I'm listening to RevLeft's episode on proletarian feminism and wondering about this. I think we can agree that in a global socialist society, the sex trade disappears. Under socialism, people only have sex because they want to. At the same time, almost all pornography produced under capitalism is itself produced under coercion. (A small number of porn stars are relatively wealthy and produce pornography because they enjoy it, not because they have to.) If a socialist society decides to make access to that pornography free for all, doesn't that mean that the porn stars (and all other workers involved in the production of pornography) are still being exploited, even if they're dead? In a socialist society, does all desire to jerk off to pornography wither away, since a sexual revolution has presumably also taken place and most people are relatively satisfied with regard to their sexual needs? Will some pornography still exist, produced by the proletariat for the consumption of the proletariat? Will future socialist porn stars be considered heroes of labor? I don't think we ever catch anyone in Star Trek jerking off to porn.

  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I want to push back on the sex trade disappearing under a global socialist society. Sex work in some form will be around forever. Sex work can be liberating and can be a service, especially to disabled folks, and I don't see it disappearing even when there's no monetary incentive to do it. Maybe it won't be "labour" but it'll still be a kind of work, they'll still be sex workers, and they'll still be a sex trade. It just won't be coercive in the form that it is now. Same with porn.