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.
That's fair and legitimate pushback. My response, though not as a disagreement with you, would be to suggest that modern liberalism and progressivism, while concerned about material conditions, get the cart before the horse. That is, the way to address material conditions among sex workers is to reduce stigma. The thought is if we de-stigmatize sex work--"Sex work is work"--sex workers will have access to health care and a living wage. But that call ignores the problem that most women, if they had access to a living wage and health care, wouldn't be choosing sex work. We're leaving the material conditions driving the system unchanged.
But, yes, I agree with you that liberals are WAY more concerned about the material conditions of sex workers than are conservatives. What I was trying to point out was that liberals, in their concern for sex workers, are misdiagnosing the problem. In this, I'm in broad agreement with those who have argued that where old-school liberalism, with its roots in the labor movement, focused upon class issues, modern progressivism tends to focus more on "identity" issues that center "feels" over material conditions. A classic example of this is how modern progressives have shifted their focus to diversity where old-school liberals used to center poverty. I'm Marxist enough to think that you'll never get to diversity until you deal with poverty. Poverty is the engine. Horse first, then cart. Not the other way around. Right or wrong, this is the argument I'm making about sex work.
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.
That's fair and legitimate pushback. My response, though not as a disagreement with you, would be to suggest that modern liberalism and progressivism, while concerned about material conditions, get the cart before the horse. That is, the way to address material conditions among sex workers is to reduce stigma. The thought is if we de-stigmatize sex work--"Sex work is work"--sex workers will have access to health care and a living wage. But that call ignores the problem that most women, if they had access to a living wage and health care, wouldn't be choosing sex work. We're leaving the material conditions driving the system unchanged.
But, yes, I agree with you that liberals are WAY more concerned about the material conditions of sex workers than are conservatives. What I was trying to point out was that liberals, in their concern for sex workers, are misdiagnosing the problem. In this, I'm in broad agreement with those who have argued that where old-school liberalism, with its roots in the labor movement, focused upon class issues, modern progressivism tends to focus more on "identity" issues that center "feels" over material conditions. A classic example of this is how modern progressives have shifted their focus to diversity where old-school liberals used to center poverty. I'm Marxist enough to think that you'll never get to diversity until you deal with poverty. Poverty is the engine. Horse first, then cart. Not the other way around. Right or wrong, this is the argument I'm making about sex work.