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I would like to see a future where people shouldn't have to prostitute themselves to make ends meet. Some cultural norms are outdated, but prostitution is stil

I would like to see a future where people shouldn't have to prostitute themselves to make ends meet. Some cultural norms are outdated, but prostitution is still degrading and dangerous for those practicing it, especially for the women; who may not be doing so willingly, prostitution being the main incentive for human trafficking. And the online medium doesn't change that by much. Some people may be willing to pay for sex, some people are willing to pay for many other things or activities that should be or are illegal.

Freak_NL 2y ago
Sex work will never go away. The only way forward is to make sure it can be done safely and legally. Consider the sex workers who deal with mentally or physically disabled adults. Most people have sexual urges, and those who are unable to participate in society in the usual way of addressing their urges with a romantic partner or a one-night stand still have them. There are a good number of very professional sex workers out there who can provide these people with sex (often with specific expertise for the relevant handicaps) and generally significantly improve the wellbeing. Are those sex workers doing something they shouldn't be doing?
- medo-bear 2y ago
  > Are those sex workers doing something they shouldn't be doing? You are asking a binary question for which there isn't a binary answer. Better to ask are those sex workers doing something they will get a pat on their backs for from other members of society? In a way a builder, chef, firefighter, and even a prison guard would.
  - paulryanrogers 2y ago
    Perhaps the lack of a "pat on the back" is society's fault.
    - swagasaurus-rex 2y ago
      Why? it’s so easy to make content
      - paulryanrogers 2y ago
        Well folks appreciate different things and to different degrees. Some are born with natural talents and others work hard for it. Regardless, folks generally get at least some respect for doing the work to produce things others appreciate. Stigmatizing OF work seems unfair when so much praise is heaped on creators and workers of all other kinds.
        medo-bear 2y ago
        It is not unfair if it clashes with cultural values. It is like coming to HN, going against the majority sentiment, and expecting likes
    - medo-bear 2y ago
      For what? For opening your legs and getting paid for it? Without criminals and sleezy execs as clients prostitution would cease to exist. The edge cases mentioned before are tiny
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- seper8 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - paulryanrogers 2y ago
    If she's safe, successful, healthy, and doing it of her own free will then why not be happy?
  - Freak_NL 2y ago
    That would depend entirely on her circumstances. Is she a professional helping disabled people like my example above? That's laudable. A self-employed dominatrix with a select clientele? Sounds lucrative. A popular OnlyFans starlet just making some money on the side during her studies? Clever. Participating in explicit forms of BDSM porn? If she does so of her own volition, with the consent of all parties involved, for a fair pay and without lasting harm? Cool as long as she's working with professionals with a good reputation. In all of those cases I would council her to the best of my abilities on safety and long-term planning, if she'd let me. And of course, as any parent, I would worry about her safety. But hey, I'd worry if she went paragliding or mountain climbing too. Honestly, I would be more disappointed if she became a lawyer in the pocket of, say, Amazon or AirBnB. Or a politician for some extreme right political party. Would I be happy if she was a sex worker in some seedy part of town with a pimp hovering over her? Of course not. But that is not dismissive of sex work as such, rather of exploitation and coercion. All of the examples above avoid that.
    - standardUser 2y ago
      Well said, and unnecessarily downvoted for such a thoughtful comment.
  - AshamedCaptain 2y ago
    Would I be happy if after the education I paid my daughters they decide to work in public sanitation? Think honestly about it. Do you think I have anything against sanitation employees?
    - 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
mgaunard 2y ago
It's not "to make ends meet". OF work allows people with no skills to get income in line with the top 10th or even 1st percentile of the population. Would you rather be flipping burgers all day for 30k or would you rather take a few nudes every week and make 300k?
- beaglesss 2y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised to find out an absurd fraction of those 300k is just straight up money laundering. Who is actually gonna be able to verify the value of someone allegedly showing their tits to a whale at 3am? The fact this all passed through traditional financial networks with a clean and reportable earnings report at the end is just pure gold. OF is like the wet dream of a drug dealer or whoever else with a baby momma and some kind of scam/fraud/counterfeit operation.
  - djtango 2y ago
    I agree with what you say but we know enough about youtubers and mobile gaming to safely assume that the numbers in this space are wild. I remember on Pewdiepie's first ever charity YouTube stream he was printing thousands per second via donos
    - toyg 2y ago
      Who would have thought that all those big numbers in TV deals were actually underestimated by the billions. The general public is even more desperate/gullible than we ever considered possible. And OF and YT are just the beginning.
    - TeMPOraL 2y ago
      But you can't compare with top performers in a power law / winner-takes-all setting. Comparing random youtubers or OF-ers to PewDiePie is like comparing the guy owning a fruit stand down the street to Jeff Bezos. Owns business, owns business; the same thing, right?
      - 2y ago
achenet 2y ago
> prostitution is still degrading and dangerous for those practicing it, especially for the women; degrading: no. I've met prostitutes who very much like their work and find it empowering dangerous: ...yes, because it's illegal and they don't have access to proper legal protection.
- medo-bear 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - ath3nd 2y ago
    > It is called delusion It's, of course, much better and far less delusional, to go flipping burgers for $30k which barely covers your housing, less alone food. Or to go to the military to lose an arm and a leg, defending a just cause, of course.
huuhee3 2y ago
I would like to see a future where people shouldn't have to do any work they don't enjoy to make ends meet. As far as I can see, working fast food (and many other badly paid service jobs) is not much different from prostitution, except in that there is no social stigma attached, and you earn much less.
TeMPOraL 2y ago
> but prostitution is still degrading Why? Especially compared to e.g. advertising/marketing? At least in the former case, all parties to the transaction are there voluntarily, for an honest, mutually beneficial exchange of value.

Freak_NL 2y ago

Sex work will never go away. The only way forward is to make sure it can be done safely and legally. Consider the sex workers who deal with mentally or physically disabled adults. Most people have sexual urges, and those who are unable to participate in society in the usual way of addressing their urges with a romantic partner or a one-night stand still have them. There are a good number of very professional sex workers out there who can provide these people with sex (often with specific expertise for the relevant handicaps) and generally significantly improve the wellbeing. Are those sex workers doing something they shouldn't be doing?

medo-bear 2y ago
> Are those sex workers doing something they shouldn't be doing? You are asking a binary question for which there isn't a binary answer. Better to ask are those sex workers doing something they will get a pat on their backs for from other members of society? In a way a builder, chef, firefighter, and even a prison guard would.
- paulryanrogers 2y ago
  Perhaps the lack of a "pat on the back" is society's fault.
  - swagasaurus-rex 2y ago
    Why? it’s so easy to make content
    - paulryanrogers 2y ago
      Well folks appreciate different things and to different degrees. Some are born with natural talents and others work hard for it. Regardless, folks generally get at least some respect for doing the work to produce things others appreciate. Stigmatizing OF work seems unfair when so much praise is heaped on creators and workers of all other kinds.
      - medo-bear 2y ago
        It is not unfair if it clashes with cultural values. It is like coming to HN, going against the majority sentiment, and expecting likes
  - medo-bear 2y ago
    For what? For opening your legs and getting paid for it? Without criminals and sleezy execs as clients prostitution would cease to exist. The edge cases mentioned before are tiny
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
seper8 2y ago
[flagged]
- paulryanrogers 2y ago
  If she's safe, successful, healthy, and doing it of her own free will then why not be happy?
- Freak_NL 2y ago
  That would depend entirely on her circumstances. Is she a professional helping disabled people like my example above? That's laudable. A self-employed dominatrix with a select clientele? Sounds lucrative. A popular OnlyFans starlet just making some money on the side during her studies? Clever. Participating in explicit forms of BDSM porn? If she does so of her own volition, with the consent of all parties involved, for a fair pay and without lasting harm? Cool as long as she's working with professionals with a good reputation. In all of those cases I would council her to the best of my abilities on safety and long-term planning, if she'd let me. And of course, as any parent, I would worry about her safety. But hey, I'd worry if she went paragliding or mountain climbing too. Honestly, I would be more disappointed if she became a lawyer in the pocket of, say, Amazon or AirBnB. Or a politician for some extreme right political party. Would I be happy if she was a sex worker in some seedy part of town with a pimp hovering over her? Of course not. But that is not dismissive of sex work as such, rather of exploitation and coercion. All of the examples above avoid that.
  - standardUser 2y ago
    Well said, and unnecessarily downvoted for such a thoughtful comment.
- AshamedCaptain 2y ago
  Would I be happy if after the education I paid my daughters they decide to work in public sanitation? Think honestly about it. Do you think I have anything against sanitation employees?
  - 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

mgaunard 2y ago

It's not "to make ends meet". OF work allows people with no skills to get income in line with the top 10th or even 1st percentile of the population. Would you rather be flipping burgers all day for 30k or would you rather take a few nudes every week and make 300k?

beaglesss 2y ago
I wouldn't be surprised to find out an absurd fraction of those 300k is just straight up money laundering. Who is actually gonna be able to verify the value of someone allegedly showing their tits to a whale at 3am? The fact this all passed through traditional financial networks with a clean and reportable earnings report at the end is just pure gold. OF is like the wet dream of a drug dealer or whoever else with a baby momma and some kind of scam/fraud/counterfeit operation.
- djtango 2y ago
  I agree with what you say but we know enough about youtubers and mobile gaming to safely assume that the numbers in this space are wild. I remember on Pewdiepie's first ever charity YouTube stream he was printing thousands per second via donos
  - toyg 2y ago
    Who would have thought that all those big numbers in TV deals were actually underestimated by the billions. The general public is even more desperate/gullible than we ever considered possible. And OF and YT are just the beginning.
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    But you can't compare with top performers in a power law / winner-takes-all setting. Comparing random youtubers or OF-ers to PewDiePie is like comparing the guy owning a fruit stand down the street to Jeff Bezos. Owns business, owns business; the same thing, right?
    - 2y ago

achenet 2y ago

> prostitution is still degrading and dangerous for those practicing it, especially for the women; degrading: no. I've met prostitutes who very much like their work and find it empowering dangerous: ...yes, because it's illegal and they don't have access to proper legal protection.

medo-bear 2y ago
[flagged]
- ath3nd 2y ago
  > It is called delusion It's, of course, much better and far less delusional, to go flipping burgers for $30k which barely covers your housing, less alone food. Or to go to the military to lose an arm and a leg, defending a just cause, of course.

huuhee3 2y ago

I would like to see a future where people shouldn't have to do any work they don't enjoy to make ends meet. As far as I can see, working fast food (and many other badly paid service jobs) is not much different from prostitution, except in that there is no social stigma attached, and you earn much less.

TeMPOraL 2y ago

> but prostitution is still degrading Why? Especially compared to e.g. advertising/marketing? At least in the former case, all parties to the transaction are there voluntarily, for an honest, mutually beneficial exchange of value.