![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Sep. 29th, 2004 08:47 amMan, what's up with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
kissmyass_cosmo? It's weird that I often agree with what a lot of people would consider the more extreme comments but in this case I disagree: attack the system, not the women being exploited by it. I hate it when people claim feminists should be in favor of women being strippers or prostitutes because women choose to do that and it's empowering. I agree that that's bullshit. The whole point is that women aren't freely choosing to do that. If we had social and economic equality then the sex industry would be very different. It's like a show I saw about showgirls in Las Vegas - several of them said that nobody would do the topless shows if they didn't pay more. Of course, people say to that "well, they just want the money." No, they need the money to feed their families. Given that that's the case, I don't see the point of attacking an individual woman, in her own journal, for getting a job as a stripper. You can't have it both ways: either women are free to choose any job they want therefore there's nothing wrong with being strippers because it's women reclaiming their sexuality etc. OR women's choices are constrained therefore we can't blame them for taking the only job that's going to work in their situation. Either way, it's not fair to blame the individual.
A woman who runs a company that makes porn or something is different. If you're in management then your choices aren't so constrained. You're not taking the job because you have to in order to support yourself. But attacking a woman for becoming a stripper is almost like attacking someone for working in a sweatshop, on the grounds that there wouldn't be any sweatshops if people refused to work in them. It's just unfair.
Not that I'm 100% anti-porn. Certainly not the written variety. But I do have a lot of problems with the mainstream porn industry, both with how the workers are treated (and I know the women get paid more than the men but they aren't protected by unions the same as in other jobs) and how it presents a very damaging image of women and sex to the public.
kissmyass_cosmo? It's weird that I often agree with what a lot of people would consider the more extreme comments but in this case I disagree: attack the system, not the women being exploited by it. I hate it when people claim feminists should be in favor of women being strippers or prostitutes because women choose to do that and it's empowering. I agree that that's bullshit. The whole point is that women aren't freely choosing to do that. If we had social and economic equality then the sex industry would be very different. It's like a show I saw about showgirls in Las Vegas - several of them said that nobody would do the topless shows if they didn't pay more. Of course, people say to that "well, they just want the money." No, they need the money to feed their families. Given that that's the case, I don't see the point of attacking an individual woman, in her own journal, for getting a job as a stripper. You can't have it both ways: either women are free to choose any job they want therefore there's nothing wrong with being strippers because it's women reclaiming their sexuality etc. OR women's choices are constrained therefore we can't blame them for taking the only job that's going to work in their situation. Either way, it's not fair to blame the individual.A woman who runs a company that makes porn or something is different. If you're in management then your choices aren't so constrained. You're not taking the job because you have to in order to support yourself. But attacking a woman for becoming a stripper is almost like attacking someone for working in a sweatshop, on the grounds that there wouldn't be any sweatshops if people refused to work in them. It's just unfair.
Not that I'm 100% anti-porn. Certainly not the written variety. But I do have a lot of problems with the mainstream porn industry, both with how the workers are treated (and I know the women get paid more than the men but they aren't protected by unions the same as in other jobs) and how it presents a very damaging image of women and sex to the public.
