Feminist views on the sex industry
Many of these positions can be loosely arranged into an overarching standpoint that is generally either critical or supportive of prostitution and sex work.
Pro-prostitution feminists hold that prostitution and other forms of sex work can be valid choices for women and men who choose to engage in it.
Third, all feminists recognize that commercial sex workers are subject to economic coercion and are often victims of violence, and that little is done to address these problems.
[citation needed] Feminists who hold such views on prostitution include Kathleen Barry, Melissa Farley,[8][9] Julie Bindel,[10][11] Sheila Jeffreys, Catharine MacKinnon,[12] Andrea Dworkin, and Laura Lederer.
They say that most women who become prostitutes do so because they were forced or coerced by a pimp or by human trafficking, or, when it is an independent decision, generally is the result of extreme poverty and lack of opportunity, or of serious underlying problems, such as drug addiction, past trauma (such as child sexual abuse), and other unfortunate circumstances.
Others simply suggest that economic coercion makes the sexual consent of sex workers highly problematic, if not impossible...".
[citation needed] Some feminists who oppose prostitution agree that sexual liberation for women outside of prostitution is important in the fight for gender equality, but they say it is crucial that society does not replace one patriarchal view on female sexuality – e.g., that women should not have sex outside marriage/a relationship and that casual sex is shameful for a woman, etc.
These feminists believe that many clients use the services of prostitutes because they enjoy the "power trip" they derive from the act and the control they have over the woman during the sexual activity.
"[26] Prostitution is seen by these feminists as the result of a patriarchal societal order which subordinates women to men and where the inequality between genders is present in all aspects of life.
– discuss] Some feminists, including many who identify as supporting the abolition of prostitution, see the selling of sex as a potential after effect of violence against women.
Most (60% to 70%) were sexually abused as children,[29] 65% have been raped, most of them before the age of 15,[30] and many young women and girls enter prostitution directly from state care, at least in England, Norway, Australia and Canada.
[35] Research conducted by Giobbe (1993) found similarities in the behaviour of pimps and batterers, in particular, through their use of enforced social isolation, threats, intimidation, verbal and sexual abuse, attitudes of ownership, and extreme physical violence.
The demand for commercial sex is often further grounded in social power disparities of race, nationality, caste and colour.Abolitionists attribute prostitution to women's comparative lack of economic resources.
Poverty is the single greatest "push" factor making women vulnerable to accepting prostitution as a means of subsistence.
In Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, and Taiwan, studies have shown that indigenous women are at the bottom of the race and class hierarchy of prostitution, often subjected to the worst conditions, most violent demands and sold at the lowest price.
This is as a result of the combined forces of colonialism, physical displacement from ancestral lands, destruction of indigenous social and cultural order, misogyny, globalization/neoliberalism, race discrimination, and extremely high levels of violence perpetrated against them.
[45] In 2014, the Council of Europe has made a similar recommendation, stating that "While each system presents advantages and disadvantages, policies prohibiting the purchase of sexual services are those that are more likely to have a positive impact on reducing trafficking in human beings".
Trisha Baptie, a Canadian former prostitute, who now opposes the industry, and lobbies for the outlawing of buying sexual services, wrote: "Harm reduction?
[55] This falls in line with the view radical feminists hold about capitalist societies as containing a 'moral' economy, in which the economically permitted actions embodies societal beliefs about individual autonomy.
[55][56] Within the framework of moral appeals, the sex market meets its unambiguous and nondiscretionary fulfillment of its obligations to consumers at the expense of female sexual autonomy.
[57] As the feminist author Martha Nussbaum argues, the reason that sex markets see such high instances of undermined female autonomy and sexual wellness is due to the social stigmatization which is rooted in the fear of female sexual expression, and that the services of the sex market should be respected as any other form of labor.
This would come in the form of granting women safer spaces to work, and allow the government to limit and regulate unsafe, exploitative practices against sex workers.
[62] Prostitution and the sex market is viewed more broadly as a state which all women are involuntarily entered into due to a woman's sexuality being the object through which men can barter and legislate over.
[citation needed] Activists and scholars who are proponents of the pro-sex work position include: Margo St. James, Norma Jean Almodovar,[64] Kamala Kempadoo,[65] Laura María Agustín, Annie Sprinkle, Carol Leigh (also known as Scarlot Harlot), Carol Queen, Amin Yacoub, and Audacia Ray.
[66] Liberal feminists and groups such as The Red Thread, The International Committee for Prostitutes (ICPR) and COYOTE seek to ensure that sex work is seen as a valid choice that women may make without overtly oppressive forces.
[citation needed] Sex work and prostitution have often been compared to a marriage in which the man is the breadwinner, while the woman stays at home and cares for the family.
Legalization can mean anything from rigid controls under a state-controlled system to merely defining the operation of a privatized sex industry.
Shrage claims that in a determination to undermine patriarchy, pro-sex feminists have advocated a reckless and "Milton Friedman style" deregulation of laws surrounding prostitution, without considering the implications that this may have upon women involved in sex work, particularly given the nature of the sex trade, which is more likely to be plagued by exploitation and poor working conditions, concerns that must be of importance to any feminist.
It has been suggested that the scale of the trafficking may be in part due to many Africans having no birth registration and hence no official nationality, making them easier to transport across borders.
[79] The notable neighborhood of De Wallen in Amsterdam is home to the Netherlands' legalized red-light district, which is a commercial hub for the sex market.
