Correcting the record on sex work

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This is a version of the letter to the editor the New York Times chose not to publish because what does it matter what sex workers think about sex work?

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The article "OnlyFans Is Not a Safe Platform for ‘Sex Work.’ It’s a Pimp." contains a lie in the second sentence. Porn does not desensitize the average consumer to violence. In fact, porn consumption correlates with decreased violence against women. She's also lying when she claims “Most women enter the sex industry underage." Most women enter sex work as adults.

It’s dehumanizing, misogynistic, and sex-negative to refer to “people used in prostitution and pornography” if you’re not going to refer to “people used in Amazon warehouses.” 

I'd also love to know who Mackinnon is to define sex, work, or dignity for me or anyone else? Perhaps she doesn't realize that literally every job requires allowing the people paying you to determine what you do with your body. 

To believe no woman could possibly meaningfully consent to sex work requires believing sex is magic rather than one of the many things (like giving massages or making lattes) that one can use their bodies to do for money. 

I like cleaning my own apartment for free but I do not want to clean anyone else’s space for money. Most janitors have to work to survive. Yet I’m not claiming janitorial services is inherently exploitative and janitors didn’t consent to the work because I respect them as adults. There’s no reason whatsoever to condescend to sex workers because you don’t want to do sex work. Every day billions of people do things they don’t want to for money.

If you actually want to reduce oppression rather than work out your own trauma on sex workers you need to give workers MORE choices, not fewer. The evidence is extremely clear that criminalizing and stigmatizing sex work and porn makes it more dangerous for everyone involved and the best way to fight trafficking, violence, and STIs is to fully decriminalize all forms of adult consensual sex work.