I didn’t comment on Scott Lemieux’s taking me out of context here; we all do that kind of thing when we’re scanning blog posts, looking for something to comment on, and I assume Scott didn’t intend to misread me. Now Amanda Marcotte, reading Scott’s post, has decided that I am “arguing that prostitution is about women who love sex so much they want to make it a career.” (Ann Friedman quotes Amanda at Feministing.)* Neither of them links the original post. Allow me to repeat myself:
Criminalizing prostitution contributes to, rather than mitigates, limiting assumptions about the role of women. As practiced under prohibition, it is an ugly and often brutal business that leads to all sorts of terrible outcomes for the women involved. It would be bizarre if this were not the case, given that we have collectively stigmatized the selling of sex, raising the reputational cost of sex work to near-intolerable levels for most people. It’s a last option because we made it that way, and we shouldn’t be surprised when marginalized activities attract those with few other choices. When working at all was shameful for women, it was the poor women who took jobs. To have said, at that point, “allowing women to work leads to bad outcomes” would have been morally obtuse.
Just as the drug war contributes to the broadly held assumption that young black men are inherently violent and must be restrained, the criminalization of sex work reinforces the idea that sexually active women are damaged and deranged. In both cases, the activities themselves are surrounded by all manner of tragedy, abuse, and violence. In neither case is the liberal humanitarian policy response: Ban it harder, further reinforcing our worst assumptions about entire classes of people.
I know it’s tempting to turn actual people into straw (wo)men, probably more so when those people are libertarians. But there is absolutely no way to read this post and take, as the point, “prostitution is about women who love sex.” Prostitution is work, plain and simple, and often work taken up by the poorest and least advantaged–people who have nothing left to sell. And yet it remains true that laws against prostitution, which single out sexually active women for punishment, reinforce many of the vicious , autonomy-reducing gender norms Ann, Amanda and I spend day after day railing against. If we’re interested in easing the force of those norms, we should be extremely critical of policies that support their existence.
*This post originally attributed Ann Friedman’s post to Jessica Valenti; apologies.
A correction to your post: My co-blogger Ann cited your post – not me. In addition, Ann didn’t write anything about your piece; she simply quoted Amanda.
Whoops, thanks Jessica.
Np!
I think everything you’re saying in this post and your earlier post is spot on!
That liberal bloggers are cynically twisting your words (OMG – she said that there are prostitutes like sex – ewwww! gross!) doesn’t diminish their truth and their power. It says far more about the liberal left’s sexual hang-ups and sexism (yes, sexism, or why would the issue of women, patriarchy and our sexual freedom get anyone but the Right upset?) than it does about anything you’re saying.
Please keep the discussion of women embracing their sexuality and sexual autonomy going. I think it’s a very important one and you clearly have something valuable to contribute to it.
Well you haven’t arrived until Amanda Marcotte has taken you out of context and lied about what you said.
So congratulations. Instead of being annoyed you should be thankful you had a part in advancing Marcotte’s career, and undoubtedly the smear of your post helped all womankind.
[...] I also want to give Kerry Howley a chance to respond to a quote about prostitutes that may just “love…. She definitely does not want anyone to think she’s under the misimpression that prostitution [...]
Now Amanda Marcotte…
“Nuff said.
This woman sees the whole world through the twisted lens of what passes for modern-day feminism. In her world, women are always the victims. In her world, there could NEVER be prositutes that like their job.
It’s the PATRIARCHY!!!!