3 ms·

One of my favourite authors is Chris Hedges. I was surprised to discover he is against decriminalisation of sex work. His arguments actually won me over. https

One of my favourite authors is Chris Hedges. I was surprised to discover he is against decriminalisation of sex work. His arguments actually won me over. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-real-face-of-prostitution/ https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-real-face-of-prostitut... https://www.truthdig.com/articles/prostitution-being-raped-for-a-living/ https://www.truthdig.com/articles/prostitution-being-raped-f... https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-underbelly-of-the-sex-trade-industry/ https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-underbelly-of-the-sex-...

landryraccoon 7y ago
I'm was unclear on something - is Chris Hedges saying that sex workers should be themselves charged with a criminal offense, or that only pimps should be? Those blog posts make it out that sex work is a crime against the sex workers; i.e., it is prostitutes that are the victims. If that is indeed the case then prostitutes should be able to go freely to the police for protection, without fear of prosecution, since they are the victims. So that makes it unclear to me what it means that Hedges is against decriminalization.
- chimeracoder 7y ago
  > Those blog posts make it out that sex work is a crime against the sex workers; i.e., it is prostitutes that are the victims. If that is indeed the case then prostitutes should be able to go freely to the police for protection, without fear of prosecution, since they are the victims. So that makes it unclear to me what it means that Hedges is against decriminalization. He's of a school of thought that sex workers are victims, but since most sex workers do sex work voluntarily, it means that he views sex workers as victims of their own harmful actions. The implication (whether or not he states it directly) is that sex workers need to be saved from their own harmful actions (ie, the work they do voluntarily) because otherwise they will harm themselves. While it's dressed in secular rhetoric, at its core, it's a very Puritanical, moralistic argument that ultimately is used to justify people taking steps to "save" sex workers from their "wrongful (harmful) actions". Unsurprisingly, sex workers do not like him or his work.
- Synaesthesia 7y ago
  He’s against the Nordic model, he doesn’t wants to punish the sex workers, maybe their clients.
chimeracoder 7y ago
> One of my favourite authors is Chris Hedges. I was surprised to discover he is against decriminalisation of sex work. His arguments actually won me over. Why do you value his arguments more than the arguments of the overwhelming majority of sex workers, who soundly reject the claims that he makes as both inaccurate and downright offensive?
- Synaesthesia 7y ago
  I read his books and they’re based on his investigation plus the testimony of a number of sex workers.

landryraccoon 7y ago

I'm was unclear on something - is Chris Hedges saying that sex workers should be themselves charged with a criminal offense, or that only pimps should be? Those blog posts make it out that sex work is a crime against the sex workers; i.e., it is prostitutes that are the victims. If that is indeed the case then prostitutes should be able to go freely to the police for protection, without fear of prosecution, since they are the victims. So that makes it unclear to me what it means that Hedges is against decriminalization.

chimeracoder 7y ago
> Those blog posts make it out that sex work is a crime against the sex workers; i.e., it is prostitutes that are the victims. If that is indeed the case then prostitutes should be able to go freely to the police for protection, without fear of prosecution, since they are the victims. So that makes it unclear to me what it means that Hedges is against decriminalization. He's of a school of thought that sex workers are victims, but since most sex workers do sex work voluntarily, it means that he views sex workers as victims of their own harmful actions. The implication (whether or not he states it directly) is that sex workers need to be saved from their own harmful actions (ie, the work they do voluntarily) because otherwise they will harm themselves. While it's dressed in secular rhetoric, at its core, it's a very Puritanical, moralistic argument that ultimately is used to justify people taking steps to "save" sex workers from their "wrongful (harmful) actions". Unsurprisingly, sex workers do not like him or his work.
Synaesthesia 7y ago
He’s against the Nordic model, he doesn’t wants to punish the sex workers, maybe their clients.

chimeracoder 7y ago

> One of my favourite authors is Chris Hedges. I was surprised to discover he is against decriminalisation of sex work. His arguments actually won me over. Why do you value his arguments more than the arguments of the overwhelming majority of sex workers, who soundly reject the claims that he makes as both inaccurate and downright offensive?

Synaesthesia 7y ago
I read his books and they’re based on his investigation plus the testimony of a number of sex workers.