there are trends and we can use those trends to help people. My point is that when people base their ASSUMPTIONS on the idea of the monolith. Then they proceed to create these huge theories of “How the World Is” based on a limited view of sex work. And voila…entire groups of people are ignoring the experiences of actual sex workers because it doesn’t fit their theory of “How the World Is.”

    Saying to yourself…”Hmmm….lots of sex workers need _______, so perhaps providing ______ with the understanding that not all sex workers should be required to take ______.” Is completely different.

  19. Male, female, and trans still implies that trans workers are never male or female. You could say, “Cis male, cis female, and trans workers have different needs” or “male and female workers have different needs, cis and trans workers have different needs…” and so on and so forth. You can get your point across about different needs without implying that trans people are never male or female. (yeah that bothered me too)

  20. Ren, I didn’t ask that you refer to trans women sex workers and cis women sex workers as “women sex workers” with no differentiation, just asking that you also include the fact that they’re women.

    I was asking if you could say “trans women sex workers” or even “transwomen sex workers”, which acknowledges that being trans has its own problems separate from being cis, without erasing that they’re also women. When I read “trans sex workers” I feel othered and thirdgendered – I’m not a sex worker, but I am a trans woman.

    This story in Philadelphia Gay News does exactly that, and it’s certainly clear that they don’t mean cis women sex workers face this kind of crime.

  22. BTW, no hostility intended and I apologize if it seems so.

    Also, I’ve been told that trans men sometimes do sex work as well (and sometimes as women) – which doesn’t surprise me, but I admit didn’t cross my mind.

  24. Yeah some trans guys do sex work. I know one…I don’t doubt that most of the trans workers out there are women though. Yeah I do see a problem with substituting “trans” in for “trans women” but I don’t see a problem with the phrase “trans workers” if you actually do mean both men and women. But of course trans men and trans women will have different needs too!

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