I understand that some of the criticism comes from conservatives but the sentiment seems to extend far beyond thst. Of course, I understand it when it’s forced or when someone only does it to survive against their will. But if people genuinely want to do it, why do people hate on them?
needing to perform sexuality in order to make ends meet is a form of coercion. Like if someone has to grant access to their body, under threat of starvation or homelessness or whatever, that’s coercion. I don’t know how many sex workers are out there with a couple jobs lined up an then say “nah i’d rather do sex work” but within the current framework of gig economies and legally grey/restricted labor I bet it’s not a significant amount.
But that’s employment in a nutshell, though. A welder rents out his body to a company to weld steel beams for 8 hours a day. An accountant rents out their body to sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day and crunch numbers. A salesperson rents out their body to cold-call for 8 hours a day.
No matter what, we’re coerced into giving or body to perform someone else’s labour. The fact that it doesn’t always involve nudity doesn’t change anything vis a vis your bodily autonomy.
None of them rent out intimate access to their bodies, it’s stupid to think that an account sitting behind the desk is just like a sex worker. Clearly one is in a more preferalble job. Clearly the welder has a better option to barter or organize for collective action, clearly those jobs would still exist in a society where destitute women didn’t whereas the porn industry as it currently is would die out
“Intimate” is a completely subjective term. Some people, like it or not, don’t consider nudity to be intimate and are therefore more than happy to use it to their advantage. Just because you wouldn’t, doesn’t make you the arbiter or what is or isn’t considered intimate.
So, as you say “Clearly being the more preferable job” is a meaningless statement. A vegan wouldn’t rent out their body to work in a slaughterhouse. A pacifist wouldn’t rent out their body to the military. Just because you wouldn’t rent out your body for people to enjoy on the internet doesn’t make it objectively worse than any other profession. It’s just your perspective.
I’m not saying that there aren’t issues in the porn industry. Of course there are, tonnes of them. But renting out your body to perform manual labour or renting out your body for people to look at on the internet are not as different as you think.
That rings true for every single job - I mean individual coercion
and yet some of those jobs would exist in a society without destitute women, whereas the porn industry as it currently is, wouldn’t.
I am personally friends with multiple women (and non women) who do sex work (some do porn) instead of other, more mundane jobs that they are fully qualified to do. There are issues with the industry for fucking SURE but lets not pretend that everybody in it is a hostage, as an excuse to belittle those who work in SW.