Dan Savage on the Rights of Sex Workers

Why legalization makes it safer

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• dansavage
• universityofsouthflorida
• sexworkers
• prostitution
• legalize

[kiwisunshine5233]

I'm a woman, I'd pay for sex. Not all women can get a man with a snap of her fingers, there are those who are not pretty enough &/or not popular/sociable enough to get a guy that they're attracted to. Women are sexual beings who desire sex just as much as men, its just that society expects women to have this false image of "purity" & only having sex out of love rather than just sex out of lust.

"Men are animals and will fuck anything with a vagina." - And you call US sexists?! Hypocrite.

[Divinity33372]

As a feminist I think Dan Savage is right about a lot of things including this. There will ALWAYS be prostitution. That doesn't mean I agree with it but it would be foolish not to acknowledge this unfortunate truth. What I want to know is why pimps who control the prostitues threw coercion and drugs don't get charged with slave trading.

[jjtiojohn12]

@sillykatz then what do you call people who work in the porn or strip club industry? if prostitution is harmful then porn actors and actresses are twice as harmful because in the porn industry they dont use condoms and they make the woman take a jizz in the face without proper protection and she doesn't have a choice not to do it because directors make them do it! but with prostitution a woman has control over her own body and she can protect herself if necessary! so whats more harmful?

[Snoep76239]

@Gillypants1 True. It is kept taboo, in part, to keep it as a good tool for selling products as well...

[sillykatz]

@Gillypants1 I actually agree now! Being repressed about your own sexuality makes you think others should be repressed too! I know that there are different types of people out there who are sex workers, do I still agree with it or condone it, no not really. But there is a difference between sex traffickers and women who love their line of work, sex!

[Gillypants1]

@sillykatz To say that prostitution creates objectification of women is ignorant. All kinds of people become sex workers: men, transsexuals, queers, fluids. Besides, the objectification of women is created by the MEDIA selling products using sex and sexuality. Sex in this country is been made to be taboo; to the point that simple sexual acts such as anal sex or rough sex are considered by many to be "fetish" or "deviant" behavior. It is crazy how backwards the american view of sex really is.

[MissTemperence]

@sillykatz "sex workers are just that, workers, they have no enjoyment from it or at least not all the time." Isn't that true for almost everyone who's ever had any kind of job? Very few people are fortunate enough to have only had jobs they truly enjoyed all the time. A lot of people may prefer doing sex work for a few hours a week and working for themselves over working for someone else for relatively little compensation.

[bluebanshee3]

it's insane not to legalize it---it's insane not to remove the stigma from it. it's open season on sex workers because what recourse do they have?

who are the victims of prostitutes' actions? the illegality of it is based on a moral judgement, one that isn't grounded in human reality; the outcome is a loss of lives. it's a surreal system of ethics.

[sillykatz]

though i think its a harmful profession and i wouldn't date a guy who was ok with it, i can sort of see his point.on the other hand maybe we should evaluate why women go into prostitution or feel the need to financially. yes its your body but guess what, i can eat a lot & gain 300 pounds, does that make it good or right for me, no! people may disagree with me. also what kind of message does it send young girls that is ok to objectify your body and that your mind is nothing! i'm just on the fence

[sillykatz]

i hate to sound like debbie downer but to me prostitution is harmful to the mind, not just to the body. i think it creates this objectification of women and that to me is wrong. sex workers are just that, workers, they have no enjoyment from it or at least not all the time. there is a book called female chauvinistic pig: the rise of raunch culture. but i do see what he is saying on the other hand, if you allow strip clubs why not prostitution. i think its a horrible harmful emotional profession

[YamazaruEiki]

@Divinity33372 We have to remember that the pimp is not a necessary medium. With enough street smarts and "marketing" knowledge, a woman can sell herself without an employer. We have no right to tell her what she should do with her body, so she may prostitute herself as much as she pleases. Sometimes you hit a corner and you have to put food on the table. It's sad, but I agree. You can't get rid of the world's oldest profession.

[attemptingtobehumble]

I LOVE this guy.