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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

is there and 'official' feminist view on prostitution? and what is it?

183 replies

ohnoitshimagain · 27/12/2013 09:48

hi, just signed up and want to get to the bottom of this issue

ok, I'm sure there's not an official view as such, but how about a consensus or just your own personal view on this topic

  1. Should prostitution be fully legalised including brothels?


I believe it should in the modern day, because of freedom

and I'm talking here about female prostitutes and male clients

hope to hear some responses, thanks, btw I"m a man
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OneHolyCow · 27/12/2013 10:01

No consensus.
What do you mean freedom, for whom?
It sounds so easy like that, freedom and modern as the key words and hey, how could we disagree?
Well. We can.

Pragmatically, we could say that as long as prostitution exists, the safety of the women (and men, why exclude them? Boys are vulnerable on the streets too you know) is paramount and therefore it would maybe be preferable to have a place where they can rest, get medical checks, have a chat, be looked after by each other and have access to social workers, get refrerred to methadone clinics or what have you. Likewise, for the unaddicted, it would be safer to work in a club than to just rely on a pimp or work from home or the street.

Ideally though, in the perfect world, there would be no such thing as prostitution. It commodifies people, it is degrading. So why not work towards rooting it out now? In order to discourage it, push it out of the city, do not legalise it and criminalise in stead.

Usually, people tend to lean one way or the other I guess, ending up somewhere on a scale between these.

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ohnoitshimagain · 27/12/2013 10:07

ok, I agree with you about making it safer for the women, and healthier etc.. with them having a safe place to work in , and yes, the same if they were male prostitutes.

but eradicate it? surely that is not possible as it's a human nature thing?

meaning that there will always be men willing to pay, and women wanting to earn the money from it, is that so wrong anyway?

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OneHolyCow · 27/12/2013 10:11

Sex is human nature, sex for money isn't.
Look, I'm not going to explain why money corrupts. I've not enough time. Look up some Michael Sandel on youtube, his Justice series is good. Money does not make stuff right, consent doesn't either.

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Thegrinchishere · 27/12/2013 10:19

Oh knob off ohno bored of the football all ready???

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scaevola · 27/12/2013 10:21

I don't think there's an "official" "feminist" view on anything really. It's a basic misconception to think it is any ordinary sense unified as an organisation. Yes, there is a basic underpinning sine qua non of promotion of gender-blind fairness. But a huge range of approaches to that, many of which are culture-specific.

For example, is OP's question looking at brothels in Abuja or an independent escort in a basically safe European country?

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Branleuse · 27/12/2013 10:32

no there isn't a feminist opinion on it.

feminists are all sorts of people

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TheDoctrineOfSanta · 27/12/2013 11:13

Have you used prostitutes, OP?

If so, why?

If not, why not?

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NotCitrus · 27/12/2013 13:04

There's no consensus.
There's agreement that prostitutes are often at risk from their clients and others.
That's about it - some feminists and also some very unfeminist repressive types say sex work is inherently degrading. Others, also including some feminists, say it may often be degrading in practice but isn't inherently more degrading than say cockle-picking, podiatry, or a minimum wage job.

Even when people agree to take a pragmatic approach and acknowledge neither supply nor demand are going to vanish overnight, so let's try to improve things for current sex workers while possibly reducing demand, there's huge disagreement on ways to do that - some are in favour of banning using a prostitute (possibly while being legal to be one), others, often including the sex workers themselves, say that actually put them more at risk from their clients and just pushes the business underground away from police protection.

Where prostitution is a last resort, what happens if that last resort option is removed?

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FiscalCliffRocksThisTown · 27/12/2013 13:36

What Are your motives OP?

Are you writing a paper?

You sound very young

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WhentheRed · 27/12/2013 17:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FloraFox · 27/12/2013 18:24

Excellent post when. That gets right to the heart of feminist thinking about prostitution.

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CaptChaosGlitteryBaubles · 27/12/2013 19:24

What When said.

Although, I have my bingo card ready.

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pokerface1 · 27/12/2013 22:44

Feminists generally believe prostitution (or at least the purchase of sexual services) should be illegal.

Sex workers themselves generally want prostitution (buying and selling of sexual services) to be legal and decriminalized.

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pokerface1 · 27/12/2013 22:50

Ideally though, in the perfect world, there would be no drugs or alcohol either. But look what happened when the USA tried making alcohol illegal (here's the hint- the mafia made a fortune, grew in power and control and had a ball).

Some things are always going to continue regardless what the law is.

Sex work is never going to end. You can kid yourself it is possible to "abolish" it and support dangerous laws, or you can listen to what the sex workers say and help to make it safer for all.

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AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 27/12/2013 22:54

Journalist ?

Bog off

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WhentheRed · 27/12/2013 23:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pokerface1 · 28/12/2013 00:01

I know feminists want the purchase of sexual services illegal and I know legalization and decriminalization are not the same thing.

My point is this view does not appear to be shared much by the sex workers themselves.

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Thants · 28/12/2013 00:13

We need to improve things vastly for women in terms of poverty and drug addiction these are the things that drive women to prostitution. Help illegal immigrants and trafficked women work and protect then not criminalise them.
We need to be much harder on men that visit prostitutes. There is no fear at the moment! Men need to know that if they buy women they will be punished.

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pokerface1 · 28/12/2013 00:20

"buy women"? You mean buy the services sex workers provide?

And do we need to criminalize anyone if it takes places between consenting adults?

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pokerface1 · 28/12/2013 00:21

If poverty and drug addiction are what "drives" women to prostitution how come there are so many high class escorts who clearly are not addicted to drugs or in poverty?

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WhentheRed · 28/12/2013 00:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pokerface1 · 28/12/2013 00:30

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

ohnoitshimagain · 28/12/2013 01:30

one holy cow wrote 'Sex is human nature, sex for money isn't.'

That's a very broad statement, so can you give some more details on this?

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ohnoitshimagain · 28/12/2013 01:32

some posters have mentioned 'reducing demand' - well, how is that actually possible?

Making it illegal will not reduce demand at all, as men will always want sex.

It hasn't worked with drugs so why should it work with vice?

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ohnoitshimagain · 28/12/2013 01:35

Fiscal cliff wrote 'What Are your motives OP?
Are you writing a paper?
You sound very young'

yes, I am fairly young (19), and want to get to the bottom of this debate, especially from a woman's point of view -

I"d also like to look at the 'freedom' angle, from male and female perspectives.

Why shouldn't a woman be allowed to sell, or a man be allowed to buy, as I thought that was the foundation stone of liberal democracy (as long as consent is given).

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