Porn for the Privileged: My Article About Sex Work at First Things

Last updated on: October 13, 2015 at 11:10 am by Melinda Selmys

Porn for the Privileged: My Article About Sex Work at First Things 2015-10-13T11:10:53-04:00 Melinda Selmys

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Years ago, when I was a young radical feminist, I recall marching in the annual Take Back the Night Rally in my hometown. We marched through the streets, occasionally stopping to shout slogans in front of various institutions which were considered bastions of male privilege. One of the stops on the route was always a local porn shop where we would chant, “Porn is the theory, rape is the practice.”

Today, less then twenty years later, the traditional feminist opposition to pornography, prostitution, and the exploitation of women’s sexuality for commercial purposes has been substantially eroded. A third wave feminist movement often referred to as “choice feminism” seeks to present “sex work” as a legitimate form of employment which can be empowering and contribute to women’s sexual liberation.

Choice feminism essentially represents the application of the logic of reproductive freedom to other aspects of women’s sexuality. Exactly the same rhetoric, “My body my choice,” is used to justify the claim that women should have the right to sell their sexuality if they so choose, and that whatever choices they make should be supported by feminists as a legitimate expression of their autonomy. Many go even further than this, claiming that the stigmatization of sex work is intimately bound up with patriarchal attempts to control women’s sexual behaviour and demonize women who enjoy sex or use their sexuality for their own benefit.

In portraying sex work as an “empowering choice,” third wave feminists tend to emphasize the experiences of a privileged minority (women who are involved in the production of “ethical porn” or who perform in peep shows for example) while downplaying the fact that these women represent an infinitesimally small percentage of the industry…

Read the rest at First Things.

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