Prostitution: why Swedes believe they got it right (targeting the men who pay for sex)

[LadyHawkAZ]

165. .

Why would we reject patriarchy in one context but argue for its continuance in another?

I don't know. You're the one suggesting it be continued, you'd have to tell me.

We have not rejected marriage. As I pointed out, we did not criminalize marriage or jail men for marrying women, or call women incompetent for marrying men. We gave women equal power within the institution and access to legal services, and criminalized abusive behaviors within the institution, changed the institutional power structure, in fact, without banning the institution itself or sanctioning the people who participate in it. Pretty much what I'm suggesting ought to happen with prostitution.

What do you reckon would happen if we suggested criminalizing weddings, and jailing any man who marries a woman?

Sexuality, male and female, is a gift, an essential human experience. It is profaned by turning it into a commodity. There is nothing misogynistic about that recognizing that simple truth. Turning any human experience and turning it into a product is profane.

Purity culture bullshit. Essential human experience, yes. "Gift" that is "profaned" when used outside your personal social norm, no. That's the ideology behind every slut-shamer in existence.

And there it is. Regulation exists to protect the men from the women, with no such measures to protect the women from the men.

JFC. The same measures that protect the customers also protect the workers. That's what condom laws are for- minimizing the risk of disease transmission, the same reason your doctor wears gloves. You insist on safety regulations for the sex industry, then you piss and moan about the regulations because they are also protecting people you don't like.

Also, you're still stuck in Heteronormativille on the planet Misogyny. Hey, guess what? Male prostitutes exist! They face the exact same health hazards that we women do, doing the same fucking job, taking the same risks for the same money. They even do that same yucky thing with the penis and the mouth that you seem to have so many issues with. If the local Firefighter's Union announced a program of special protections and concerns for male firefighters because there's more men in the industry, you'd be howling like a herd of coyotes. That's how I feel about you right now. If you're going to pretend you actually care about workers, then care about all of them. Not just the inferior wimmenz who need your superior male guidance. All of them. If you're not going to bother to do that, don't bother responding, because I actually do care about them all.

Bonus story from Sweden, where sex work is considered violence against women:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/12/swedish-study-male-sex-workers-twice-as-prevalent-as-female-ones/

Being available on demand is not the same thing as being free. I have video on demand through the cable box. It is not free.

You still have to pay for it and the cable company has to agree to provide it. If your credit's bad or you don't pay them, they won't. You can "demand" it all day long, but you won't get it without you paying them, and them agreeing to give it to you. You're not entitled to it by right. That actually is a pretty good analogy, although I doubt you meant it that way. Hopefully it hasn't "profaned" your viewing experience.

Very cute trick, citing a link from the pimps' lobby regarding Germany's experience with trafficking.

There was a direct link to the German federal police website included in the article, but the report was scrubbed. The numbers weren't made up, if that's what you're trying to imply.

The Rights Work Initiative.

The Rights Work Initiative – a project of the Program on Human Trafficking and Forced Labor at the American University Washington College of Law’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.
Addressing human trafficking and forced labor through independent research and debate.

This is the "pimp" in charge. Her name is Ann Jordan. She moonlights as an attorney specializing in anti-trafficking efforts, when she's not pimpin'.

I'd like to know what about that says "pimp's lobby" to you, I really would. Nice try. But as usual, a fail.