I’ve seen this report / thesis covered in multiple places now and the coverage has been poor. What is it about the sex industry that means critical thinking gets thrown out the window? smh.com.au/lifestyle/life…
Firstly, there is always *always* a set of power relations involved in purchasing sexual access to another person. We shouldn’t celebrate women purchasing sexual access to others, just as we shouldn’t celebrate men purchasing sexual access to others. It is a form of coercion.
Secondly, I’ve been conducting research in this space for about 15 years. There are constant claims about the ‘increasing’ number of women purchasing sex, but with virtually no evidence. Let’s keep this in perspective: The people who purchase sexual access are overwhelmingly men. 
We can’t, and shouldn’t, overlook this. Even when women are rolled in to ‘couples’ (as in previous tweet) you’re looking at less than 6%. We cannot separate our the functioning of the sex industry from male sexual entitlement under white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
Thirdly, I find it fascinating that the argument here is that purchasing sexual access give a women ‘control’ in these sexual encounters. Because when feminists like me argue that men purchasing sexual access to women gives those men control, we’re told this isn’t nuanced enough.
So we have a classic patriarchal reversal. When women buy sexual access it makes them powerful, even in a patriarchal system. And yet women are also supposed to be powerful when men are purchasing sexual access to them. It’s almost as though this is a nonsense analysis.
And that there is just a determination to deny the sexist oppression at the heart of the sex trade. And to ignore the role of male demand at every turn. #EndVAW #EndDemand
Finally, even if we accept that some women do *feel* as though purchasing sexual access gives them more power and control in heterosexual sexual encounters - what kind of an indictment is this of normative heterosexuality?! Where is the analysis?
The solution to the shitty power dynamics of heteropatriarchy is not for privileged women to buy sexual access to others. The solution is revolution.
I mean, which is it? Does purchasing sexual access give you power and control, or not? Or is the argument really going to be that it magically *doesn't* give men control, even within existing heterosexual power dynamics, but it *does* manage to do this for women? REALLY?!?
Also, for more context, have a read of what men who purchase sexual access say about how they see women in systems of prostitution. (also insert just about every content warning you can think of for these): journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…
