I try to think of myself as an ally to sex workers.
This is one area of progressivism or whatever in which I have very little knowledge but a heap of opinions. Making those two connect is quite a bit of work, as I am trying to be as informed as I can be b/f I engage in discussions elsewhere.
But lately I have come across two posts where I have felt the need to engage in the conversation, and I am finding that I am met w/ a bit of contention, and don’t really know where to go from there.
I am not an expert, by far, even after spending as much time at RenegadeEvolution as possible, and lurking in places like Bound, Not Gagged, and any where else I am kindly pointed. Finding “101″ information is challenging, and I want to approach the subject w/ as much sensitivity as possible. Just like I try to do w/ everything else I consider myself an ally for.
So, my big issue right now, why I am all in a bind over the above linked posts:
The use of the word “prostitute” when referring to sex workers is one. I have come to the understanding that the acceptable term to use is sex worker. I don’t know the issues entirely, or the exact feelings of actual sex workers, but from what I can read it seems that “sex worker” is the appropriate word to use. I don’t know how it breaks down w/ people who voluntarily work in the industry as opposed to those who are trafficked. My gut reaction is that treating prostitution as a monolith and calling all of the people in it “prostitutes” dehumanizes them in a way. In my mind, it does two things. One, it equates the person w/ the job. It goes back to this thing where I think we too easily see a person as the sum of their job and nothing more. We look at a woman who has depth and many hobbies and interests and who also happens to be a sex worker and paint her “prostitute”, stripping her of anything more than the value of her job. Two, it uses a stigmatized word to place a person in what we think is their place based on some moral code. We are privileging our own morals over the worth of a human being. I don’t think I am over thinking this, b/c words fucking mean things. We are lumping the entirety of people working in a particular industry that has facets and treating them as if they are some huge uniform structure.
And at the same time, perhaps I am placing a squicky feeling where there really doesn’t need to be one. If people working in prostitution call themselves prostitutes, then consider me corrected. Perhaps it is more complex than that. I really don’t know.
Just like when I came into the feminist sphere I realized quickly that I had a lot to learn. It isn’t up to anyone to educate me, so I have to read and listen as best I can. I can’t just run in w/ guns a blazin’ and expect everyone to patiently explain to me what is the proper way to address things. Just like being an ally for anyone you can’t expect people to hand you the work that has been done, and you need to know what you are running your gob about b/f you stick your foot in your mouth (or keyboard).
By that same account, if I am going to be any kind of ally I need to know damned sure what I am talking about. If my understanding is off I need to get it straight. Words mean things. Also, the way a person prefers to be addressed sure as hell matters.
Sex worker is a term for use with the media and non-sex workers to describe work that encompasses more than merely sex for money. Strippers, porn actors, sex writers, sex therapists, phone sex operators, prostitutes, escorts, etc are all sex workers. “Prostitute” is merely one job within the huge field of sex work.
You might enjoy this look at who is a sex worker: http://www.sexpros.net/2008/02/who-is-sex-worker.html
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Hey! I noticed this post in a ping back on BnG, so I wanted to throw in my two cents. Good for you for taking an active stance on this.
I would say that sex worker is preferred. It’s kind of like when certain groups slangy-ly call themselves a word (some of us jokingly call ourselves “whores”), it’s okay within the group, but with outsiders, it’s trickier. You kind of have to demonstrate you understand the implications before you can do it. I think you’re right about why avoiding the term prostitute is best. You tend to see the media calling people prostitutes and stuff in a way that dehumanizes them.
As for “101″ type stuff, there’s http://www.sexwork101.com/. It’s great.
I agree, the way a person prefers to be addressed matters a whole lot! I am also an ally to sex workers.
Amanda and Jane, welcome and thank-you!
I appreciate the input and the references. I also wanted to thank Ren for answering my questions.
It’s tricky to navigate words. I also want to make sure that more people think about words when they use them, especially if they are trying to be helpful or act as allies.
But I am really glad to hear from actual people in the industry, b/c I can hardly assume to speak for anyone here.
Hi OuyangDan,
Yes, sex workers generally prefer “sex worker” to other terms. However, in Brazil, they tend to prefer “prostitute”, as they feel they need to reclaim the word.
While the folks at the Shakeseville site seem to be well-intentioned, the unfortunate reality is that by re-posting those women’s photographs, they have re-victimized them in the way that the RJ did in the first place. As a matter of principle, it just shoulodn’t have been done. How can they consider themselves any better than the RJ?
I was on our local NPR station here in Vegas as a response to this article with the author, Alan Maimon. It was not Alan’s decision to publish the photo- it was the editor’s.
The information posted on that post on Shakesville about the victimization and drug abuse history of prostitutes is pretty limited, too. While those studies may be relevant for the particular street populations that their sample groups consist of, they are hardly representative of all sex workers. The Farley study (the one about the 9 countries) has on numerous occasions been found to be shoddy, biased, reporting, rather than actual, credible research.
Thank you for your interest in sex workers’ rights, and for your conscientiousness in wishing to use the right language.
There is, actually, a site on sex work 101:
http://www.sexwork101.com/
Those posts gave me some tough feelings to deal w/, and I am a huge fan of Shakesville and respect Melissa and most of her fellow bloggers. The blanket terminology of using “prostitute” felt a little cold when dealing w/ a group of already victimized women. It also said a lot to me that Melissa herself addressed my concern on language, but that it was dismissed over all by anyone else.
So we had a picture that was victimizing, language that could be argued to be dehumanizing, and I didn’t know how to respond.
Thank-you so much for the feedback. I want to be as collaboratively helpful as possible, but recently realized that my limited knowledge was holding me back from doing anyone any good.
I don’t know why I didn’t think to just google “sex work 101″. Paint me corrected and jet lagged in another hemisphere.
Hi,
My thoughts. Words tend to be proprietary to the person and the community. There truly isn’t inherently a right one or a wrong one because it depends on who is defining it. I’ve been both, the classic prostituted girl/woman as a trafficking victim and a sex worker that was doing so to earn a living. Different times, different scenarios.
There is a lot of conflation of words within radical feminism. Radical feminists tend to all prostitution as “bought and sold rape”, and since the early 2000′s have merged trafficking into prostitution. Largely for political and funding reasons than any other reason. They use trafficking victim, CSEC, and prostitute interchangeably. In the context they are often trying to create vs. context that exists it isn’t a valid comparison. Radical feminists often portray a huge majority of those in prostitution on the line of being very helpless enslaved victims needing to be rescued at any given moment and the remainder, according to radical feminist belief, the remainder is a very small minority that are using the term sex worker for dubious reasons involving collaborating with patriarchy, assisting traffickers etc.
There are trafficking victims as we all know. Those that are enslaved in the depictions of radical feminists, tortured constantly, raped constantly, enslaved, chained, etc. They exist but no where near the level that is being portrayed by factions of feminists aligned with conservatives.
Someplace in the middle is the majority. Making a living in the sex industry. Perhaps not a fan of sex work but also not enslaved. Thus where they define themselves is proprietary to the person, to the smaller micro level rather than macro level.
From experience as a trafficking victim, as a sex worker, as an apostate radical feminist now sex worker rights advocate. If you are speaking to a largely radical feminist audience or within a largely radical feminist group. Often times it is a question of whether the battle of using the term sex worker is worth the war that it often entails. Sometimes for the sake of being heard rather than shouted at, shouted down, etc, it is easier to avoid the term sex work/sex work with that particular faction as it tends to be incendiary. Some use sex trade. I’m not sure I care for the term sex trade as a replacement for sex work as they aren’t inherently the same either. But in terms of picking a battle or rather, avoiding one, it can be a good thing.
It’s good to know, Jill, thanks for commenting.
I was curious if there is a difference in the preference for those who are voluntarily sex workers versus those who were/are trafficking victims.
I don’t fully engage in the stereotypical radfem circles, but I have noticed that in those (w/ exceptions) circles that what you say seems to be true.
When I first started trying to be an ally for sex trade workers I realized that I have so much to learn. There are so many things that I really have not even begun to set straight in my own mind. I so agree with the point that we should refer to people only in a way that they deem respectful. I use both sex trade worker and prostitute and quite honestly this is the first time that I have heard that the latter is offensive. Thanks for pointing that out and I am really going to have to look into that. The last thing I want to do is demean anyone that I want to support.
I can see where ‘prostitute’ would be problematic to sex workers, considering the context with which it has been used in society, agreed, Ouyang. Also, the general meaning of the verb prostitute is ‘to debase oneself for profit’, and that kind of secondary definition puts shades of meaning onto the word also, implying that sex work is depraved or perverse.
Have you seen this yet? I’m sorry if it’s already been referenced, but the thought just crossed my mind? SWOP-Chicago’s How to be an Ally to Sex Workers.
http://redlightchicago.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/how-to-be-an-ally-to-sex-workers/
The problem with labels surrounding sex work is the same one as the labels surrounding anything: while it’s easy to use the correct label when you’re dealing with an individual (you, uh, ask them) it becomes a lot easier to screw up when you’re generalising. Yes, sex work/er is preferred by a vast number of sex workers. There are also those who consider their experience to be anything but work, and prefer terms that reflect that.
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