this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
229 points (91.9% liked)

Asklemmy

43750 readers
1243 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you support the sex workers, this is the main answer. If you like them but not their clients how is that supposed to work economically?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

If you like them but not their clients how is that supposed to work economically?

The Nordic or neo-abolitionist model exists. Sweden was the first nation to implement it I think. Selling sex is legal, buying is not. Seems to work for them

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You've got that backwards. In Sweden, buying is illegal, selling is not. Essentially turning the customer into a rapist and the seller into a victim. And rightly so! Considering that most women selling sex are doing so because of human trafficking, or at least coercion or desperation, it's cruel, immoral, and ironic that they are criminalized in the rest of the world outside of Sweden and the other countries that have followed their model.

Men who pay for sex are the driving force behind human trafficking.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you are agreeing with the post above yours. They said that selling sex is legal, while buying is not.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yes. My mistake. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That's exactly what I said. I'll just quote myself here:

Selling sex is legal, buying is not.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Apologies. I swear I reread your comment 3 times, and each time I replaced legal with illegal in my mind. I see it now!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Seems to work for them.

Do you know something I don't? From what I hear both sex workers and johns continue to exist, just like in the old abolitionist/prohibitionist model.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The point isn't to prohibit it, it's to give the prostitute the legal advantage when reporting the john (and thereby rein in the behavior of johns with the tacit threat)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well that's nice, but I feel like it could also be abused. What if a prostitute (which is one kind of sex worker) threatened to report a john as a form of blackmail?

It'd probably be best to regulate the entire thing as a legal industry and put in place some sort of watchlist for suspected bad johns.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What if a prostitute . . . threatened to report a john as a form of blackmail?

They already can and sometimes do, usually as honeypots (here I mean the criminal kind). "Blackmail is illegal" and also blackmailing someone being very dangerous are two major elements preventing it. I don't think making buying legal would be a significant factor since usually the blackmail is on the level of social standing, not getting charged with a relatively minor crime (generally a misdemeanor). Furthermore, especially because prostitution exists more in the open in these societies, the prostitute who blackmails would also have her reputation damaged quite severely, to the point that it might not be viable for her to continue her profession if it gets out that she even attempted blackmail -- to say nothing of the fact that, not to beat a dead horse, having someone who absolutely hates your guts (the victim) makes being a prostitute much more dangerous: What if this is one of the old john's friends or someone he hired to hurt you?

"The plight of the johns" is also just not a very moving cause because anyone who is worried about getting blackmailed even given all of these factors can just not buy sex. Prostitutes are much more likely to be desperate -- though less likely in these countries than in a place like the US.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well, there's some good arguments there. But making something you want people to do illegal is certainly counterintuitive and doesn't seem like a sane approach to me.

β€œThe plight of the johns” is also just not a very moving cause because anyone who is worried about getting blackmailed even given all of these factors can just not buy sex.

Ah, so you do want to prohibit sex work. I get that's not what you think you're saying, but prostitutes can't exist without johns, and so it doesn't fall under "support sex workers". Now, abolishing sex work is a thing intelligent, well-meaning people argue for as well, but that's a different conversation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

No, because a) blackmail is just a very poor business model in this case and b) most people don't stand to lose that much over a misdemeanor, especially since the prostitute would also need to prove her case, the John can sue for libel if she fails to, etc. etc. Anyone scared of the fringe chance can just not go, but most people who otherwise would want to go would probably still want to go.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's pretty straight forward, really.

stalin-gun-1stalin-gun-2

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

hexbear user being utterly predictable

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

good to see we're renowned for our correct opinions already

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can't make a proper argument- check

Must rely on memes and gifs to communicate- check

On the rare occasion they actually put their big boy pants on and write some text it's super offensive/racist/bigoted- check

Hexbear user confirmed.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

racist

What, do you think cracker is a slur?