Banning sex work is about as successful as banning drugs. All it usually does is lead to more misery for the sex workers. Which is entirely the intention, of course.
this post was submitted on 19 May 2024
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Let's not forget the other side of the equation, a lot more people would try drugs if they weren't illegal. Which is a good thing, because learning about them helps all of society.
My experience as an addict tells me more people trying drugs isn't necessarily the best thing they can do for their lives IMHO.
The Scandinavian model only criminalizes the clients, so I guess making their life's worse isn't the purpose. Still I am in favor of a fully regulated market with favorable working conditions.
That model is much better but from what I heard it's still not optimal for sellers because buyers are still committing a crime so it will still need to happen far away from the law and anyone that could help protect the sellers, like in massage places and sus places of town. Otherwise no buyers would dare buy.
Way back in my senior year of high school (around 2002), we had a debate project where everyone partnered up, picked a controversial topic, picked a side of the topic, and then researched and advocated for their side to the rest of the class, including a Q&A at the end, where the class could challenge their position.
To our surprise, the two hottest girls in our class picked prostitution as their topic, and advocated for it to be legalized. The teacher was also surprised, and curious enough to let them present their topic to the class.
We all thought they were joking with their topic, to get a rise out of all the horny boys. After all, as 17/18 year olds, our experience with prostitution came from movies or TV documentaries, where it was generally shown as a disgusting and degrading act; the last resort for a woman down on her luck.
But the girls' presentation was incredibly well researched, with figures regarding the number of deaths, violent crime, drugs, and human trafficking involved in illegal prostitution, compared to Nevada's legalized prostitution since the 1970s, which had practically no numbers to report.
They even did a deep dive into a brothel in Nevada, where the women were paid very well and treated kindly and fair and not like they're just a piece of meat. Plus, they had regular checkups and practically free health care because of their profession. They even walked through the various services they provided, since some people (they serviced anyone, not just men) wanted other forms of intimacy instead of just sex. It was a safe and judgment-free environment, on both sides of the table, and the women employed there actually wanted to do the job, with the option to quit anytime. Unlike illegal prostitution, which removed the woman's autonomy over her own body and placed her in dangerous situations, exposed to violence and drugs to barely make a living.
In the end, the girls did a fantastic job on their presentation and convinced a whole class of seniors that prostitution could be an honest and respectable position, and should be legalized. I've never looked at it the same way since.
I think they should do the fuck they want
Capitalism makes work degrading
Being a worker is degrading.
Being an owner is empowering.
Being a worker is empowering if you abolish Owners.
What does that even mean in the context of sex work? People no longer own their own bodies? Sounds disempowering to me. A dystopia!
Collective ownership, no individual ownership.
Sex work would still be fundamentally different though, it isn't the same as regular labor.
Collective ownership? So I can hop on your laptop and do whatever I want?
No.
You can use your laptop to start the next TikTok. Your laptop is a means of production.
I understand. Collective Ownership entails collective management of Capital based on agreed-upon rules. It does not mean nobody owns anything.
Where do you draw the line between capital and personal property?
Outlaw Capitalism, easy.
That's not an answer. That's just restating the name of your position.
Here's an example: suppose I buy a bunch of woodworking tools and put them in my garage. I now have a woodworking shop which I can use to make and sell furniture. Is that capital? Am I required to surrender my garage to the authorities?