Ninth Carnival of Feminists, and a little exploration of the prostitution debate

I have yet to wade my way through the amazing Ninth Carnival of Feminists, put together by Winter Woods at the wonderful feminist blog from Cardiff, Mind the Gap, but I wanted to draw it to people's attention it because it is an incredible collection of posts - yet again.

My favourite, so far, is a brief post by Laurelin in the Rain entitled The Patriarchy Phrasebook. Like many of the commenters, I felt the most empathy with this particular translation:

Patriarchy: ‘Smile, love!’
Translation: ‘Why are you not deferential to my masculinity?’

I have experienced this one, or close variations on the theme, on countless occasions and it never fails to both irritate and baffle me. My irritation should be fairly self-explanatory. My confusion is based on my inability to understand how some guys appear to believe that although I have either never met them, or barely know them, my primary concern for the day is whether or not they find me attractive and pleasing. Where did this belief come from? Is this really the message that society as a whole is sending them?

Another post in the Carnival that I had actually stumbled across earlier through a link from Kate's blog is a post from Mad Sheila Musings about Why WA shouldn't legalise prostitution. This post was one that I wanted to write about earlier, but was sort of reluctant, because I think that the issue is really complicated. In brief, though, I have to say that I can't agree with Alyx, over a MSM, despite my sympathy for her concerns about the messages that are being propagated about women within the sex industry.

My primary reason for disagreeing with Alyx is that I think that criminalising prostitution will not make it go away, but will rather drive it underground - meaning that sex workers (both male and female) will be subjected to more abuse, harassment and unsafe working conditions than they would in a legal and regulated work environment. It is for this reason that I would whole-heartedly support the legalisation of prostitution. Beyond this, however, I am less confident about what I think.

Additional arguments around the issue of prostitution range from women (often sex workers) who argue that sex work is a legitimate choice that ought to be respected and even be considered liberating for women to those that argument that prostitution is never a choice that is freeing made by women, but is rather always something that is forced upon women and always exploitative.

One example of the first perspective is that of the Scarlet Alliance, an Australia organisation that

aims to achieve equality, social, legal, political, cultural and economic justice for past and present workers in the sex industry, in order for sex workers to be self-determining agents, building their own alliances and choosing where and how they work.

The Scarlet Alliance has been doing excellent work with Australian and International sex worker's unions in promoting the rights of sex workers, and in campaigning with governments to draft legislation that strikes a good balance between balancing the rights of sex workers, while protecting vulnerable people who may be forced into sex work either through trafficking or other forms of coercion.

I have a lot of respect for the work that they do, and a lot of respect for sex workers who demand the right to safe working conditions and for people to respect their life choices and their agency in making those choices. However, I am also a little uncomfortable with the idea of sex work being considered in any way 'liberating', and believe that while it is necessary to respect people's life choices, it is also important to recognise the constraints under which they made those choices and to question whether they would have made the same choices under difference circumstances.

I guess, ultimately, I feel similarly about prostitution as I do about abortion. I think that the right of women to choose what it is that they do with their bodies should always be respected. To not respect their choices is patronising and paternalistic. However, I also think that both choices have the potential to be harmful to women (and society, in some cases) and that far more effort should also be made to alter the circumstances that constrain women's choices. In the case of prostitution, this would include better educational and training opportunities for women (and men), as well as greater access to employment (which would include employment overseas for some women who end up being trafficked while seeking out better opportunities internationally). In the case of abortion, this would include increased access to affordable childcare, more flexible work environments, paid maternity leave, greater levels of support from partners in the home, and a more supportive society (i.e., less demonisation of single mothers and welfare recipients).

That said, even with all of these changes, I would still respect the right of women to continue to make their own choices about their bodies. There are so many factors that go into determining whether something is right for you, and to assume that someone else is in a better position to make that decision on your behalf is fundamentally patronising.

Rant over.