You know, it sucks real bad to have to see this shit all day every day from libs and chuds but it is always an extra punch in the gut coming from fellow “leftists.” SWs posts about our own lived experience get deboosted by Elon’s hateful ass algorithm but every day some new jackass who has never sold hole goes viral with some bullshit like this.
Then when we come to defend ourselves, we get to deal with the same tired SWERF ass arguments like “yOu aRe pRiViLeGeD yOu dOn’T rEpReSeNt aLL sEx WoRkErS,” “Blah Blah Blah Trafficking blah blah blah most of you are coerced.”
Yes I am coerced by capitalism to sell my labor. No my job is not inherently more exploitative than other forms of labor, and I would know because I have had a LOT of shitty jobs.
It just sucks, y’all. It sucks to be continually thrown under the bus by other “leftists” who apparently only support workers whose jobs they don’t find icky.
They will really hit us with some “Hate the sin, love the sinner” bullshit like fundies did to queer people in the 90s and 00s. That’s not a thing, you can’t claim to support us while you don’t listen to us, talk over us, and loudly proclaim that our livelihood shouldn’t exist.
(Please don’t tell me to get off Xitter, I’m there for work and there really is no good substitute.)
Good post. Sorry you have to deal with that shit.
Also,
every day some new jackass who has never sold hole goes viral with some bullshit
One of those things I read and think, "I will never be able to spit fire this good."
Sex work exclusionary "leftists" simply aren't.
On a related note, SWERFs in my area have recently started co-opting leftist language to justify their bigotry. Maddening hearing SWERFs talk about capitalism coercion, systemic injustice, marginalization etc. but only in service of abusing sex workers
Oh they love co-opting our language. A lot of anti-SW activists call themselves “abolitionists” which makes me wanna set things on fire.
Abolishing slavery meant people were freed.
Abolitishing sex work means people will starve.
You'd think it wouldn't be that gd hard, especially with so many historical examples of women being forced in to work houses or the horrible Magdalene laundries to become de-facto slaves.
I've met so many people with bipolar disorder who run an OF. Like 60% of Bipolar people are unemployed, and then OF comes along and is unqiuely suited to Bipolar people - work from your home, work when you are able, no trying to maintain normlacy for an employer, no having to deal with employees when you just cannot maintain. OF is a shitton of work but it's the difference between income and nothing for so many people.
All those "abolitionists" love to get righteous about ending sex work but rarely if ever have I seen them talk about who does sex work and why those demographics - mentally ill people, trans people, disabled people - find sex work to be a life-line in an incredibly hostile economic system.
Like, setting aside everything else for one second - bodily autonomy, labor under capitalism, a culture of sexual violence, women's liberation and autonomy, everything else - abolition under the current economic system is social murder for some of the most vulnerable people.
This attitude towards sex work comes from a pretty odious place—this sort of weird paternalism/possessiveness. The same kind of thing that makes (mostly) dudes treatremoved like it’s worse than murder.
It’s incredibly paternalistic! And these same women will (rightfully) shout “My body my choice” about abortion while failing to recognize that choosing to sell sex is also a body autonomy issue. I get to decide who I have sex with and what consent means to me for my own body. Other people do not get to weigh in on this!!!
And there’s this attitude like sex workers, or people who’ve done sex work, need sympathy, like Oh you poor thing. It’s something I’m trying to unlearn, myself—it’s difficult to talk about in more detail.
Power to the workers means sex workers too!! SWERFs can fuck right off!
![Being a sex worker is just screaming into the abyss while shitty takes on your livelihood go viral every goddamn day [CW: SWERFs]](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/32e767d4-65bc-4ecc-8ffc-19465cb8766b.jpeg){kind=link}