Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 10:21:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: M-FEM: Queer Kids and the...Libertarianism/Individualism


Tracy wrote:

> The tendency to treat this as a *feminist* issue is regarded, in the
> international movement, as a prime example of American cultural
> imperialism -- because feminism is such a strong ideology in the US (and
> Canada). 

> This is work -- or business -- and it's time to treat it that way.
> Feminist arguments about sex work have a tendency to turn the issue into
> a psychological one, with the focus on image and emotion.

It depends on what kind of feminism you're looking at.  "Feminism" is not
some kind of a unified movement or area of endeavor; there are different
feminisms.  I agree with you that the important sex-work issues are labor
issues.  To the extent to which this type of labor is predominantly done
by women, this labor issue is also a feminist issue.  The fact that the
kind of feminism that is most vocal in the US approaches the issue from
the perspective of "image and emotion" is hardly surprising -- it is rooted
in the ideology of the status quo. 

-m