Right then. I'm going to talk about this issue, and anyone who wants to give me shit about it? Strap on. Hell. Line forms to the left.
Consistantly, without fail, without hesitation, there are a group of people left out, and yep, marginalized, when it comes to any and every debate about sex work...
You know who they are?
Male Sex Workers. And yep, they sure as hell do exist. Male strippers, male escorts, male porn performers, male pro BDSM'ers...there are men in the sex biz. And guess what? They take shit too! What are some obvious ways? Well, as a whole, general rule, they make peanuts compared to their female counterparts. Just like their female counterparts, they are subject to stereotyping, harassment, assault, robbery, and yep, even rape...but when those things happen to them, not only do they get the "well, you sell sex and sexuality" bullshit, they get "But you're a man, surely you could've fought back!" They may not take the blatant whore baiting "you're so damaged" shit as hard as women do, because what, men are supposed to want to fuck all the time or whatever (so untrue), but yeah...what about the Men?
And physically? Sex work is just as demanding physically for men as it is for women, perhaps even on occasion more so. In all these anti porn talks you hear about the women; the looks on their faces, the way they must be in pain, or use drugs, and suffer physically. Ahem, you think that is limited to the women? The guys face the same shit, you know. Popping vigra like candy? Going at it like nuts for an long period of time? They sweat, and ache, and work just like the women. They get sore and raw and exhausted, just like the women. They face pain just like the women...as well as STD/STI's, burnout, social stigma, and all that other stuff too.
Male strippers? You think there is not pressure there? To be well-built, waxed, perfectly groomed, in shape? You think they never have pushy/grabby/rude/insulting customers? You think they don't hear inappropriate remarks and propositions and slights on their brains, or souls, or morality? You'd be wrong.
You think male prostitutes don't get beaten up, robbed, raped, mistreated by the law, discriminated against, mocked and dehumanized? Guess what, they do.
You think young boys aren't trafficked, raped, abused? Wrong.
So yeah, looking at it through "feminist lense" or not, when speaking on sex work, sex workers rights, sex workers issues...well yeah...
What about the men???
Sunday, May 04, 2008
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13 comments:
It's weird how little male sex workers show up in both social science and even fiction compared to female sex workers. Trans* sex workers, of either gender, seem similarly erased. Frankly I think that by keeping ciswomen as the objects of sex work discussion, people get to maintain their little men-vs-women war without letting the real issues get in the way too much. Both certain 'feminist' academics and certain male writers, TV producers, etc, benefit from the continuation of this false war.
I work with some male sex workers, and the sex worker's rights group I work with has been quite active in trying to include the voices and perspectives of male workers and help them represent themselves within our organisation.
The issues facing male and female workers are at once so similar and so incredibly different.
According to my hand book, under Article 7 "men are to be considered women for purposes of being subject to vile penetrato-stitutionism (regardless of whether they are actually penetrated or not, under topological deconstruction it's ALL being penetrate, ergo violantly violated)."
Under Amendment 18 (the Brownmiller codicil): "None of this, however, confers primal women's rights as victims of rape, the process where ALL men keep ALL women in a state of subjugation."
Men tend to be invisible in sex-work.
No one wants to hear about them and no one wants to talk about them. At best, people think that sex-work is always a cakewalk for a man, because of the old stereotype that a man will enjoy practically anything as long as it's sexual.
Thanks for this post, Ren. Meesa wuv you.
I would assume that the reason why male sex workers aren't given anywhere near the public attention of the female sex workers is that they can be ghettoized into the "gay male" subculture (never mind that you can have male sex workers serving female clients as well).
But like thene said, it's far more advantageous for the anti-sex work abolitionists everywhere to dismiss the plight of male sex workers, simply to keep the fiction of "men sexually exploiting/oppressing/killing/degrading women" alive....and to sell that meme to an already slanted anti-sex audience.
Anthony
Fuck yes, Ren. Right on.
Quoting Roykay:
According to my hand book, under Article 7 "men are to be considered women for purposes of being subject to vile penetrato-stitutionism (regardless of whether they are actually penetrated or not, under topological deconstruction it's ALL being penetrate, ergo violantly violated)."
First off, Roy..what's the source for that??
And this "men are defined as women" thing: why couldn't they simply say that forced penetration is a crime against "humans" rather than invent the "female=subjugated/male=aggressor" role?? I mean, it's not as if men can't be victims of forced penetration by other men, and even, though very much rare, by women).
Under Amendment 18 (the Brownmiller codicil): "None of this, however, confers primal women's rights as victims of rape, the process where ALL men keep ALL women in a state of subjugation."
OK....so, if I read this correctly, rape is no longer merely a direct physical assault by a person or group of people on another person for the purpose of direct physical harm and injury; but it now becomes the singular means in which ALL men in perpetuality control ALL women??
Does that include those fundamentalist Christian women in the former Yugoslavia who looked the other way when supposed "mass rapes" of Bosnian Muslim women were occuring?? What about the Bosnian men who were the brothers, the husbands, the friends, and the lovers of those women being raped.....should they be held just as liable for what happened to their sisters merely because they have working penises??
And you wonder why Susan Brownmiller was capable of writing and inferring that Emmett Till and the Scottsboro boys who were lynched by Southern racists may have gotten what they deserved???
Sorry, but I believe in targeting only those who commit the crimes for punishment...not using it as a wedge to slam every man who has an erection. Rapists should be held responsible for their crimes, not all men who have erections.
Anthony
Woh, that's some mightily important writing, Ren - thanks for writing it.
Anthony, roykay is taking the piss: he's "quoting" what the Radfem Sexual Abuse Catechism would say if it existed.
I agree with much of what you write, but I have to take issue with one point. Male porn actors only make peanuts if they do het porn, right? (And if they are not acting as amateur combo filmmaker/director/actor.) And that's because there's a glut of guys who want to be in het porn. If they did gay porn they'd make more, in general, than the women. So, bend over?
Also, it's still largely guys at the top (in other areas of sex work too) who rake in most of the profits. And most everything's centered around what guys want, because guys are the main audience.
That doesn't help your individual male sex worker who's in a bad spot, of course. And I think it's totally reprehensible that men are taken even less seriously than women after an attack. That needs to change.
Anonymous:To the best of my knowledge, gay porn performers make less than het ones. Porn star wise, women make more money.
And this post isn't about management. It's about the people actually doing the performing/dancing/escorting...
Let me say this now, FOR EVERYONE.
STICK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND.
The issue here isn't "well, but most strip clubs are run by men, most porn is made by/for men (which does not at all decrease the way the work itself effects the men doing it), most pimps are men, most male prostitutes service men..."
That isn't the damn topic. Male sex workers are the topic. Stick to it.
Though Roykay does have a point - men who are sexually subordinate are considered women by Catherine MacKinnon.
Back on topic: It's similar to how male rape gets erased and joked about, especially when women rape men and men get raped in prison.
Try explaining to men (and women) why these jokes are not funny - it's not easy ('oh can't you take a joke?')
I can't imagine how futile/fustrating/degrading it must be being a male sex worker trying to get a prosecution for rape. =(
From what I understand, Male strippers tend to end up taking more abuse from the patrons of their establishments than the women. I know when I'm at a club it tends to be the women who seem to feel it is okay to grope and touch the proformers in an inaproprate manner. I understand it's even worse for the male strippers....
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