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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

A liberal feminist encounters reality

76 replies

NotTerfNorCis · 17/10/2019 11:09

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/oct/17/feminism-working-womens-prison-inmates-sex-work-marriage

I had engaged with ideological debates on the topic of sex work before, of course I had. I knew that to question whether sex work is really like any other work would make you a dreaded “swerf” (sex worker exclusionary radical feminist) and – like the patriarchy – is an attempt to control what women do with their bodies. People don’t need rescuing, the theory goes, they need rights and unions.

The majority of sex workers I met in prison, who arrived with bruises and track-marks, would rather have been doing anything else. They needed their rights protected, sure, but they also wanted a route out. The reality was not simple. It rarely is.

OP posts:
BarbaraStrozzi · 17/10/2019 11:20

Ha! You beat me to it. I was going to start a thread saying exactly this, in connection with this article. I was thinking along the lines of "liberal feminism meets the real world" - clearly great minds think alike.