genderberg.com

This was posted over at LJ anti-porn.

Prostitution - not sexy, not glamourous but soul and body destroying:

http://collegecallgirl.blogspot .com/2007/08/price.html

Have you read some of the comments?

I saw them after I posted this - vile.

The thing is its blokes with attitudes like theirs who use prostitutes in the first place. The sooner they start getting prosecuted for it the better.

The thing is its blokes with attitudes like theirs who use prostitutes in the first place. The sooner they start getting prosecuted for it the better.

I was tempted to make a comment re this, but then I thought what's the fucking point.

Though yeah the sooner they get prosecuted for it the better. Hopefully wipe the sneer off their faces when it's the John demonised.

I skimmed all the comments. Whew! Besides the misogynistic comments, vmarinelli's comment stood out to me:

Victoria Marinelli said...
I read a lot of stuff by women who've been in/are in the sex trade, and I rarely read anything between the extremes of "prostitution is violence against women" and "sexwork is so empowering, rah rah rah!". Looks like you've worked really hard to find/articulate that middle ground, that uncomfortable and difficult-to-categorize truth. Kudos. Brave and powerful words here that make a difference.

vmarinelli, I agree that collegecallgirl had a great entry. what did you mean by "extremes of 'prostitution is violence against women'"? Why'd you put the word "extreme" there? Sometimes when I get in arguments with people, I say, "Prostitution is violence against women", then the argument spins outta control as usual. Should I take away from this comment that I SHOULD NOT say, "prostitution is violence against women"? I don't mean to be argumentative in this post, but I guess I felt defensive when I read your post. Is it because when people say "prostitution is violence against women", it takes "agency" away from the woman in prostitution? Or are both "sides" of the issue true to some degree, but collegecallgirl articulated that middle ground, and that's why you said that?

So I went and posted a comment to the same effect over there. It needed to be said. Johns need to know that there are people on their case.

bluecoat28 wrote:I skimmed all the comments. Whew! Besides the misogynistic comments, vmarinelli's comment stood out to me:

Victoria Marinelli said...
I read a lot of stuff by women who've been in/are in the sex trade, and I rarely read anything between the extremes of "prostitution is violence against women" and "sexwork is so empowering, rah rah rah!". Looks like you've worked really hard to find/articulate that middle ground, that uncomfortable and difficult-to-categorize truth. Kudos. Brave and powerful words here that make a difference.

vmarinelli, I agree that collegecallgirl had a great entry. what did you mean by "extremes of 'prostitution is violence against women'"? Why'd you put the word "extreme" there? Sometimes when I get in arguments with people, I say, "Prostitution is violence against women", then the argument spins outta control as usual. Should I take away from this comment that I SHOULD NOT say, "prostitution is violence against women"? I don't mean to be argumentative in this post, but I guess I felt defensive when I read your post. Is it because when people say "prostitution is violence against women", it takes "agency" away from the woman in prostitution? Or are both "sides" of the issue true to some degree, but collegecallgirl articulated that middle ground, and that's why you said that?

Without putting words in vmarinelli's fingertips, that statement--"the two extremes"--is common parlance used to outline the two ends of the spectrum of the argument. It's a strange concept that "prostitution is violence against women" can be posited as an "extreme" idea. However, since it's a firmly stated position that leaves no room for going wobbly or compromising to find a middle ground, it is put at the end of the spectrum and most people have some "middle position" such as "prostitution can be a violent experience for some individual women," the proper perspective is thus often portrayed as an extreme.

Delphyne you are right of course and I’ve just wrote a comment stating the same.

It's interesting that it took while for either of us to gear ourselves up to say something, annared, when the misogynists had no such self-censoring or self-silencing mechanism. They are perfectly confident that their point of view deserves to be aired and heard.

On the other hand I was feeling if I said something like that there I would be grinding an axe or be regarded as an extremist.

eta: your post over there made me cry anna. I'm all over the place at the moment.

It is interesting Delphyne as I also had to gee my self up to respond to that utter hatred. Though yes it just spews from the misogynists effortlessly and without any capacity for humaneness.