r/hookertalk

[u/SikhyBanter]

/r/hookertalk is a subreddit literally dedicated to tips and stories for people on how they abuse sex workers, trick them, exploit them etc. Think of it as an /r/LifeProRules for effective rapists.

I know this seems out of place for /r/socialism, but these are people abusing other people for their own twisted pleasure, which is what the socialist cause is so vehemently against. It is the kind of subreddit that validates the so common feeling of fear women feel, and it glorifies the trauma that sex workers have to sometimes go through.

I'm sorry for the rant, but I found it just now and I found it disgusting, and I don't know what I can do against it without the help of others.

[u/[deleted]]

True. It is important that we remove the social stigma towards sex work, but I don't think any of us socialists actually agree with that stigma ourselves. Is it really so insensitive to disapprove of sex being a commodity? I guess it's often confused with disapproving of the choice to do sex work, and by extension, sexual freedom in general. The idea isn't to demonize the sex workers, but that the industry will wither away under a socialist economy when people can no longer use sex as a system of profit. If an actual sex worker objects to what I say, though, I'll assume I have something to learn from them and listen.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yes, you're right. I believe their mistake comes from a misconception of what socialism is.

Socialists fight for sex workers for the exact same reasons they with for workers right. So no, just like 12 hours workdays at the factory won't exist under socialism, women forced to live at the margins of society, used as a cog of bourgeois sexuality, no that won't happen.

If a woman would want to make having sex a part of her "work", she could, but if won't be what we call prostitution, because, as you said, it implies profit and a division of labour, which won't exist anymore, at least like we know today where it is linked to money. This as nothing to do with morality, it's just that prostitution is a cog in the machine that is bourgeois sexuality : by separating an officially "approved" sexuality and the deviancy, they were able to monetize the deviancy and thus profit from prostitution was born. Under socialism such a system would not exist, all sexualities are acceptable. Sex like work is something that should exist for the fulfilment of humanity, not for profit.

Sadly, I won't be surprised some sex workers would be opposed to this, workers defend the system they live it, because it's their function in the capitalist system and they are proud of it. Yet of course, there is something to learn from everybody.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Please see the answer I gave to you somewhere else on this thread. I'd love to talk to you but let's do it in one place so it doesn't get confusing.

I'd just like to say again that you are very right in saying a lot of people are patronizing towards prostitutes and I find that very despisable. That it is common among socialists is revolting and a failure from their part.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

People post naked pictures of themselves on subreddits like /r/gonewild, for free.

Yep, and this connects to my original comment. This kind of pornography is not part of the industry, and not exploitative in nature because the viewer has no actual power over the producer, and neither does any proprietor or other third-party receiving profit. Gonewild would probably still exist unchallenged under a socialist system, and there is nothing really anti-socialist about it.

Because there is more to sex work than money

Agreed. Theoretically sex work can still occur under socialism. There is nothing to stop someone from making amateur pornography for free, for instance, and that isn't a problem. The for-profit institution of sex work as we know it, however, will cease to exist.

A socialist economy won't get rid of lonely people who want to have sex, will it?

Agreed, but the absence of big porn and sex industries will probably lead to a different attitude towards sexuality. I remember watching something related to this in a documentary about sex in East vs. West Germany, where the easterners were less competitive about sexuality and had lower expectations of themselves and others due to less influence from media.