The Case Against the Sexual Revolution
Part 19, The Economic Gradient of the Global Sex Trade
We remain in Chapter 7 of Louise Perry's The Case Against the Sexual Revolution entitled "People are Not Products," Perry's chapter about the harms and oppressions associated with the sex trade.
In last week's post we discussed how many liberals tend to misdiagnosis the problems associated with prostitution. Specifically, there is a very well-intentioned desire to reduce the stigma surrounding sex work. I fully support that effort, and I think I'm following the example of Jesus in doing so.
And yet, reducing stigma does little to address the economic realities that drive women toward prostitution. As we discussed last week, most women involved in sex work are driven to it out of economic desperation. Middle class and wealthy women, by and large, tend avoid sex work as a career move. Poor women face a more grim and dire choice. And these economic disparities conform to a global pattern. As Perry writes,
In the global sex industry, it is the poor countries that provide the 'product' and rich countries that provide the demand. The brothels of the UK, Netherlands and Germany are filled with women from poor parts of the European Union, in particular Romania, as well as some women from West Africa and Southeast Asia, some of whom have been forcibly trafficked, while the rest are there as a result of varying degrees of poverty. Meanwhile, the brothels of Bangkok that cater for tourists are filled with sex buyers from Europe, Australia, and North America. The buyers tend to have lighter coloured skins than the sellers because sex is sold in only one direction along the economic gradient.
Concerning the economic gradient of the global sex trade, I wish liberals, and I say this as a Christian, were a little more Marxist in their analysis of sex work. Stigma is a concern, but I wish liberals would pay more attention to the material conditions affecting women, and do something about those material conditions. It's a sad situation. Liberals used to care about class issues. They don't much anymore.
Gotcha. I misunderstood your main critique. I think you’re exactly right. My main critiques of the left center on their moving away from addressing working class concerns and the root problems that make women feel compelled to do sex work and people in general to make poor choices (join gangs, sell drugs, etc.). Just too much identity politics. The good news is the electorate has become disillusioned with this, and if the left really wants to make changes, they’ll have to get away from their current mentality to have a chance at winning elections and governing.
There was a poll recently that showed voters perceive DEMOCRATS to be slightly more extreme than Republicans, even though the latter are more violent and tried to overthrow our democracy. It’s kind of mind boggling to me, but it shows you how much people really, really dislike identity politics, cancel culture, wokeism, etc.
I’m gonna push back here a little. Liberals, as far as I can tell, are the predominant political affiliation trying to improve material economic conditions that drive sex work. I see little economic attempts at improvement from the right. It’s a seemingly slavish devotion to the free market, and, well, part of the free market in the global market is sex work. I’m not saying conservatives support the sex trade; they don’t. But liberals and center-left politicians are far more willing to try to directly improve material economic conditions for the poor via government intervention than any other political affiliation.