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SWERFs (Sex-Worker Exclusionary Radical Feminists) mirror patriarchal toxic masculinity and contribute to the oppression of women, a thread:
SWERFs call themselves abolitionists, their goal to criminalize and “end the sex trade”. They believe most, if not all women are trafficked into the industry and all SW is rape. They believe there can be no consent where money is exchanged.
While that might be true for them personally, it’s a very, very interesting claim to assert what consent is for others. It’s very misguided imo to tell me what I do and do not consent to.
Most are western women who are very well meaning, but are fully indulgent in a savior fantasy. I get it, they want to hep, but I wish they would listen. Often their goal would do nothing to help women in developing nations/only serve to hurt other west women living under cap.
They don’t consider sex work through a lens that examines the worker, they only view it in terms of victimization - stripping away the autonomy and infantilizing hundreds of thousands of women, across the entire world.
In their minds, millions of women and children are being trafficked into sex slavery and making all sex work illegal will just make this go away.
There’s not consideration for black markets and how they ramp up danger surrounding activities that have the potential to be dangerous to begin with, not only because it more involves police (which are some of the greatest threats to sex workers)
but because it’s much more secretive with fewer access to outside connections and highlights the key fact: laws don’t stop actions.
Nevermind the fact that criminalizing all sex work in the west will do nothing to help most of the victims of trafficking, who come from Asia and are trafficked within the region.
Nevermind the fact that tons of data concerning how many people are actually trafficked that is relied upon by both governing bodies and NGOs is completely inaccurate and at times pure guesswork.
Banning sex work historically has not made it go away, new legislation to curb it has only caused more damage. FOSTA is a disaster which has not saved more children and has led to ODs, starvation, suicides, murders, rapes and more women walking into the arms of pimps, who are -
- you guessed it, human traffickers.
FOSTA, heralded as a huge victory by SWERFs is cringeworthy arrogance with a body count at best and willful sacrifice of SWs and victims for a retention of power via the approval of voters ignorance towards shallow feel-good legislation at worst.
Beyond the SWERF movement's impotence to help actual victims, it adds insult to injury by further throwing consenting SW into it’s crosshairs.
The goal is to take away an entire series of industries. Independently produced porn? Exploitation. Consenting, independent full service providers? Exploited.
The worst, most abused, downtrodden individuals trotted forward in some condescending dog and pony show to tell other SWs and the world that those individuals are just how it is.
Like a strict father figure, these SWERFs know best, better than the hundreds of thousands of consenting workers, just trying to make ends meet under capitalism, what’s best for them.
I see zero realistic alternatives offered for once the “sex-trade” is vanquished. I see no SWERFs offering to employ or school or house any of these SWs they plan to take a means of survival away from
Perhaps so many SWERFs are also TERFs and radfems who hate men and characterize them as condescending, abusive and controlling infantilizers because the projection is easier than looking inward
or coming up with complex solutions that don’t feel good but actually solve the incredibly serious problem we face of legitimately rampant trafficking and consenting workers still suffering under capitalism
