This post is a response to this Jezebel article claiming that second wave anti-porn feminists were wrong, that porned/prostituted women are actually emotionally healthy and OMG YAY super empowered with no childhood sex abuse history (the perfect grooming FOR the abuse that is porn/prostitution, though obviously not all have this history, but many do), and that it just comes down to being comfortable with one’s nudity. These claims are made while conveniently omitting the normalized rape, degradation, violence and torture of women that makes UP the majority of porn which has only gotten worse in its brutality since second wave feminism. So to the article’s claims I say:
And many, many, MANY more. Sidenote: Many of the above links are about prostitution — the only difference between porn and prostitution is a camera and shelf-life of the paid rapes & tortures caught on film versus the much shorter shelf life of the “actors” in it and their brutalized bodies and psyches. Thus we must consider porn & prostitution one and the same when learning and talking about the sex trade.
For those who dismiss the above-linked evidence and arrogantly demand “objective scientific studies”, I say NO. Such studies do exist, but deniers just dismiss them as “faulty science/methodology” which is a buncha bunk. Some of us refuse to participate in running around circles and circles of nothingness that make up the religion of Science and its non-existent “objectivity”.
Oral history (in this case, sex trade survivors’ narratives and research based ON such narratives such as on this site) is just as, if not MORE legitimate than precious “objective scientific studies” because education via oral tradition is ALL of our traditional way of learning since we all come from indigenous cultures and tribes before colonization began mining our minds and eating our Spirits in its project of dehumanization. The dominant predatory industrial-colonist culture and its so-called “progress” decided the written word is superior, and then only the “scientific” written word. Sorry, not buying it. but thanks for the sales pitch.
So folks, demanding different kind of “research” to prove porn/prostitution and the entire sex trade is harmful is just arrogant. What you get is what you get, and we must tap into our basic Human Intelligence to decipher what makes sense to our hearts. This kind of basic human intelligence is in everyone, and not taught in the formal school system — in fact it is stripped and colonized out of us in school to turn us into inhumane industrialized robots mindlessly consuming things like so-called objective scientific studies while “debating” on and on about things like falsifiability, methodology, yada yada yawn = circles around circles of nothingness; loud, shiny smokescreens of bullshit to skirt, slither around, and do ridiculous mind-numbing mental gymnastics all to avoid the HEART of the matter – in this case, that the sex trade is sexual slavery and torture, a crime against humanity; it profoundly harms the vast majority of mostly females who are in it and it MUST END!
The men who demand a class of women to sexually enslave, rape and torture are our brothers, fathers, sons, co-workers, boyfriends, neighbors, they’re everywhere. We need to be having some serious conversations with them, NOT catering to their selfish desires by pretending porn/prostitution/the sex trade is or can somehow be made harm-free.
So please, show some RESPECT to survivors of the sex trade because they are the ultimate experts and authorities on the matter, and listen to what they tell us about the REAL realities of the sex trade. Prioritize their voices. Anything less is inhumane.
I dedicate this song to the selfish men who create the demand for the sex trade and to the corporate causes upholding it, all resulting in the wounding of humanity (theirs and most especially the bodies & psyches they slave trade in):
Lyrics:
corporate causes with self-served denial
the raping of the land [girls & women]
collapse
the lungs malfunction
they never learned to breathe
breathe!
rusted syringes and half-thought disposal
a burial at sea
waste water graveyard
swimming in disease
breathe!
this is the world [the sex trade]
it’s not working
this is this earth
breathe! breathe, you fucker!
children gasping the second-hand air
death and desperation
we’ve got to cut the lies with truth
we breathe
breathe!
this is the world
the clock’s ticking
is this this earth?
breathe! breathe, you fucker!
hope springs eternal but there’s no conviction
action mistaken for ransom is paid
all this concern is the true contradiction
the world is insane
breathe!
this is the world
it’s got no future
is this this earth?
breathe! breathe, you fucker! [and STOP consuming girls & women!]
I think you are awesome. Chi Miigwech for all the hard work you do and voicing what needs to be heard and helping those who feel silenced learn how to scream their truths!!!!
Thanks Zoonzay! These truths must be screamed until the demand for the “right” to rape and torture women ENDS! We are all implicated in this crime against humanity and it’s all of our responsibility to do whatever we are able to make it stop. xoxo
I love this post so much. thankyou SO MUCH for writing it and seeing through the bullshit.
So often i get ‘ BUT YOU’RE JUST ONE EXPERIENCE, YOU CAN’T APPLY YOUR EXPERIENCE TO ALL!’ hysteria shouted at me. I never claim to speak for all, ever, not once. What i am doing is sharing my story. It’s not an uncommon one, but denyers will just dismiss it as ONE extremely ‘unusual’ story. which it isn’t. and they know it isn’t, which is what makes them freak out so much. Then when confronted with scientific research which proves that the majority were somehow coerced or otherwised mavouvered into the industry, they claim it is ‘dodgy’ and ignore all other research that they can’t poke holes in. And this is from people involved in the industry, people one would think would give a shit.
Thank you so much for your comments and for telling your story, it is because of voices like yours that I CAN see through the bullshit. Those of us who aren’t in the life don’t know the realities of it, so all we have to go on is other people’s words. And I suppose “scientific studies” which I trust as far as I can throw. They’re usually too bland for my liking anyway cuz I prefer Real Talk. Except for studies like Farley’s because they have HEART. It’s not the god forsaken “research methodologies” that make these studies good or bad, it’s what they SAY. And the deniers’ denials of the studies is just white noise because there is no HEART in their arguments. It’s all so crystal clear. (lol @ the deniers all caps hysteria – that really sums it up!)
When survivors speak out, your words are so clear, coherent and speak straight to the heart and Spirit, it is impossible to DISbelieve you unless someone has no heart and their soul is deeply buried. I have HUGE respect for all exited women who so bravely speak their Truths. You all are a truly fierce & admirable bunch. The more voices that speak out, the louder the roar becomes that The Public can’t help BUT listen and ACT!
When you say those in the industry who deny should give a shit, do you mean the profiteers? Cuz their greedy inhumane asses have every reason to deny, so they can keep raking in the profits of their slavery. Or did you mean the prostituted still trapped in it?
I think I mean yes the profiteers, definitely, but also the punters, there were many of them, and the most awful are the girls that are working in the industry. For them to disregard me and dismiss me is just appalling and makes me lose all faith in humanity. However, the worst i think, are the ‘sex positive’ feminists who want to believe something so desperately that they will dismiss and silence me and others like me as ‘not able to handle the job’ and ‘the work isn’t suited to everyone’ etc etc, not to mention one woman who told me that abuse often leads to further abuse, ie, the abuse i went through prior to working, made me somehow more suspectiple to abusive punters. which is obviously bullshit. ugh. People like you writing and talking about it and being so angry and outspoken are so needed and thankyou with all of my tiny heart for doing that X
Wow the denials and dismissals come from so many angles, how maddening that must be! Do you think the girls still working in the industry disregard and dismiss you cuz they just haven’t gotten to the point of clarity you have yet and are still in denial-survival mode to work? Either way though their responses must sting.
And wow @ the sex positive feminists and the one telling you your prior abuse made you more susceptible to abusive punters???!?!?!? From a so-called feminist?!?!? WOW just when I thought this whole nightmare couldn’t get more fucked that just topped it. I don’t care what label a person has, that is just such a fucked up thing to think/say and speaks to how much work our culture needs to do to regain its humanity. I’m still kinda shocked that came from a feminist, though maybe I shouldn’t be cuz feminism never ceases to amaze me.
Re. my writing: you’re welcome, it is a privilege & honor for me to connect with exited women, you all teach me so much and I can’t help but scream when I see bullshit like this Jezebel article; ignoring/dismissing/silencing Truth speakers hits a very deep nerve with me and exited women have SUCH important Truths to tell that need so badly to be heard so that Change can come!
Much Love to you, you say you have a tiny heart but it comes across pretty big through your words, and many thanks to you for your courage in speaking out, it takes so much guts. <3
the ‘sex positive’ feminists are the worst, because they don’t have a fucking clue what they are talking about, the audacity of some of the things they say to survivors is frightening. I would be humbled hearing words of someone, anyone, whose experience is something I have never and will never even remotely be able to relate to, I would be so humbled, and mostly I would want to to learn from them. I would want to listen and learn. But not these guys because they know that if they listened then their made up perspective would be challenged.
That is so true. I think it’s an ego thing, and behind ego is insecurity; it’s a shame that their ego-driven behavior causes so much hurt and gets in the way of abolition. If they and other deniers really cared about Truth, they would be open to it and humbly take it in, as you so eloquently describe.
Outstanding! XOXO
This was exceptionally well stated! Your writing is excellent and I love the amount of evidence you gathered to support your position. I agreed with you before reading this, but now even more so. I can’t believe people are still fooled by studies that are clearly self serving to those who profit and ignore the reality of people victimized.
Thanks Michelle; I think the fooling comes from giving up too much power and submitting to the great religion of science and not enough power given to one’s own common sense and Spiritual compass of right and wrong.
Excellent piece. I had a hard time buying that article in Jezebel and the research it is based on. There may be some women in the sex industry who are there willingly and came from a healthy childhood/background, but I suspect they are the exception rather than the rule.
Agreed. And that small exception sure does make a lot of noise to hold so hard onto its privilege while throwing the vast majority of harmed under the bus.
Thank you for writing this! A friend sent me that Jezebel piece, and I wrote a looong email about how Jezebel often uses sensationalist headlines and reporting to make very one-sided simplistic arguments. I do think that there are women out there in the sex industry who have choices, but to take a sample size of 170 women and make a broad claim about the industry as a whole? So freaking infuriating. I loathe lazy arguments.
@dublincallgirl. It is so sad you had to make your blog private because of the haters and misogynist. I loved reading it although I have not been reading it for the past few months as I was busy. I am just wondering how does one get invited to be able to read your blog.
Hi Yasmin. I have it on unprivate again now, I’ll be deleting it soon though as it’s time for me to move on, hopefully. Thanks so much for taking an interest and reading it
[...] One thing you should know is that pro-sex trade voices often try to discredit studies that say the sex trade is harmful by trying to shred apart things like “research methodologies” of such studies; these kind of arguments are usually just smokescreens that try to divert from the heart of the issue. For more about this, as well as links to some awesome, informed & powerful sex trade survivor-abolitionist voices, go here. [...]
SO I’m commenting again a bit later, but have you been following the Steubenville rape case, and Traci Lords coming out about how she had been raped there, which she blames for going into porn? It’s very sad
Hi listengf’s, thanks for the note. No I haven’t been following the case or Lords’s story so I just did some reading up on it. Wow. So tragic and outrageous, though the online hacker vigilantes are awesome, sounds like they elevated the Steubenville story and issue to a national level and did some great exposing of rape apologists. The rape culture is being exposed, story after story. The Law will never address the cultural cancer of male violence, but it’s great that the issue is getting so much media attention because it gets everyone talking. Traci Lords’ story is very sad and so common of the vast majority of women and girls who end up in the sex slavery trade.
I agree with everything you said. I have to ask though, what you think of this article: http://www.good.is/posts/what-women-want/
Thank you so much for this piece, and for all the work abolitionists and exited women do to end female oppression! I have to say that I hate Jezebel with its postmodern “sex positivity,” its commenters’ refusal to listen to radical feminist voices and even acknowledge women as a class, blindness to their own privilege, and general way of talking like 15 year olds from the Valley in 1980. Usually the dialogue persists thusly:
1. Radical feminists: “Porn/prostitution feeds into the idea that women and girls are nothing more than body parts who are always available for men to rape and humiliate. By factoring in money, this removes the idea of ‘choice’ due to the widespread economic oppression experienced by women as a class”
2. Jezebel commenter who is a high end sex worker, most likely in a “classy” strip club or expensive call girl, most likely white form a middle class background, educated, has other options available but chose sex work b/c of the money/male approval/ some weird ass hipster irony I’m too bourgeois to understand: ” I choose my choice! Sex work is fun and I’m empowered! By not claiming my experience as universal YOU are the real oppressor! Feminism is about choices and you want to take my living away, and why are you using VIOLENT language?!”
I honestly saw one such sex worker respond to a commenter who brought up how WOC are the ones working on the streets for low wages and face high levels of violence with this: “Oh you mean LIKE IN EVERY JOB EVER? Why are you demonizing the sex industry when it happens every where else?” How the hell has feminism come to this?
As a radical feminist in her early twenties, I’m so glad I can find spaces filled with smart and amazing women like this blog.