Date: Sun, 27 Jul 1997 16:54:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tracy Quan <quan-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: M-FEM: Prostitution



On Sun, 27 Jul 1997, Renate Bridenthal wrote:

>    Libertarianism, by the way, -- the philosophy ascribed to the sex-work
> organizer in one post -- overlooks unequal power relations in society.

Fair enough, Renate -- but if you had read my original comments without
being told I was a libertarian, I wonder if you would put a different spin
on them? Just asking. 

As it happens, there is a significantly left-leaning tendency in the sex
workers movement. The "sex worker left" does not generally view the
exchange of sex for money as a special case; in fact, the agenda of those
activists is simply to increase the power of sex workers, particularly the
least affluent. They tend to be in favor of things like applying OSHA
standards to topless clubs, porn parlors and brothels.  They don't
exoticize one form of labor just because it's sexual -- it's all labor to
them.

> The glassy-eyed "performers" I saw in a porn
> parlor come from a different setting than the call girl turned writer.

How do you know? What assumptions are we making about call girls, writers,
and peep show performers. No need to put performers in quotes, btw. Sex
work's a form of performance, no doubt about it. Please share about your
visit to the porn parlor -- I am curious to know what you saw and what you
thought.

-- Tracy