
About our fatigue with “hipster hookers”? The $pread blog weighs in on the same Radar piece:
I feel like, right now, in the media, sex work is being enthusiastically embraced by any woman who fancies herself progressive, liberated, sexually desirable, and sexually curious, but it’s not the type of support real sex workers benefit from, or are, when it comes down to it, actually involved in at all. Because this trend isn’t part of a larger discussion to seriously reassess legal and cultural attitudes about sex work. It’s far more narcissistic than that. I think the idea of putting yourself out there as a possible consumable piece of merchandise is gratifying, and talking about in an article is in many ways an attempt to public confirm your fuckability.
Comments
Yikes, this really “cuts to the quick”, but it is true. I’m off to read the rest of this article!
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:02 pmFor me, this is just a new wave of the same ol shit. It’s like girls wearing “Porn Star” shirts, only more hands on. The message is “I’m really hot” with the thin veil of “and I’m sexually liberated.”* I think this “public attempt to confirm your fuckability” is exactly right. In an era where women are more and more and more heavily defined by/reduced to/seen as worthy only for their fuckability, this doesn’t surprise me.
*Not implying anything about actual porn stars or other sex workers here.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:36 pmi don’t know about the people blogging (or whatever) about sex work but in general, media focuses entirely on the lives of sex workers and not the rights of sex workers, so i agree there. i think the lifestyle focus (whether pro, con or matter of fact) detracts from the real issues that, if remedied, would benefit all sex workers.
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 pmInteresting
August 24th, 2008 at 12:24 amAn ex-prostitute actually wrote a book for aspiring sex workers on how to sell yourself. Since 2001, prostitution in Germany is no longer against public policy and has become a recognised profession. The author wants to encourage other prostitutes not to be ashamed of their profession and how to market themselves. A step in the right direction?
August 26th, 2008 at 9:15 amLeave a reply :