STDs, protection against being raped, kidnapped/trafficked, or murdered, the travel time and cleanup between clients unless you’re in-house, and in that case the cost of maintaining a safe and comfortable space, and finally the side effort you have to work on to maintain a body / appearance that people actually want to fuck. I’m all for sex work being legal, but it should be regulated specifically to protect workers.
The same way OSHA prevents workers from being expendable labor because of unsafe workplaces. I don’t want decriminalization. I want legalization. And I know OSHA doesn’t exactly fit the bill, but regulating sex work already exists in Nevada, and it’s much better for said workers.
Well, we could just make a law requiring that sex workers own their own means of production and anyone who owns a sex worker’s means of production is a human trafficker. But then the other workers might catch on that they are also being trafficked
I disagree that it should be purely between a sex worker and their doctor. I won’t get into the ownership of workers means of production, as I feel that’s a meta conversation that could be applied to any worker, and in any workers case, I would still want something like OSHA to exist.
I appreciate your perspective, and I’m sure you have far more insight than I do, but as a metaphor, in the sense that if I hire a contractor to build a house, and they and another private party decide the quality and situation of the construction, with no externally required guidelines to be followed except that the contractor can continue building houses, that wouldn’t make me feel safe about my specific house.
In any case, all the best and thanks for the thoughtful response
Yes, it should. Just like how we’ve found abortion has a million medical reasons to be performed and the conversation is best done between a woman and her doctor, STI status is the same, except maybe also add in a public health official from the CDC if there are concerns or questions. That health official can contact trace if the CDC deems it necessary. We probably only need to contact trace for HIV, though, which afaik is what is already done. Maybe syphilis too since that can go in your brain.
There are a few reasons for this. One of them is that empowered/independent sex workers are substantially less likely to have STIs, so it’s a waste of resources to test them all the time. We should all be getting tested regularly and we do if we have access to Healthcare and aren’t being trafficked (studies show this), but that conversation should be directed by an actual health professional who has seen that actual specific patient because it’s so complicated.
The highest group for STI risk are abused people. Really. You can actually just think of STIs as a form of biological abuse and you’d be right. Sex workers who are being trafficked are the ones who are extremely high in STIs because they can’t get to doctors, aren’t allowed to refuse clients, and are forced to engage in sex without condoms. They are victims and separate from the field of independent workers in terms of risk profile.
Other notable groups with high STI prevalence include: children, especially adults under age 25. The disabled, particularly nonspeaking disabled. And the elderly, particularly memory affected elderly. Why? Because they are fucking victims of abuse. The most likely person to have an STI is someone overlapping these groups - a disabled teenage girl, for instance, who can’t talk.
I can’t even go with your metaphor about contracting houses due to how far off base it is with the reality of sex work and STIs. STI tests are not done for the client’s safety, they are done for the worker’s safety.
The places where sex work is considered real work and protected by law are a very tiny minority. Most of the world criminalizes sex work which adds police and state harassment to my list.
great! then you should be all for legalised and regulated sex work… because that’s the way it is here in melbourne, australia and its excellent and good for everyone… in the real world
Yes, I’m pro legally protected consensual sex work, thanks for asking. That’s why I know in Melbourne is legal but not the rest of Australia. Like in 99% of the world where it is criminalized. I’m an advocate red actually worked with victims of sex trafficking for a long time. That’s why I draw the distinction between what we wish it would be, and what happens in reality.
Let’s just if it’s one guy a day. And that already puts you above minimum wage.
Make this a full-time job, get eight guys in a day. $292,000 a year. And you still weren’t even be working all day!
At those numbers that’s not a side gig, that’s just a full career with early retirement depending on lifestyle.
I’d let dudes bang me for $100 a day, and I’m not even gay. Realistically, how long we talking per session? 5 minutes if they’re lucky?
Why not just let 7 dudes a day do it for 100 a pop. $700 for 35 minutes of “work” with 6 days to let my bum hole recover.
Maybe double down a few times before holidays for some extra spending money.
Well… ya know… std’s and what not…
If it’s a numbers game, how many loads can you take before being exposed to something with life-long consequences, statistically speaking?
STDs, protection against being raped, kidnapped/trafficked, or murdered, the travel time and cleanup between clients unless you’re in-house, and in that case the cost of maintaining a safe and comfortable space, and finally the side effort you have to work on to maintain a body / appearance that people actually want to fuck. I’m all for sex work being legal, but it should be regulated specifically to protect workers.
How would regulation fix those things? Versus decriminalization?
The same way OSHA prevents workers from being expendable labor because of unsafe workplaces. I don’t want decriminalization. I want legalization. And I know OSHA doesn’t exactly fit the bill, but regulating sex work already exists in Nevada, and it’s much better for said workers.
Well, we could just make a law requiring that sex workers own their own means of production and anyone who owns a sex worker’s means of production is a human trafficker. But then the other workers might catch on that they are also being trafficked
I disagree that it should be purely between a sex worker and their doctor. I won’t get into the ownership of workers means of production, as I feel that’s a meta conversation that could be applied to any worker, and in any workers case, I would still want something like OSHA to exist.
I appreciate your perspective, and I’m sure you have far more insight than I do, but as a metaphor, in the sense that if I hire a contractor to build a house, and they and another private party decide the quality and situation of the construction, with no externally required guidelines to be followed except that the contractor can continue building houses, that wouldn’t make me feel safe about my specific house.
In any case, all the best and thanks for the thoughtful response
Yes, it should. Just like how we’ve found abortion has a million medical reasons to be performed and the conversation is best done between a woman and her doctor, STI status is the same, except maybe also add in a public health official from the CDC if there are concerns or questions. That health official can contact trace if the CDC deems it necessary. We probably only need to contact trace for HIV, though, which afaik is what is already done. Maybe syphilis too since that can go in your brain.
There are a few reasons for this. One of them is that empowered/independent sex workers are substantially less likely to have STIs, so it’s a waste of resources to test them all the time. We should all be getting tested regularly and we do if we have access to Healthcare and aren’t being trafficked (studies show this), but that conversation should be directed by an actual health professional who has seen that actual specific patient because it’s so complicated.
The highest group for STI risk are abused people. Really. You can actually just think of STIs as a form of biological abuse and you’d be right. Sex workers who are being trafficked are the ones who are extremely high in STIs because they can’t get to doctors, aren’t allowed to refuse clients, and are forced to engage in sex without condoms. They are victims and separate from the field of independent workers in terms of risk profile.
Other notable groups with high STI prevalence include: children, especially adults under age 25. The disabled, particularly nonspeaking disabled. And the elderly, particularly memory affected elderly. Why? Because they are fucking victims of abuse. The most likely person to have an STI is someone overlapping these groups - a disabled teenage girl, for instance, who can’t talk.
I can’t even go with your metaphor about contracting houses due to how far off base it is with the reality of sex work and STIs. STI tests are not done for the client’s safety, they are done for the worker’s safety.
Then do it. There’s nothing stopping you. Go do it. $100 is very cheap so you’ll find customers.
Except for, you know, the whole pimps extorting you and generalized abuse and ill treatment of sex workers. Forced labor, human trafficking risk, etc.
i’m not saying those things aren’t a problem, but they don’t really move the needle in places where sex work is considered real work
The places where sex work is considered real work and protected by law are a very tiny minority. Most of the world criminalizes sex work which adds police and state harassment to my list.
not a problem with the concept; that’s a problem with local law
I have a tendency of caring more for the real world and real people than about concepts. My bad.
great! then you should be all for legalised and regulated sex work… because that’s the way it is here in melbourne, australia and its excellent and good for everyone… in the real world
Yes, I’m pro legally protected consensual sex work, thanks for asking. That’s why I know in Melbourne is legal but not the rest of Australia. Like in 99% of the world where it is criminalized. I’m an advocate red actually worked with victims of sex trafficking for a long time. That’s why I draw the distinction between what we wish it would be, and what happens in reality.