John Young on Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:08:01 +0100 (CET)


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Re: <nettime> Sex Work and Consent at @transmediale


The main missing topic of sex work is marriage. No other institution
promotes as fiercely and mercilessly -- and religiously blesses by god -- 
the subjugation of women to men for work in sex, house, reproduction,
child care, health, education, second job for less pay, name change, 
financial dependency, social stigma of the unmarried and unchilded, 
forebearance of adultery, prostitution and disease inheritance, 
workplace and taxation bias, the list is easily extended and has
been by feminists to little avail against male (wife-stroked) conceit 
as seen here.

Focusing on paid sex work has always diverted attention from
marital exploitation, even to the extent of persuading women that
marriage provides safety from bugaboo prostitution. 

What goes on inside officially legalized households, dominated 
by males as if a birthright (and a singular responsibility), with 
societal affirmation of domestication of women is despicable despite
worldwide abuse typically sanctified by male-dominated
institutions -- philosophy, theology, language, education, military, 
government, medical, charitable -- across the gamut of societies 
in which the physically strong reign by male-privilege inheritance, 
by hook and crook of male favoritism and perquisites, by physical 
assault and femicide and by ingrained contempt for the male-flattering
"weaker" sex except for sado-masochism bought and paid for
in every case of marriage.

Love and marriage go together like horse and carriage. So young
women are force-fed from the beginning to dress, to speak, to
behave, to attend charm school and college for marriage
solicitation, to consume beautification products, to develop
an alluring vocabulary and mindset, to pretend men are
heroic and brilliant, to dream of princesses and princes,
to masturbate in loneliness or with a similarly abandoned
neighbor while the stud has to be allowed freedom to 
fornicate, how else to survive and raise kids (wanted or
not, loved or not, her own or not).

Fortunately the hatchet, the poison, the fire, the garrot,
the cancer, the heart attack awaits. And the nubile
youngsters delivery groceries, mowing the lawn,
singing the choir, how they offer delicious solace
from the intumescent bulls demanding sodomy,
prowling for pedophilic targets in all the dominant
institutions.

At 07:22 PM 2/15/2012 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Dear Margaret and others,
>
>I have been following this thread with interest and feel, that despite
>some very insightful comments, something important is missing.
>Something that still makes this discussion very abstract and far from
>the real issues about sex work and consent. This is because we are
>working from a very reductive definition of what sex work actually
>is. I believe Dymitri's post on the importance of seeing sex work as

>labour started a more nuanced discussion but probably did not go far
>enough, leaving us to discuss the role of consent and violence on the
>body (and/or mind).



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