Sure, on the face of it I don't think it really tells us one way or another what we should think about the concept of sex as work, or how we should treat it in terms of social policy. Personally I think for the individuals involved it's psychologically damaging, though not necessarily more so than other sexual acts that we leave up to people to choose. That may impact what people are thinking when they talk about people being mentally healthy.
I think it's just a rabbit hole though to get too caught up in arguing about whether there are some people who do well. There have always been a few people who do, it's not really the issue.
I agree with this
She has a list of men who pay to use her body as a wank sock.
I would like to address this claim, which is often made here on mumsnet, in relation to prostitution. The claim that men who buy sex are using women as “wank socks” or “fuck holes”.
A very obvious thing that many with entrenched views in this debate completely miss is that vary often the women who do well, at least in my experience, are the women who combine natural, conventional beauty with an approachable, “girl next door” vibe. This was illustrated quite well in the Nudes4Sale documentary where the young woman who reported making obscene amounts of money, combined conventional beauty with a friendly, chatty nature. She also spent most of her time replying to texts and emails from “fans” thus providing an illusion of intimacy.
Another young woman on the programme had clearly “had some work done", lip filler, etc. and had a much more pornified look and vibe. This young woman was earning far less than the girl next door type, as one might expect.
This raises an important issue that most people unfamiliar with the sex industry often fail to understand; for the most successful earners sex is not the primary commodity, the primary commodity is intimacy, or the illusion of intimacy. Sex is merely the vehicle for the “intimacy” to be provided.
Obviously this is not the case with punters who pay a drug addicted, desperate woman £5 for a blow job. It is not the issue for a man who, even if he can afford to pay an escort who either genuinely enjoys his/her work (a minority do IME) or who possesses sufficient acting skills as to be convincing in this respect, chooses instead to pay a desperate and vulnerable person to engage in sexual acts they find disgusting and traumatic.
Different men want different experiences, some enjoy the suffering of a desperate person via a process of sexual sadism. Some are indifferent as to whether the sex worker suffers providing they can stick it in a hole and obtain relief for their urges. Most men who buy sex on the streets probably fall into these categories.
However when you start to look at the dynamics and relating between escorts / courtesans and higher paid sex workers the dynamics are completely different.
Highly paid sex workers such as escorts and courtesans very often use skills of persuasion, sometimes including NLP and hypnotism, in order to persuade clients that they have a genuine emotional connections with one another.
Some criminal cults operate training courses where they train men and women in sexual skills, massage skills, erotic dance, pole dance, seduction skills, hypnosis, NLP, persuasion skills and other skills (for example the covert administration of drugs).
These schools now operate all over the world and are often marketed as “empowerment” courses, teaching men and women sexual secrets / tantric massage etc.
This proliferation of pseudo-academic training courses that teach people how to use sex to manipulate others raises an important question about who exactly is the exploited party and who is the exploiter?
The point I am making is that while prostitution is undoubtably exploitative in many cases, the nature of the exploitation can be a complex and nuanced thing depending on the specific situation and the context.
Just an example; a very lonely, vulnerable with multiple disabilities who has never had a sexual experience with another person attends one of Tuppy Owens’ various “empowering” events and as a result, is persuaded to pay a male or female sex worker to help her learn how to have sex. That sex worker (who may be male or female) seems happy and enthusiastic about helping people to enjoy fulfilling sex lives and gives no impression of being coerced or trafficked. However the sex worker belongs to a criminal cult that uses sex and sex workers to recruit new members and then exploit them sexually, financially and in various other ways.
In this situation who is the exploited person and who is the exploiter?
If readers are interested in learning about how some of the cultic sex workers operate they can watch a documentary (NSFW obviously) on Channel 5 here that includes extensive interviews and footage showing some male sex workers who provide services to women. I have not watched this for a while but 2 of the sex workers featured are involved with extremely dangerous cults, one is very involved in the paedophile cult the Deer Tribe, the other I will post more about soon
www.my5.tv/the-sex-business/season-2/episode-3