Feminists are a group of disgruntled individuals who rose in the late 19th century to detest the unequal treatment of women and men. They clamored for the recognition of women as being equal to men against the then definition, which placed women under men’s servitude. Feminist theories like Marxist feminism, radical feminism, liberal feminism, and socialist feminism all agree that there was and still is a degree of exploitation of women by the structures created in society. Sexual workers and agents are no less affected than other women in this conundrum. Hence, one thing that all these feminists’ theories will agree on is that sexual workers are facing exploitation and oppression by the social structures that don’t support their flourishing. This is more so considering that the majority of the workers are women who are already stigmatized. At the centre of all the discussion, social construction theory explains why things are the way they are and how they can be corrected, being that most of the events which seem so mundane are merely functions of social processes (Haslanger, 2017). Iris Young enlists five forms of oppression, which are exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, violence, and cultural imperialism. All these are meted out to the voiceless sexual workers simply because they tend to deviate from what are considered social norms. However, this essay emphasizes that exploitation, powerlessness, and violence are the most ubiquitous oppressions faced by sexual workers.
Marxist feminists’ theory traces its existence from Karl Marx’s theory of exploitation. He claimed that society is segmented into two factions: the bourgeois and the proletariat. The bourgeois exploit the proletariat of their labour and only pay them a small amount. This is a capitalist society, where some people are in constant control while others are subjects. Similarly, feminists believe that society is structured in such a way that women are made to serve the interests of men, while structures exist to keep them in this condition. Under such a circumstance, a woman may not create an identity for herself and achieve what she was created to achieve. Power in society rests on men, while women are subjects. Hence, women less often make choices regarding their own flourishing as this is delegated to men. This attitude of viewing women as helpless and dependent beings is extended to sex workers, who are mainly women. The sex workers are viewed in terms of their capacity to provide sex for men at their own convenience. While doing so, they are vilified and labeled by the same men. These women have no body for themselves since they are meant to provide sexual pleasure for men (Young, 2014). Otherwise, in the context of sex workers and agencies, the agents behind the ferrying of women from one location to the other can be viewed as exploiting them for profit motives. Unfortunately, these women do not earn as much from their sacrifices as their agents. Women’s bodies are seen through the lens of the creation of profits for the capitalists rather than as a faculty of respect, which is the basis of Marx’s exploitation theory (Young, 2014). In the article “Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex,” Bickers and Ditmore (2003) narrate that trip clubs and other facilities exploit people for sexual performances without even paying some of them. They can succeed in doing this because no laws protect these people.
From the foregoing, it is evident that sex workers are weak and vulnerable to exploitation by their agents. Young (2014) explains powerlessness as a lack of authority while power is being exercised over you. It means that this category of people cannot participate in legislating laws governing their profession and lives. Sex workers are powerless in the sense that laws regulating their conduct are made by people who don’t know the hurdles they undergo while at work. Both the government and employers exercise power over them as they implement their aspirations in silence. In the article “They Don’t Want to Include Women Like Me,” Cooney (2018) narrates the story of a young former sex worker whose opinions were used against her when she tried to express the sexual violence she underwent. Instead of the Facebook community joining hands to rebuke the abuser, she was marginalized and condemned for having been a sex worker. This underscores the idea that once one becomes a sex worker, one loses one’s power to be heard, to influence legislation, or even to fight for one’s rights.
Finally, sex workers face violence, which is both physical and emotional. For instance, the backlash that Melony Hill faced while trying to present her case was violent, and this was only because she had worked as a sex worker. While explaining violence, Young (2014) says that these marginalized groups live in fear of random explosion of violence against them, their work, or their property with the bid to molest, humiliate or silence them. Raping a sex worker is not taken as seriously as other rapes. In other words, sexual violence against sex workers is not considered violence under the guise that, after all, that is what she does. These are systematic forms of violence because they are only directed at marginalized groups like sex workers. It is similar to the kind of violence that black men face in America. The black man is continually fearing being a victim of such circumstances no matter how much he tries to avoid them. Physical violence is also rampant among sex workers, who are particularly abused by their clients or law enforcement officers. According to Bickers & Ditmore (2003), sex workers are always in the spotlight for their actions and may even lose housing. This is so even if they are still not safe from the police, the clients, and public humiliation. Paradoxically, police, who should be unbiased in their law enforcement, tend to side with men who are reported to abuse sex workers. This is systematic violence against sex workers.
In conclusion, sex workers are exploited like any other proletariat in the Marxist conception. If it is not physical abuse, then it is emotional. The three forms of oppression that have come out to be closely associated with this group of people are violence, powerlessness, and exploitation. Exploitation is rife because agents who, at times, own the strip clubs and commercial sex working agencies reap big from the business as the individual women languish in poverty. Violence is promoted by the public, police, and clients. All these leave the workers powerless and with no voice to influence their own thriving.
References
Bickers, M. & Ditmore, M. (2003). “Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex, PM Press, 2003 “Introduction.” https://archive.org/details/matilda-bickers-peech-breshears-janis-luna-working-it-sex-workers-on-the-work-of-sex-pm-press-2023/page/1/mode/2up?view=theater
Cooney, S. (2018). Sex Workers Say They’re Being Left Out of the #MeToo Movement. Retrieved from https://time.com/5104951/sex-workers-me-too-movement/
Haslanger, S. (2017). Gender and social construction. Applied ethics: A multicultural approach, 299-307.
Young, I. M. (2014). Five faces of oppression. Albany: State University of New York.
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