Reply #15: I don't inherently have a problem with sex work [View All]

[Chovexani]

I think it's a legitimate way to make a living and I don't think it's inherently wrong or exploitative. I'm really appalled by how judgmental people can be about it (and I agree that straight people are way more harsh than we are). My only wish is we could get the exploitation out of the equation when it happens (pimps and madams), have better and safer working conditions. I'm for organizing the workers but I am a big believer in unions in general. It should be no different for sex work.

My view is that LGBT people are so used to having our own sex lives be condemned, we're viewed as sluts and perverts, etc that I think we're hesitant to hate on anyone for similar things. We have empathy for the underdog and the people mainstream society throws away and condemns because it's done the same to us.

Also, I think a big part of it is many of us are forced to deal with our sexual attractions/proclivities early on because they are not mainstream or "normal", most of us didn't grow up with images that taught us how things were done, so we are forced almost by necessity to explore sexual matters in a way that the vast majority of straight people never have to. So we tend to be way more open-minded about these things and less prone to the black and white morality straights try to force on the issue. We are more poly and kink friendly too, and have less hang-ups about porn, etc. Incidentally I think that's why pretty much all the sex-positive feminists I know (self included) are LGBT. That's not to say that LGBT can't be prudes or straights can't be open-minded, just that for anyone who spends significant time in or around our community it's pretty damned hard to be a prude.

To get all philosophical on you, I often see the LGBT community as being inherently Dionysian in nature and the mainstream het society as inherently Apollonian and that's where the conflict lies. We are in touch with the ecstatic side of life in a way mainstream society shuns, we do the things they do (or wish they could) and are deeply ashamed of, but we do them outside of the very strict boundaries of het society and we do them without shame. That's why they freak the fuck out so badly. Gods help me for invoking Camille Paglia of all people but the only sense she's ever made about anything has been on this very topic.