Sex work is work; people don’t work to feel empowered; they work so they can pay bills. Being a sex worker is about as empowering as being CEO of a Fortune500, i.e., not empowering at all.
The history of women’s nudity being empowering goes a long way back. Feminists have tried to reclaim our nudity, to remove the shame, to say, “it is my body, it is not for the male gaze, it is not vulgar, it does not need to be covered up.” Like many other things, women’s bodies are a political statement and will remain so for the foreseeable future. And while I have more than a few harsh words to say to that, that’s not the purpose of this rant.
The story that sex work is empowering stems from our politics, and we have let it run for too long. Counting sex work as empowering started with a movement to get people to treat sex workers as they would treat people of any other profession. But here’s the thing, I don’t have to tell you how law empowers me for you to respect my wig and gown, so why should sex work have to be empowering for you to respect sex workers?
Sometimes I ask myself why this is even a conversation, then I remember, majority of the world’s sex workers are women. Women ordinarily are seen as lesser humans. Women’s nudity is shameful — refer to the second paragraph — and should not be seen unless a man wants it. So it only makes sense that when a woman turns around and decides to monetize that very nudity she has been taught to be ashamed of, that she’d be met with vitriol. It is the MO of the Patriarchy, and we must work to break it down and grind it to dust.
Sex work is work, and like all other jobs, people go to it to earn, not to feel empowered. Empowerment is not a legal tender, and it sure as hell isn’t why people choose to become sex workers. Sex workers deserve your respect, just as your physician, your lawyer, the Starbucks barista, and the people of all other professions deserve your respect.
Sex workers don’t have to tell tales of empowerment; we don’t need think-pieces about how having an Onlyfans or leaving a high-end job to become a stripper is a boss move; we just need to respect sex workers.
