[CW: Discussion of Sex Work, SWERFism, Abuse, Misogyny]
I'm unsure if you folks will find this too heavy to handle, but I hope not. I have feminist views that may be interpreted as being highly exclusionary to sex workers, and I feel they are problematic, but I'm having a hard time changing them. I think my views are leaving me to tune out positive outlooks from sex workers because I cannot trust what they are saying.
I believe that sex work is inherently misogynistic and exploitative. I do support sex workers in their struggles, but I feel very uncomfortable when a sex worker denies that they are being exploited, objectified, dehumanized, etc. I feel like this is a denial tactic used to make them feel better in the scheme of capitalism because they are having a difficult time coping with the pain that capitalism has brought upon them, as it does with most people.
However, I will concede that I feel as if I'm arguing from incredulity here because I simply find it hard to genuinely believe differently than my position, but disbelief in the credibility of other viewpoints quite obviously is not a solid basis for a good argument.
I understand that sex work can be lucrative, but I think that doing it sells so much dignity that it's a really absurd tradeoff regardless of how much money you make from it. I also think, in the context of capitalism, things like escorting should be legal because I'm fearful that if an escort goes through abuse during her services, she will not be able to report it without getting in legal trouble herself. However, my ideal viewpoint is that communism would make sex work redundant and that's because my issue with it is the "work" part and not the "sex" part.
I think that sex positivity, free love, and sexual liberation are good, but consent is a huge part of it. I don't see sex work as anything "consensual." I see it as women being victims of capitalism and misogyny getting coerced into thinking that the best way to make sure that they have their needs met is by being seen as a sex object for men.
CW: Sex work, sexual violence
spoiler
I think we should believe people when they speak of their situation. I think it's infantalizing to sex workers to tell them that they're victims inherently and they just don't know better when they talk of their own experiences. Sex work is exploitative in the way that all work is exploitative, and they are therefore in a technical sense engaging in sex under duress, but just as the best way to approach a worker to talk about their exploitation and unionization efforts is not to immediately compare them to galley slaves and make a 1:1 comparison between chattel slavery and your shitty job, it is not actually helpful to discussing the actual problems inherent in sex work to frame it this way unless we are actually discussing those who have been trafficked or who are in a particularly exploitative situation, and in that case the immediate thing to do is treat this as a distinct criminal case rather than as a discussion of the dignity of sex work. I realize that my perspective as a cishet white man is inherently limited, but the only people I know who have engaged in prostitution (I don't know any former sex workers who did not engage in prostitution, and therefore cannot discuss the experiences of cam girls, porn actors, phone sex operators, strippers or any other kind of sex workers. Also these women were all white and uncoerced by anything except economic circumstance into taking the job. Which also limits their experience of course, but it is still superior to mine) have done so as a part time job they have either found pretty fulfilling or at least no worse than any other student job. I myself would feel gross "buying" the consent of someone, due to the fact that I don't want there to be an open question of whether I am engaging in sexual exploitation of any kind when I engage in sex, and I find the question of whether you can truly consent to sex under economic duress a valid question. But I trust women when they speak of their experiences.
Edit: I am now observing that we are at the moment 3 He/Hims disagreeing with someone on their argument about misogyny. Which is one of those "Bad looks".
I overwhelmingly agree with the guys in this thread. SWERF shit is also full of misogyny, whether it's the open misogyny of men criticizing sex workers or the internalized misogyny of radfems patronizing them.
It's just that it's really hard to speak out against it for me when i know that misogynists, particularly from instances with an open anti sex work consensus, might object to my take and start moralizing me like they did when i commented on the subject with an older account of mine. I seriously don't feel safe pitching in on the issue when a certain type of leftist, usually men who will use a token anti sex work woman they supposedly know as a shield, might be nearby. I deleted the reply i originally typed out because of this because i just don't have the nerve to start debating that kind of person rn.