The sex industry

When I first got the idea of writing about feminism, I had a number of issues in mind that I wanted to address in the twelve weeks of doing the project. I also had one issue that I decided I wouldn’t write on- the sex industry. The reason for this being that I felt my opinions were too divided for me to be able to provide any sort of useful take on the issue.

I had always thought that the sex industry (porn, prostitution, stripping and “escort services”) was simply an exploitation of women- nothing more. Then, for one of my classes last year, we had a lecture on it which changed my view.

In the lecture, we were told about how the sex industry is good for women- that it is all about women embracing their sexuality, holding power over men, and having fun. We watched clips of porn stars talking about how empowered they were and how they relished having the right to exercise their choice and use their sexuality to get them what they want.

In doing my own research for this blog, I also found a lot of support from sex workers for this view. 

“I do miss the work, because of the power I had over men, to control men as they are weak.... like hunters we prey our victims..."tricks".

“If you have no problem having sex with random men I would encourage you to do this. Have sex and get paid, duh! No brainer”

“Sex is one of the most important things in my life and I get paid for it. Great stuff!”

“There's nothing quite like those airport bars! Always a selection of unattached men who already have a hotel room handy. If you're discrete not a bad way to make a few dollars while enjoying your favorite hobby!”

After this I didn’t really know what to think. On one hand, I still felt like the women were being exploited, but on the other hand it seemed like the sex industry was helping to give power BACK to women.

My research also revealed a lot of firsthand accounts of “the dark side” of the sex industry.

“During my first encounter with prostitution he raped me and told me that no one would ever care because I was nothing but a "******" hooker now.  After that I entered a depression and began to use marijuana everyday and tried crack cocaine for a time.”

“Eventually, the glamour wore off for me and I found myself hating myself more than ever. I have always had issues with men, and thought that by getting paid for men to come and sleep with me- that I was in control of them finally. Well, in reality the money was in control of me and it just became a continuous cycle for 2 years. Besides the money there is nothing glamorous about being a prostitute (you never will be Julia Roberts in "Pretty woman"). I do have to say that I have come across some great clients, but the ******** and disgusting creeps by far outweigh that. It was never fun having to spread my legs or suck some older man off and be treated like a piece of **** for 2 years”

“I hate it. I find intercourse repulsive, especially by mouth (which clients want of me most of the time). I feel polluted.  I hate myself for selling my body, for turning into what they always said I was in order to escape from them”

Once again, The Equality Illusion (2010) also provided an interesting insight. Research has found that 68% of sex workers have post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their work. This rate is comparable to that of rape victims. As many as 82% of sex workers have been abused in childhood and  up to 70% of sex workers began working in the sex industry before the age of 18. Sadly, the cause of 50% of the deaths of sex workers is murder.

Kat Banyard also described the sex industry in the following way:

“A person (usually a man) can access a sexual interaction with someone (usually a woman) who doesn’t want to have it with him”

Finally, I’ve been able to make up my own mind: The women working in the sex industry aren’t doing so because they love sex. If that was the case, men wouldn’t have to pay them for it. Women are working in the sex industry because they need money, or drugs, and because they have been made to think that sex is the only thing that makes them worth something. Many, if not most, have survived horrific childhoods and abusive relationships. They turned to the sex industry to take back some of the power, only to find themselves more powerless than ever.

Many feminists support the sex industry because they support women making their own choices, but what they don’t acknowledge is that women caught in the trap of the sex industry really don’t have any choice. I feel like we’ve all been brainwashed to accept the view that the sex industry is a good thing for women and feminists alike- but I’m not buying it anymore.

 

Firsthand accounts were taken from http://www.experienceproject.com/group_stories.php?g=126452

Interesting links

Following on from my blog on victim-blaming, feminist website Ms Magazine has exposed the flaws in the FBI's definition of "rape"- read about it here.


Also on the victim-blaming theme, I found another article on the Ms Magazine website which dealt with a woman who was charged with making a false report after reporting a rape.


On a different note, a writer on Australian independent news website Crikey has also responded to an article printed on the Herald Sun website which suggested that women can't be funny. The original review (which has since been changed) can be read here and the Crikey response can be found here


Happy reading :)

In France earlier this week, a law came into effect banning people from covering their face in public. Of course, those who are most affected by this new law are those who wear the niqab.

For a feminist perspective on the issue, I recommend the following articles:

• http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/07/14/banning-the-veil-loving-the-face/
• http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/04/14/frances-sham-veil-ban/

I’m not an expert on religion so I don’t want to dig too deeply into the issue, but for the record- I don’t support the law. Although some may claim that the law is helping to restore freedom in the lives of these women, the reality is that it is taking away their right to make their own choices. It is also very likely that those women who have been forced to cover their face in public will no longer be allowed out of the house.

This is one case where legislating on women's rights (albeit implicitly) is wrong.

Victim blaming

There are two main issues that have been raised by the current Australian Defence Force scandal- victim blaming and the role of women in the defence force. I’ll address these issues separately beginning with the phenomenon of victim blaming.

In no other crime, other than crimes against women, is victim blaming so acceptable and so prominent. I can’t imagine reading about a murder and have the journalist or public contend that the deceased “should have been more careful”. So why then, is this the case in rape and sexual assault incidents?

Today’s society portrays violence as being an integral part of masculinity. Both violence and rape are seen to be innate biological drives of which a man has little control. As a result of this, women are lumped with all the responsibility. It is they who must be careful with what they wear, who they associate with, and what their body language may “suggest”. It doesn’t even need to be said that that if a woman chooses to drink she automatically looses all traces of credibility in they eyes of the media and the public if something does happen to her.

The current scandal plaguing the ADF involves the non-consensual filming and broadcasting of consensual sex. Many have jumped at the chance to blame the victim including Bob Ellis who wrote the following...

“Is the young man to be sacked from the army now, and ruined, or wounded, or bruised, perhaps, for life? Driven, perhaps, to suicide, as young army men so often are? Is his crime, of going along with an undergraduate prank, so great?

Is the young woman, moreover, to be named, and acclaimed, and promoted, and hereafter entrusted with frontline command on some field of battle? Who would trust her in any high army position? Who would be sure she was truthful? Or sound of judgment? Or loyal? Or reliable under fire?”^

All this does is expose this society for what it really is: downright unequal.

Not in this case or any other should the victim be automatically be judged to be at fault. Instead, the blame should rest entirely on the person who commits the crime.

Research by the British government has found that 36% of people think that the victim should be held at least partially responsible for being raped if she was drinking, and 26% think she is to blame if she was wearing sexy clothes*. It is myths like these that are behind the reason for so many rapists walking free from prosecution and why many more rapes go unreported.

Finally, the claim that men are not in control of their urges can easily be debunked. Research has found that 55% of rapists can be classified as “power rapists”- those who use rape as a demonstration of their masculinity. 40% are “anger rapists” who intend to hurt and humiliate their victim*. Rape doesn’t happen because men are not in control, it happens because they want to prove that they are in control by dominating women with their “masculinity”.

If our society is as free and equal as so many think, people wouldn’t be blaming victims and defending rape as being something natural and uncontrollable that women need to protect themselves from. Until these kinds of crimes are dealt with properly equality is still far beyond our reach.

If you’re interested in tracking the ADF cadet sex scandal that has been unfolding over the past few days, I’ve found the following link to be very helpful: http://www.news.com.au/features/adfa/defence-force-cadet-scandal-senior-officers-accused-of-male-rape/story-fn8eum6d-1226036914555

^ The full article can be read here: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/56470.html

*As cited in The Equality Illusion, Kat Banyard, 2010

On my way to the supermarket...

About an hour ago I was walking down my street by myself on the way to the supermarket. Being a Sunday, the street was quiet and empty, except for a group of four men in their thirties standing in a group around the footpath. As I walked past, every one of them turned and very obviously “checked me out”.

I can’t even begin to tell you how scared and vulnerable I felt. In my own street, just minutes from my house I was terrified.

I’m not going to deny that I don’t look at men but I have NEVER made an intentionally obvious effort to look at someone like that. I have never wolf whistled at someone and I have never called out lewd comments to someone.

I’m nothing special, but these things happen to me all the time.

Once, a boy no older than nine standing with his MOTHER yelled to me at a crowded train station “nice legs lovey, what time do they open?”

It is this sort of harassment that works to convince girls that they are intrinsically weak, that they need protection, and they will only ever be ok when they have a husband to look after them.

I am sick of being too scared to be alone in public. I am sick of being too scared to be outside after dark. And I am REALLY sick of people thinking that I should be taking this harassment as some sort of a compliment. Why should I? It was never intended as a compliment and it certainly didn’t make me feel good.

Apart from making me feel vulnerable, all this harassment does is remind me how blind people are to the inequalities in our society. Shouldn’t I have the same right to feel safe as any man does? Shouldn’t I be admired for the fact I actually have some sort of intellectual capacity rather than for the fact I happen to wear a DD bra?

Girls are being taught to enjoy this disgusting attention and are learning that being something to be looked at is all that they will ever be good for. Even nine year old boys are learning to see women as nothing but objects (what the HELL was that boys’ mother THINKING?).

The people who keep denying the existence of sexism in Australia in 2011 obviously aren’t looking for it because it is everywhere. It’s not just in my street- it’s in their street, and their homes, and their workplaces. Until people start opening their eyes to this, women still won’t be able to go to the supermarket without having to come home and blog about it.

As I’ve addressed previously, the developed world suffers from a severe lack of females in boardrooms and top company positions. While much of this can be attributed to the ‘mens club’ mentality of many work places, it is also important to consider why many women don’t even try to break through the glass ceiling.

Because it is women who are responsible for the bulk of domestic duties and childcare it is they who are most often faced with the impossible decision: Career or family? Their answer to this question often leaves them without a glass ceiling to break though.

As a twenty year old student with dreams of a postgraduate-level education and a highly demanding career as a clinical psychologist I am already dreading the stage of my life where this choice arises. I don’t want to give up having a family but I don’t want to throw my expensive education and passion for psychology down the drain either.

The obvious solution to my and almost every other women's problem is flexibility. But how much will flexibility really help if it isn’t met with a change in attitude by those in the workplace?

Currently, those who choose to work part-time aren’t considered to be serious about their careers and are often looked over when it comes to promotions. There is also an inflexibility in working hours that women have to struggle with that holds them back even further. This is all in spite of the research which shows employers who are more open to different working hours and even the possibility of working from home are actually rewarded with more productive and higher performing staff*. The cost and availability of childcare is also an issue for many families and is yet another reason why nearly 50% of women give up their careers for lower-paying, lower-status jobs*.

In order to achieve real equality and give women the chance to enjoy a successful career whilst also raising a family, employers need to learn to value the benefits that women can bring to a business. Legislating on this issue would also help.

I’m not arguing that women should be given special rights over men, because I don’t think we should be. But I think that it needs to be recognised that women face a whole range of issues in getting employment which impact on everyone. Not only do businesses lose out but so too do the children involved. In the UK, a mothers low income is the source of 70% of child poverty.

Isn’t it time to look at the bigger picture? This isn’t about whinging, selfish women- gender inequality affects everyone.

*As cited in The Equality Illusion, Kat Banyard 2010