Anora- should sex work continue to be destigmatised?

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/05/anora-missed-chance-to-spark-real-change-say-sex-workers

I am conflicted on one of the results about this Oscars success is that a spotlight has been thrown in sex work leading to calls for more decriminilastion and normalisation of sex work.

Though I have a great deal of sympathy for those whose circumstances that lead into sex work isn't a greater legitimacy of sex work a greater legitimacy of sex work itself including the clientele?

So if you hear sex workers calls for more legal protection and customisation then you have to decriminalize the activities of men surrounding this profession. Although possibly a financial lifeline for some women surely we must take into account the impact on society as a whole into accoint?

I would have to think deep and hard about being an 'ally' to sex work.

Exactly. The only question we need to ask ourselves is whether this is a job I would want my daughter to do? If the answer is no, then why is it OK for other people's daughters?

My daughter works as a cleaner and anyone who thinks scrubbing toilets might be an equivalent job to prostitution needs their head examining.

This false comparison again.

= Sweatshops: it's the pay and conditions, not the work, that's exploitative. We all need clothes. Well-paid sewing machinists in safe factories are not exploited.

• Scrubbing toilets: we all need clean safe loos. It's the pay and hours that are exploitative.
• Military service: every nation needs to defend its borders.
• Zero hours: it's the pay and conditions, specifically the lack of guaranteed hours and income, that's exploitative, not the work. We need retail staff and food service staff, the ones with guaranteed minimum hours are not exploited.

You have compared all of the above needed occupations to men wanting to use a woman's body as a wank sheath. You have compared the provision of clean safe loos to men ejaculating in a woman's anus. You have compared the defence of the nation to men ejaculating in a woman's mouth. You have compared retail workers assisting a disabled shopper to a man ejaculating in a woman's vagina and putting her at risk of pregnancy. And you have tried to pretend that capitalist exploitation of workers in these roles somehow makes paid rape OK.

No man needs to use someone else as a wank sheath. Comparing paid rape to work requires a firm belief that men are entitled to use someone else as a wank sheath. You have demonstrated your misogyny here.

I think part of the difficulty is that "sex work" is so diverse in itself it cannot be categorised as one thing.

The media loves to portray the story of the happy hooker who has 100% control over their life.

Whereas I used to live in the red light district of a capital and I can tell you that the young women walking the streets from sunset to sunrise were certainly not "happy".

I would queue behind them in the shop where they would scrap together change found on the floor for food as the notes were kept for the dealers. Often I would give them the loose change they needed for a can of pop etc and they would look through me. These poor women are living a hell of an existence and no Oscar's ceremony is helping them!!!

Exactly. The "sex work is work" types are always happy for it to be someone else's sister, never their own.

I agree 100%!!!!!!

“Sex work” is not a job. Calling it this makes it sound like someone just works on the till at Ann Summers.
The stupidity of thinking that normalising porn and prostitution empowers women is very much like the trans women are women ideology.
Both benefit men but some women want to be “allies” either from #bekind bollocks, virtue signalling, or because they want to be one of the cool girls who get male approval.
Of course if you try to say any if this you are then a nasty bigoted prude.
I wonder how many of the allies would be pleased and proud if their daughter then choses “sex work” as their career?

I don’t think the women who go into prostitution should be stigmatised, but I agree legitimising sex work only benefits the men who use prostitutes

Evidence?

Decriminalisation results in more murdered prostituted women, not fewer. https://nordicmodelnow.org/2025/02/25/tuc-womens-conference-2025-why-you-should-vote-against-motions-8-and-9/

As an aside, why am I not surprised that heavily male-dominated unions moved to decriminalise paid rape?

Yes, when Mikey Madison won the Bafta and there was surprise, I was thinking 'gosh, young conventionally attractive woman playing a sex worker wins over the older actress in a film pointing out double standards about women's bodies? From a committee where older white men will dominate?' 😲 Same old same old at the Oscars. Not a model I'd want for teenage girls.

is this a race to the bottom?

Sweatshops should be abolished too. Do you think sweatshop labour should be normalised and if someone wants sweatshops abolished, just hates the women and kids that do it?
kids signing up to be cannon fodder in the army - Horrible concept. The UK do this younger than any other developed country.
Scrubbing toilets ? Surely we all scrub toilets? Ive scrubbed other peoples toilets and my own and dont find it degrading or dangerous. Nobody is getting off on it being made more degrading or dangerous thankfully.

People in prostitution are in a uniquely dangerous position. more and moreso with the internet

'Sex work is work' is something of a nonsensical slogan. Child labour is also work. Sweatshop jobs are work. There are plenty of types of 'work' that aren't acceptable and shouldn't be encouraged.

If they were serious about it being like any other normal form of employment, they'd be calling for regulations, and health and safety standards. We all know that's not what they want. It's about men using women's bodies, and convincing young women that this is something glamorous or aspirational. It isn't. It's sordid.

It’s men and young women who are either desperate and damaged or quite dim that support this “industry”. No good comes from it for any woman.

So many films that could be made about incredible women’s lives. But no. We have this as the lauded Oscar winner 🙄🙄. Depressing.

Agreed. You can be bloody sure it won't be women who will benefit from any changes because it's not just about the sex workers, it's also about how women are viewed across society.

And the reason decriminalisation doesn’t happen is because the countries that have tried it such as the Netherlands have not had good results.

In ND it led to an increase in trafficking of women and children and and increase in the criminal aspects of prostitution and organised crime in general - because of course it’s easier to run an illegal operation in a country where prostitution is decriminalised. Netherlands also learnt the lesson that prostitution, drugs, organised crime go hand in hand and you will never be able to separate them.

Feedback from prostitutes themselves was that they don’t necessarily want to be registered as they don’t want sexwork on their CV or have to pay tax.

Yep.

ah another attempt to make failed beta men who use prostitutes feel better about paying to rape women. Don't fall for it.

That article had some weird quotes in it. Talking about the 'many layers of privilege' of being a sex worker if you're white and speak English. I think any sex worker has many layers of vulnerability and is socially marginalized, and it's pointless semantics to insist that a white American one is living their dream life just by virtue of their race and language.

Sex work - no.
Sex workers - yes.

No. Sexual exploitation of women by men should not be normalised. Sex work is NOT work.

Indeed. Nubile prostitute or nymphomaniac - so inspirational! Older women - yawn, who?
Maybe we no longer have Pirelli calendars and Page 3 girls, but the world is no better for women, indeed the expectations seem worse.

We, quite sensibly, cling to the idea of "human rights," but these rights are just notions that we invented to protect the weak. If the strong grow weary of bearing that burden, and we no longer have God's to back us up as we used to, how are we going to convince them that our imaginary rights matter? Loons that think like this are out there and gaining ground:

"Voltaire said about God that ‘there is no God, but don’t tell that to my servant, lest he murder me at night’. Hammurabi would have said the same about his principle of hierarchy, and Thomas Jefferson about human rights. Homo sapiens has no natural rights, just as spiders, hyenas and chimpanzees have no natural rights. But don’t tell that to our servants, lest they murder us at night."
— Yuval Noah Harari

For most of history, "human rights" didnt even exist.

What about nymphomaniac older women?

It's paid rape.

I thought the same thing about Meghan Sussex's programme. When do you see a man using his time for that kind of thing?