"Sex work": is there a "break it down" for me style thread?

[FanEffinTastic]

Can anyone recommend any (relatively brief) reading on the topic of sex work? I'm increasingly distressed about its normalisation for young people, as my sense professionally (I work in mental health) is that it's associated with psychological distress. Most of my colleagues take the libfem empowerment position on it. If I'm just living in the dark ages, I'm willing to (attempt to) update my attitude, but I'd like to be evidence based about it. Is sex work really something which, on balance, suits and empowers young women?
TIA

Argh, speech marks in the thread title are in the wrong place. Apologies.

Sara Pascoe's podcast Sex Power Money ( haven't read the book but you might prefer that?) is an interesting take on lots of aspects of the Sex Work debate. For what it's worth I think she's wrong in about 80% of what she talks about as it mostly comes from a Female Empowerment angle which I'm not on board with at all. However, it covers a lot of topics some of which I hadn't considered and which I went on to Google around and found interesting.

Thanks, @LadyOfTheCanyon. I'll check that out.

This thread has got a lot of good info/links on it.

When we talk about prostitution, we should focus on the buyers www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4111588-when-we-talk-about-prostitution-we-should-focus-on-the-buyers

It does feel frustrating that we are having to find evidence that prostitution is harmful. A job done by trafficked slaves, desperate drug addicts or women facing destitution is hardly likely to be benign is it?

@testing987654321, thank you. Just been reading that thread - really helpful.

Hi OP, this is also a useful thread with numerous links you might find interesting:

So, the sex "work" "debate" www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4068710-So-the-sex-work-debate

I think this interview with Rachel Moran is good.
www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=279007706571170&ref=watch_permalink
Al her interviews and talks are very clear

Whenever I have this conversation I simply ask people why they think a man living in a society where they can easily access sex for free (which is true for most men living in the UK) would choose to pay for it? Anyone who has a reasonable grasp on human nature should be able to follow this line of thought to reveal the true nature of the transaction.

No, you are correct, there's no empowerment in objectification. Feminist Current has a lot of great articles and resources. On the topic of normalization, you may find this article interesting: www.feministcurrent.com/2020/01/31/prostitution-is-already-destigmatized-and-its-not-helping/

To quote a relevant paragraph, "Normalizing the sex trade has already happened. We joke about porn and prostitution as though it is harmless. We imagine that women in the sex trade enjoy themselves and are making an “empowered choice.” We act as though all men use porn, go to strip clubs, and pay for sex. We think nothing of it. We tell them it’s normal. It is a “need,” after all. We don’t think about the women and girls at the other end of these transactions or on the other side of the computer screen, and wonder about the physical and psychological impact of being degraded and abused day in and day out."

While not exactly brief, if you're a reader I also recommend the book Freedom Fallacy: The Limits of Liberal Feminism. It goes over the exact concerns you have as well, I believe there's even a free copy floating around if you Google it.

A quick summary: "Feminism is back in fashion. From female celebrities to male politicians, it seems almost everyone is keen to use the f-word. But are there limits to this 'pop feminist' approach to liberation? Taking on topics from pornography and prostitution to female genital mutilation, from women's magazines and marriage to sexual violence, contributors in this collection argue that the kind of liberal feminism currently rising to prominence does little to challenge the status quo."

@FanEffinTastic

Can anyone recommend any (relatively brief) reading on the topic of sex work? I'm increasingly distressed about its normalisation for young people, as my sense professionally (I work in mental health) is that it's associated with psychological distress. Most of my colleagues take the libfem empowerment position on it. If I'm just living in the dark ages, I'm willing to (attempt to) update my attitude, but I'd like to be evidence based about it. Is sex work really something which, on balance, suits and empowers young women? TIA

Just to say you are not alone as someone who is concerned working in this area

Thank you @Pickette for that article.

Thanks @HecatesCats - great thread.

@MouseandCat - thank you, I listened to lots of this and will hear the rest later. Rachel Moran sounds fantastic.

@Mumofgirlswholiketoplaywithmud, glad to hear that - thank you.

Yes, useful question, @guinnessguzzler.

@Pickette, I'm looking forward to reading that article - the quoted part is excellent.

The main area I need to look into is how these arguments might or might not apply to the on-the-surface more "choice-driven/powerful" sex work undertaken by uni students. Experience tells me that many of the students doing this have backgrounds of abuse (sometimes in the context of material privilege), compounded in complex ways by their "work" (often "only" online or stripping). I also suspect those who aren't reporting specific mental health problems at present may struggle later, and that this is not all down to "stigma", as many seem to claim.

You might find Julie Bindel's book useful: The Pimping Of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-sex-worker-myth

Thanks @HecatesCats. I've just read the article - interesting and shocking. Does the book address types of work like stripping/online "services", and the degree to which these are different?

You could help the whole debate by calling it what it is. Prostitution. It's not work. If we keep using the word work we ourselves are making it more tolerable to the rest of society.
I can see a day when people strive to make it an actual job. Then when unemployed people are sent to the job centre to find a new job, they will be guided to this "work"
That means in reality all women as we know men are prostitutes but in much lesser numbers.
Imagine your mum/sister/daughter as a prostitute. Does it feel more like work then?

She touches upon it, you can get a sense of her take on online services in this article and she references Pornland by Gail Dines which you might also find useful.

www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/onlyfans-sex-work-pornography-empowering-bella-thorne-a4545501.html

@Gurufloof, I can see your point, but how are we meant to refer to things like stripping/online stuff? To put these things in an entirely different category also has its problems, when they are (arguably) all a part of the same set of problems in our culture.

Thanks again @HecatesCats. Very useful article, and I'll have a look at Pornland.

Pornland is very good.

Also The first half of Living Dolls: The return of Sexism by Natasha Walter is good especially for young women dealing with this stuff... It questions assumptions about empowerment and choice in relationship to the hyper-sexualisation of contemporary culture. It refers to stripping and lap dancing.