Thread by @mariliacout

@DrSprankle 1/ Eric, although I agree with you, I believe the path to debunking the myths about sex work are best accomplished by systematically giving voice to sex workers' experience and discourse.

@DrSprankle 2/ It's also important to define sex work, which is not restricted to prostitution and the educated public has little idea of its complexity. Many years ago, as a left-leaning liberal that I always was, I also believed prostitutes were forced labor, especially in Brazil.

@DrSprankle 3/ (I am originally from Brazil and a scholar). All the documentaries about the "zonas" (old time prostitution neighborhoods) were sickening and our reaction was to "fight their oppressors". When the prostitutes' movement grew, got legalization and professional regulation...

@DrSprankle 4/ and finally were unionized, other voices were heard. The Brazilian example is ironic because now they will be dangerously targetted by the criminal mob who the millions of angry evangelicals elected as president, Bolsonaro.
nswp.org/swleader/gabri…

@DrSprankle 5/ This interesting story is about a prostitute's blog that became a literary phenomenon, with a wide readership and was later made into a movie. It's her voice, her words and the country had to listen:
nytimes.com/2006/04/27/wor…

@DrSprankle 6/ The organizing and legalization process, though, is what gave them the power to confront the threats they had faced in silence for centuries. Finally, it became a topic of scientific inquiry.
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

@DrSprankle 6/ There is still a long way to go in the legal arena, according to what their leaders say. And that is the last item of the list: respect alterity. The only ones with legitimacy to say what is or is not good for them are the sex workers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitut…

@DrSprankle 6/ This is far from simple and a few feminist leaders clashed against prostitutes' representatives according to a typical "estrangement" reasoning and a self-entitled right to speak for all women, including prostitutes:
sxpolitics.org/trans-and-pros…

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