Further entrenching the status quo

My sister just wrote a post about how diversity isn't enough. She's saying that diversity is wonderful and important, and I totally agree. But she's saying that diversity in-and-of-itself is not THE most important thing, that THE most important thing has something to do with a system that enriches the rich at the expense of the poor. I couldn't agree more.

$pread is a best-of anthology of articles written by sex workers. It's my favorite book I've ever read on the topic, probably because it's by sex workers and not by law enforcement. I mean, it's all propaganda all the way down. Movies like Tricked are propaganda for law enforcement and $pread is propaganda for sex workers. But where law enforcement propaganda is universally and transparently self serving, totally misrepresenting and misunderstanding the very people they're trying to "help" and always including a message about how important it is to hire yet more police officers, $pread rings much more honestly. After reading that book, I invented a question to see if people knew the first thing about sex work, and therefore whether or not I should bother paying attention to their opinions on the matter.

Question. What do sex workers all around the world want most?

Accurate representation in the media! Just kidding. Sure that's important, but not THAT important. Sex workers never had the best media. Better law enforcement! I mean yeah, that'd be nice. I get the distinct impression law enforcement is typically about hunting sex workers and then acting like they did them a favor. But listen, sex workers are stubborn and clever just like the rest of us. Sex workers have managed to thrive despite law enforcement forever. An end to sex trafficking! Sure we all agree that'd be nice, but I think a lot of law enforcement propaganda has given everybody the impression that most sex workers are trafficked, when in fact, the precise opposite is true. I think if we're all worried that most sex workers are trafficked, we should take a moment to maybe consider that we've been sold a sneaky sexist idea that just so happens to justify a few high powered careers. This idea has a core assumption that women sex workers generally can't take care of themselves and must be protected, mainly by men. This idea assumes that most women were forced into sex work as opposed to choosing to go into sex work through a series of totally logical decisions made by a grownup with a lifetime of experiences. But of course that's exactly how sex work goes basically all the time. Sex workers are ESPECIALLY wise to how the world works and probably a lot better at protecting their asses than you and I are. I bet I couldn't find a trafficked sex worker if I tried. Legalization! Nah. I mean maybe that would be nice. It's not necessarily so clear cut though. Opinions are mixed. You can totally find sex workers who prefer working the black market. I'm asking what is THE most important thing to basically all sex workers around the world, a clear and obvious win for all of them. The answer is really obvious once you know it.

Customers. Polite, paying customers. In other words, economic opportunity. In other words, reliable access to resources. In other words, money. No, not just money, the ability to earn money. For one reason or another, they have the job they do, and as long as they're there, they'd like to do well. They're just like every single one of us that way.

Diversity is great, social progress is great, your moral system is probably great, but all justice starts with economic justice. If we fail on economic opportunity, we fail on the most important part.

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