Classism is another social structure that continues to complicate matters when dealing with street/outdoor sex workers in limiting their agency. “… Popular discourse continues to portray homelessness as a social problem affecting a certain type of person, rather than an economic one related to housing affordability (Lazarus 1601)”. These classist ideas that the poor or the homeless is a problem only affecting a certain type of person instead of a larger social problem is the kind of thinking that causes the stigma for sex workers. Street/ Outdoor sex workers are thought as “lazy and we can’t get jobs, or we can’t get into the workforce (Jeffrey 144)”, when in fact there are a lot more behind why they “can’t” get a “normal” job because of stigma …show more content…
Gender brings a lot into the discussion because on average most sex workers are women and are the ones being discriminated against with the stigma of their gender. Women in the sex work have to deal with the stigma of being a woman in a male society as well as having the sex worker stigma attached to everything else. “Is prostitution someone like myself standing on a corner getting paid, or am I the housewife that’s home getting paid every Thursday from my husband, for cleaning the house, taking care of his sexual needs, looking after the kids, and going grocery shopping (Jeffrey 145)”? The problem is here that there is no way of getting away from stigma, the prostitute or the housewife? Either is a stigma that limits your agency, either has the power to tell you that you can’t do this or you can’t do that, and you could be either or both all at the same time and have both stigmas limiting your agency. This happens when being and women and being a sex worker is a double ended sword, you can get hurt and disempowered at every …show more content…
When looking at all multiple ways to be oppressed the deck is incredibly stacked against these street/outdoor sex workers and the stigma seems like they have little or virtually no agency. With these we get a lot of talk around how to save these sex workers rather than what can we do give them more of a voice? What can we do to give them more agency within their lives and within their jobs?
The sex worker is mainly viewed as the source of the problem rather than as someone denied rights or agency. The issues raised by sex workers – gendered and ageist economic structures, violence (particularly by clients), police harassment, health, and stigma – are seldom raised in paper. Or rather they are, it is the expectation rather than the norm and they are not presented form the sex worker’s point of view. (Jeffrey 158)
We need to start looking at the bigger problems of society as the problems rather than looking for a scapegoat in sex workers.
Frances, S. (2012). Sex work and the law: A critical analysis of four policy approaches to adult prostitution . Thinking about justice: a book of readings (pp. 190-220). Halifax, N.S.: Fernwood Pub..
The 1990 romantic comedy, Pretty Woman, is a popular film that represents several aspects of feminism through the character of Vivian Ward, a prostitute who experiences a change in social class when she meets corporate businessman, Edward Lewis. The film demonstrates society's placement of sex workers and the inequalities they face in everyday life due to the stigma and generalizations of the whole sex industry. I argue that the film Pretty Woman addresses the issues in society of the marginalization of sex workers and the high stigmatization that is associated with acts of sex work. In addition, through the character of Vivian, it is emphasized that sex workers have agency and empowerment of their own desires. I believe Vivian’s strong sense
People need to work together just like they did to end slavery, when everyone sees this as wrong there is nothing that can stop the demise of sex trafficking. In many communities “[people] can turn on the TV now and see pimps glamorized in TV shows, music videos, and movies”(Frundt). In the communities, people see the aspects of sex trafficking as glamorous and they don’t realise that it is a type of slavery and the girls are miserable. If communities can work together to eliminate this issue, this modern slavery can be eliminated altogether because people won’t allow for it to continue in their communities. The way that sex trafficking is viewed directly affects how it exist because with communities working together to end it there will be no where for it to continue. Certain communities are accepting of this slavery and only care about protecting themselves. If communities like these can be changed, it will allow for them to mitigate the effects of sex trafficking and this will make it simpler for the officials to do their jobs. A major proponent for the end of sex trafficking believes that “trafficking starts in a community, and can be stopped by a community”(UN Chronicle). Communities influence the people in them and these communities are what allow sex trafficking to exist, but they are also what can end it. If communities work towards this goal they can brand
Lucy Stone orates, “Is it a wonder that women are driven to prostitution?” (382), as an attempt to show that because females are restrained from high paying jobs favored by men, they are put in conditions that force them to ignore morality. The female’s values are being thrown away to gain money and support their families. These values that have been set by society can get pushed to the side as well because they are prioritizing their families first. Still, none of that would occur if they had the rights to pursue a specific career and earn a place in the workfield. Lucy Stone’s audience acknowledges the self esteem and state of mind women share when deprived of their rights. They realize how horrific it is for a woman to be forced to sell her intimacy simply because she is not allowed to work. Pushing aside her morals and values because she does not have the rights she should have since birth, will make her feel futile and helpless. Lucy Stone’s appeal to pathos convinces the audience to hold sympathy and feel for the women resorting to
== == Throughout the UK and internationally, the issue of prostitution is seen as an ever-increasing problem. For the purpose of this assignment I will concentrate on the issue of prostitution within the United Kingdom. There has been a marked rise in the incidence of street prostitution since the 1980s and a growth in the proportion of intravenous drug users involved in street prostitution. In Glasgow, police estimate that ar... ...
As prostitution is criminalized, this profession is driven underground which undermines the safety of prostitutes. Legalizing prostitution would provide sex workers with regulatory protection and allow this form of work to be recognized as legitimate. As the author of “Think Again: Prostitution” states, “evidence shows, that criminalization of sale or purchase (or both) makes sex workers-many of whom come from marginalized social groups like women, minorities, and the poor-more vulnerable to violence and discrimination committed by law enforcement. Also, criminalization can dissuade sex workers from seeking help from authorities if they are raped, trafficked, or otherwise abused.” Therefore, sex workers are subjected to unfair treatment that could be prevented if this work was legalized and safe conditions were enforced. The author of "Counterpoint: Prostitution Should Be Legalized” states, “prostitution is legalized and regulated in a variety of developed nations throughout ...
International human rights lawyer Dianne Post has described the institution of prostitution as founded on the principle of “structural inequality by gender, class and race”, in essence painting sex work as the exploitation women of low economic standing merely because they are desperate enough to perform it (Datta & Post 3). Admittedly, sex work is a primarily female profession, though the Internet has lead to growing populations of transgender and male sex workers from the most liberal areas, such as California, to the most restrictive, like South Africa (Minichiello, Victor, Scott, and Callander), but there is simply to little data discussing these population groups to draw any definite conclusions. Where Post loses sight of her larger argument, that women should be treated as equals, is when she decidedly paints women as the victims of prostitution. This argument has blatant hypocrisy in that it ignores the fact that the majority of women participating in sex work are not trafficked sex slaves, but women willingly exchanging money for sexual acts, who are capable of facing the consequences of these actions. In fact, it is an extension of this argument that assumes that women cannot be held responsible for their actions that constitutes one of the primary failings of the Nordic
I chose this research project because it appealed to me. I wanted to know how criminalization’s of sex work or prostitutions were causing structural violence in society. This presentation itself proved to be interesting in the sense that it goes against what my friends and I were thinking. I always thought that criminalizing sex work was a beneficiary for the society because that would stop the flow of HIV as well as other STI’s between sex worker populations. I never realized that it had the opposite the effect, and instead of being a beneficiary, it caused high-risk environments as well as even more ease to find a sex worker. At first, I thought that this research project was going to be about how the “Criminalization of Sex Work” was going to be about how Sex workers stopped working due to the criminalization, however as I came across it, it was the complete opposite and that grabbed my attention and made me curious, and now I completely understand why it was viewed as structural violence. The focus of this research project was to demonstrate to us that the policing of sex work do...
Sanders, Teela, Maggie O’Neil, and Jane Pitcher. Prostitution: Sex Work, Policy, and Politics. London: SAGE, 2009. eBook Collection. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
Females are targeted more than males due to their vulnerability, position as being lower than men, and the sexual preferences of society. Many cultures view woman as a possession used for sex and they do not have sexual rights to her own body. “Exploitative employers prefer to use trafficked women—traditionally seen as submissive, cheap, and pliable—for simple and repetitive tasks in agriculture, food processing, labor-intensive manufacturing, and domestic servitude” (US Department of State).
On another note, activist also believe that clients of sex workers can be targeted, chances are that it could be them more so than sex workers. “For instance, in Sweden Norway and Iceland, it is illegal to buy sexual services, but not to sell them; it is said that the client has committed a crime, but not the prostitute.”
Sex work has long been criticized and stigmatized in our society. Whereas several members of society read sex work as immoral and degrading to girls, feminist argue that sex work is basically simply work, which it's not essentially harmful to girls. beneath circumstances within which sex work is accepted and controlled in society, within which the sex employee is protected and granted an equivalent rights as the other laborer, sex work has the chance to be helpful to girls.
Prostitution is the occupational service where sexual acts are exchanged for payment. Opinions of prostitution have changed drastically over the course of half a century, and are being debated worldwide. Prostitution is a very controversial topic, however there are claims that legalizing prostitution could create an overall safer environment, not only for the sex workers but the rest of society. There has been many alterations in prostitution laws and enforcement practices in several countries. Many nations have created new laws or intensified existing penalties for prostitution-related offences such as soliciting sex, purchasing sex, or pimping. Some other societies are experimenting with policies that securitize prostitution.The claims proposing these regulations are important because they are directly opposed to both the conventional benefits of prostitution and the specific allegations of anti-prostitution crusaders. In Canada and the UK, the exchange of sex for money is not illegal. However, the activities that go along with prostitution are criminal offences.“In March 2012, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a ban on establishments for the purposes of prostitution, which effectively makes street prostitution illegal. In the US, most jurisdictions, prostitution, solicitation, or agreeing to engage in an act of prostitution are classified as illegal. With the exception of licensed brothels in certain areas in Nevada. In the Netherlands,prostitution was legalized in the mid-1800s but it wasn’t until recently, the 1980s sex work became a legal profession. Restrictions on brothels and pimping were lifted in October 2000 and the industry is now securitized by labour law. Prostitutes are registered as legal workers....
Since prostitution has been around there have been labels and stigmas behind the workers, their morals and the job itself. Leaving these men and women to be rejected rights, health care, insurance, etc. Weitzer observes, “[i]nstead of viewing themselves as ‘prostituted,’ they may embrace more neutral work identities, such as ‘working women’ or ‘sex workers’ […] These workers are invisible in the discourse of the anti-prostitution crusade precisely because their accounts clash with abolitionist goals.” Weitzer is hinting at the fact that these women and men see themselves as workers too, deserving of workers rights and protection, just as you and I would expect. But they are declined help and benefits because of the stigma following their line of work, based on societal values.
This essay will explore the question of whether prostitution should be seen as a job like any other through several key issues relating to the sex trade industry. The argument against prostitution as a job for women will be supported by various feminist theories. By following the discourse of prostitution as a chosen profession by women and the implication of the choice in the society, this essay will provide academic findings in answering the key issues in the sex workers profession. This essay will discuss the politics of women’s choice through prostitution and how feminist views have influenced it. The moral aspects of prostitution will be highlighted as well. The relationship of violence and abuse with prostitution is another key findings