Can A Person Be A Sex Worker Rights Activist While Not Enjoying Sex Work Themselves?

[Kubrickfan 12836]

Agreed. A lot of people don't particularly like their jobs but can speak with a high level of expertise and insight about those jobs. That being said, it may bring a bit more negativity to what you have to say on the topic.

[Kate von Katz 49953]

I'm an animal rights supporter, but I'm by no stretch a vegetarian or a non-animal product user. I simply believe that just because we're going to eat them, doesn't give us the right to treat them like crap before we do.

 

You won't see me at a rally or on the PETA website. I do my part in a quieter way, as it's just how I am. (believe it or not ;-) )

 

Same goes for a lot of things. You don't have to be personally invested to support something, especially when there's many different levels of support. You don't have to live and breathe anything to support it. You just have to agree with the objective of the movement.

 

Having your voice heard goes against the passive society we live in. So many people support things from a more comfortable position. Doesn't make them less supportive, just a bit more shy about making waves.

 

That's my 2 cents, anyhow.

[baileydog 9367]

of course you can!

 

I am a sex worker rights activist ... have never been a sex worker ... only just recently became a client

 

and, thinking of activists, sadly, I just learned that Wendy Babcock was found dead yesterday

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/08/11/gulliver-death.html

[VedaSloan 119179]

I think that this particular perspective is very important to the sex workers' rights movements, if only because prohibitionists are constantly using the experiences of those who had awful things happen to them while working in the sex trade, who were motivated by survival etc, to say that prostitution should be expunged. The sex workers' rights movement becomes all the more stronger in my mind if the experiences of those who don't like the job, but who still see that there needs to be a change, are allowed to be voiced.

[Switch-Madison 1744]

Just in case you want more reading;

 

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1037824--prostitute-turned-osgoode-law-student-found-dead

 

It's to bad she would have made even more of a difference if we still had her.

[scribbles 6031]

There is an interesting dichotomy here. I can understand (notice I don't say 'agree') that there would be mistrust of activism from someone who did not "like" the business. After all, the most obvious question would be "why would you advocate for the rights of someone doing something you yourself do not like, instead of advocating for its abolition?"

 

I have had an interest in the industry long before becoming a patron of it. I would really like to research and possibly write about it. However, that kind of interest is usually confronted with suspicion. I've been asked "what could *you* have to say about it?", when, really, it's someone else's story that I want to be a part of telling.

 

And, that's what you're trying to do as well, only informed by first hand experience. You're telling other people's stories and speaking on their behalf for their betterment. I don't think there's anything the matter with that. As a matter of fact, worker or no, like it or not, I think activism could use all the intelligent and articulate voices available.