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this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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Asklemmy
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I want to live in a world where no one feels they are struggling so much that they need to turn to selling their body for sex.
However, I don't live in that world, so in the meantime I support sex workers, because sex work is work.
The men who use their services? That's a tougher nut to crack.
My partners brother is heavily mentally disabled and pushing 40, he's still very much like a child, but obviously does not have a child's libido. This man has never had an intimate interaction with a woman. He might never get the chance, he struggles to talk to women, even women who have similar issues as himself. I think sex workers could be beneficial for him, in the right context, for giving him intimacy he may otherwise never experience. I don't think he would ever think/know to pursue a sex worker, but I could be wrong. There's also the issue of his emotions began to be involved, which leads me to...
I'd be more worried about him finding OnlyFans and blowing through all his disability money each month instead of realizing he's not actually getting much out of such a "relationship." He's the kind of person who a parasocial relationship like that could really damage their already troubling mental health. The same thing could happen with a prostitute, but they are less likely to hang the relationships on fake social cues that say they care about you. He's not quite advanced enough to understand that these women are being paid to pretend to care, I don't think.
Also, there's other types of men who use these services I'm sure aren't a net positive. There are plenty of conservative men who already view a standard relationship as a sexual transaction (I take care of girl = she give me sex), so they're not far from viewing everything women with transactional already. Secondly, not only do the already view it as transactional, many of these conservative men turn to prostitutes because average women simply don't want to date them because of their horrible, outdated views on women's bodily autonomy. They are already angsty and moody because of women not wanting to date them, and they often are willing to take out their frustrations on the woman they paid to serve them. I see these men as not respecting and hurting the women they turn to for sex work.
Anyway, just some quick thoughts on the subject.
You see, that's the problem. You are implicitly devaluing sex work compared to other professions. You're not acknowledging that some people actually want to, and choose to do sex work. There's nothing wrong whatsoever with someone choosing prostitution, stripping, escort, etc.
Could you say your same statement about being a lawyer? A teacher? An engineer?
"I want to live in a world where no one feels they are struggling so much that they need to turn to being an engineer."
You see how weird that sounds? So why can you say it about sex work? Do you see how derisive you're being toward it as a profession? Funny that you say you're supportive while implying that what they're doing is a last resort...๐คฆโโ๏ธ
I get you point but I genuinely want to live in a world where people are not forced to turn to engineering.
I chose engineering, and when I started I loved it, but eventually I ended up working in places I didn't like, on jobs that made me feel dirty, but now I don't know any other way to maintain the lifestyle I'm accustomed to.
Have you thought about stripping?
Made you feel dirty physically or mentally?
Why not both?