Don’t be so damn cynical. I just asked a question. I hardly think the power dynamics between a prostitute and a john are straightforward.
Even without force and authority do you believe that street sex workers have the or any advantages beyond “sex”?
I was cynical because you didn’t even try to analyze the situation, you assume that prostitutes have some hidden upper hand that runs counter to the reality of being beaten, raped, and killed.
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Well, duh, silly, being in possession of a vagina gives you magical powers to destroy mens, didn’t you know? /s
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Do you think prostitutes are weak women being prayed upon by strong men?
I certainly understand that is the position of many people who are anti-prostitution. The sex positive part of me has a hard time with it. Certainly some percentage of prostitutions fit the stereotype.
What on earth does that mean, and why do you call yourself sex-positive if you’re using this opportunity to slur women?
I think that it’s a complicated topic and defer to sex worker unions, but they are certainly not all empowered independent escorts and the people ok the streets that cops are picking up to fuck are being abused by the system that claims to but doesn’t protect them, not even from the system.
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Um, consent is the primary factor in whether something is rape or not. A cop raping by deception is very clearly intent to do harm, so even your tangent comes back to consent being the primary issue at hand. The harm couldn’t be achieved without the lack of informed consent.
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Are you just looking for an excuse to get upset? Some prostitutes are absolutely not in a position of power and are preyed upon by men (child prostitutes come to mind, sex slaves, etc.)
But to assume that all prostitutes are like that is ridiculous. It also isn’t what I said at all and what I was arguing against - the supposition that all prostitutes are in a weaker by position than Johns.
You said “the stereotype”, that street prostitutes aren’t in a position of power is not a stereotype.
Escorts are in MORE control but hardly immune to abuse when they can’t go to the law enforcement that also rapes them.
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Rape is, by definition, forcible and violent. That’s what it is. Just because someone doesn’t have a gun to their head doesn’t mean they aren’t being forcibly and violently victimized.
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It sounds like you’re looking to argue for laws based on anecdotes and stereotypes rather than protecting people regardless of whether they fit into a particular mold that you want to fit them into or not.
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But let’s talk about “more okay” rape instead of fixing what ails us, I guess.
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The stereotype by foes of prostitution is that they are. I am not one of those people. I was arguing that you seem to be when you argued that prostitutes have no power in the first place.
It’s not a “stereotype” that sex workers in most areas are at an extreme disadvantage legally and in personal safety.
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I’m confused. Are you upset about the word stereotype because you think it is a fact that prostitutes the weak party in a prostitute/john dynamic?
I get the impression that there’s a few people here who would have watched Revenge of the Nerds and not seen anything wrong with this scene.
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You do realize that the vast majority of prostitutes at least here in the US work in the shadows, with little to no protection from exploitation by their pimps, precisely because prostitution is illegal? Even in places where it’s legal, many women are trafficked into the profession from other places and are often cut off from any sort of support networks? Many activists, SEX POSITIVE ACTIVISTS, working on behalf of prostitutes will likely agree this this reality. I’d say that some women benefiting from it doesn’t mean that all women (and men) do benefit from it.
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No one is. You’re the one who brought up the notion that many prostitutes hold power over men.
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Yeah, but in the process there have been some excellent response posts.
I should probably go to the “why don’t you flag more?” thread and put this example in. If I flagged posts in this thread, we might not have gotten this far, and much of what has been written is worth reading.
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Or you can see page 14/15 of this UNESCO report, which talks about the problems faced by women in sex work, which is often related to criminalization of such work:
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/BSP/GENDER/PDF/HIVGBVbackgroundreport.pdf
A Wikipedia page on violence in sex work:
A more anecdotal story on a woman who was a prostitute who was murdered a couple of years ago in the UK:
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All I did was ask. My first-hand knowledge of prostitution is limited to a radically sex positive gay friend of mine who did it in his early 20s and in his case, the power, from what he told me, was heavily skewed towards him.
I mean, if we talk about this being rape because the power dynamic is highly unequal and prostitutes are usually on the losing side of power dynamic, then it seems like sex with a prostitute - regardless of whether you are a cop or not - would be rape.
However, I can also see the other argument that it has nothing to do with the power dynamic and it is entirely about sex with intent to harm in this case being rape.
