I recently made a post about this topic but it caused a lot of controversy. I did not specify and used the broad term of sex work which probably made the interpretations so varied. For the purposes of this conversation, I want to focus on work that is consensual because obviously human trafficking or coercive sex is inherently wrong and exploitative. Some people even said that sex work is not valid labor which I personally found strange. I’m personally not a fanboy of the sex industry at all, but most people involved would say that the illegality of it exacerbates the bad situation that they find themselves in, and I cannot personally find a reason to be going against what the people involved are saying. And yeah it probably wouldn’t exist under socialism but at the same time, I think it is a huge mistake to go in with an iron fist and just say “I’m going to make everyone stop sex work right this instant because it’s not socialist” because this does not treat the underlying causes of it, which will only make it spring back up anyway.
And I’m not just expecting one type of answer but if I am making an error in applying dialectical materialism or Marxism-Leninism please let me know.
well…the issue with prostitution is that is very likely that something that should be a fringe fetish (having sex with unknown people) has become into a business. in capitalist society most of the prostitutes when they’re not sex slaves, the ones that “do it consensually” is mostly because there’s no other job available in their current condition, or their current level of education, or even then, wage labor gives them less money and even less free time than doing prostitution
My thoughts exactly. As Marxists we don’t care if you have sex with lots of people, strangers, or like showing off a bit among consenting adults. The problem is the toxic grindset, side-hustle mentality that says you should turn a hobby into a career. Among those who aren’t pushed into it by bad economic circumstances there’s this odd idea that sex (often specifically masturbation if we’re talking cam stuff) should be monetized. This will make the world better these people think for some reason. Monetization of free things has yet to really improve anything but they’re sure this time it will. Now I’m a fan of masturbation myself. I think everyone should do it from time to time as needs dictate. What I am not a fan of is turning what should be a nice private moment or an intimate moment with a loved one/romantic partner or an exhilarating act of free love and daring do showing off to strangers into something that’s charged for and which you basically do what someone on the other side of the screen tells you to do.
And I have looked into this a little, read a little literature on it. Before a bunch of jerk men started screen-recording and capturing everything and everyone realized that oh shit the internet is forever and others will see this. There was a thriving bit of time where a certain amount of lonely women would show off for lonely men online and everyone had a good time. No money was exchanged, no goods were begged for, no like or subscribe buttons were smashed. It was just good old human horniness and a bit of mutual help between introverts. Strangely, though that died, what arose some years later was the practice of selling yourself in the same format. It arrived just as patreon and other things were springing up and people were tossing their little hobby projects they’d previously freely shared behind paywalls.
Socialism thusly should strive to bring back free love. Abolish gating hobbys behind micro-fees. Encourage sharing, cooperation, and the finer parts of being human that have been taken from us by capitalism.