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Self-published at Portland Indymedia, this essay serves as the front page of a website I created specifically as a standing feminist action, www.spreademism.com.
spread'emism (spread-them-ism), n. 1.
the misleading idea that women can fuck and get fucked into
political, academic and social equality with men via prostitution and
pornography.
“It’s up to you”: Prostitution, Censorship and Sweden
There's
a lot for liberals to like about Sweden. With 40% of its parliament
women and gender equality on the front burner politically, it's as
close to a feminist nation as anywhere. But the title of this essay
mentions prostitution and censorship and I know that's what you're
waiting for, so we'll return to the fair land of Sweden shortly. For
now, I would like to share with you a new magazine appearing in leftie
bookshops called $pread (yes, that's a dollar sign), a magazine that promotes prostitution as an empowering and satisfying career for women.
I heard about the new magazine when news of a benefit the New York City Radical Cheerleaders were participating in to pay for $pread's
first issue reached me. I wrote a letter to the Radical Cheerleaders
asking them to reconsider lending their capitalism-critiquing
performances to a pro-capitalism magazine encouraging men to rent the
insides of women's bodies for masturbatory entertainment. When I got an
email reply from the editor of $pread my first thought started with a question mark, because I did not write a letter to $pread but to the Radical Cheerleaders. Turns out the pro-capitalism entrepreneurs of $pread
moonlight as anti-capitalism Radical Cheerleaders to raise money for
themselves without disclosing this synergistic relationship.
A
small exchange between editor “Mary Christmas” and I followed, ending
in a request to use my original letter to the Radical Cheerleaders in
the magazine's first issue. Mary claimed, “It's up to you,” but when I
refused permission she decided it wasn't really up to me after all and
published it anyway, crediting my writings to “Cindy” and deleting key
points of the original letter.
Here's
where progressive paradise Sweden re-enters the scene. When parts of
the letter to the Radical Cheerleaders were published against my
wishes, my support for the Swedish model of decriminalizing
prostitution and a link to information about that model were left out.
In 1999, Sweden passed a law removing all criminal penalties for
prostituted women while directing increased attention to predatory men
seeking economically coerced sex. Recognizing prostitution is not a
career for women but systematic sexual violence, Sweden has seen
tremendous results in the few years since the law was implemented.
The
increased spotlight on men who use prostitutes has reduced the number
of Swedish men soliciting, and the law extends outside the country's
borders so that Swedish men on sex tours in Southeast Asia can be
prosecuted. No longer powerless against pimps and traffickers,
prostituted women have turned abusers in and are taking advantage of
social services set up to help them transition out of prostitution.
The
Swedish model is reducing the harms of prostitution in ways Dutch and
German legalization have so far failed to accomplish. Trafficking into
the Netherlands and Germany has increased since legalization, as has
child prostitution, because fanning the capitalist flames of men's
demand for prostitutes increases the supply of bodies needed to meet
increased demands. This evidence has been meticulously collected over
the years and so-called “sex workers rights” groups know legalization
hasn't delivered on its promises. Only 200 of an estimated 25,000 sex
workers in Amsterdam are in the sex worker union Red Thread, and only
100 of an estimated 400,000 sex workers in Germany joined the service
union ver.di.
Sweden's success scares
pimps, traffickers and other sexual capitalists. It scares them out of
Sweden, where the increased risks for traffickers led to a decrease in
the number of bodies trafficked there. Solid figures on underground
criminal activities are notoriously hard to come by, but in just five
years there have been noticeable positive changes and 80% of Swedish
people, not known to be conservative prudes, are pleased with the law's
outcomes.
The editors of $pread
knew I was against arresting prostitutes when my support for the
Swedish model of decriminalized prostitution was made clear. This did
not stop them from suggesting that I, excuse me “Cindy”, want to see
prostitutes arrested. The Swedish model scares them not senseless, but
to censor. It's not senseless for capitalists to defend their profit
source against burgeoning civil rights. In the 50's and 60's some black
business owners organized against desegregation knowing once black
people could freely choose to shop and eat at white-owned businesses
they would no longer be forced to buy from black-owned businesses and
profits would drop. They lost their fight to keep a personally
profitable result of social inequality intact and racial equality has
moved ahead because of it. The sexual capitalists who feel it necessary
to censor away proof of Sweden's success in reducing gendered
inequality will ultimately lose their fight holding back progress in
women's sexual autonomy. As ever, Sweden will lead the way.
To read the brief, unedited email exchange between Mary Christmas and myself, go to www.spreademism.com/exchange.htm
S.M. Berg
Contact me at spreademism(at)yahoo.com
Copyright © by genderberg.com All Right Reserved. Published on: 2006-01-04 (2326 reads) [ Go Back ] |
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