[NetBehaviour] Sex Work and Consent at @transmediale
Simon Biggs
simon at littlepig.org.uk
Thu Feb 9 14:26:59 CET 2012
You've hit all the nails on their heads :)
On 9 Feb 2012, at 11:39, marc garrett wrote:
>
> One of the most depressing things regarding working class culture in the
> UK (of which I am part of), is that the 'gutter' press and x factor
> mentality, has poisoned cultural dialogue through a process of
> 'top-down' corporatized mediation, with shallow glamour & celebrity
> banality; which holds down any hope of 'real' change from the lower
> classes, en masse. It is the middle class, the educated who are out
> there changing things and protesting, and the younger dysfunctional kids
> 'uneducated' who rioted and smashed the shops for designer clothes. We
> are truly living in a Ballardian nightmare, where most rebellions exist
> within a constant loop of consumer orientated entrapment.
>
> The desire to be free, is channeled, exploited through protocols and
> frameworks which mutate the mutated, into extreme distortions which more
> relate to consumer, designed fetishism, rather than connecting to actual
> 'wild' and deeper resonances. Whether male or female, we are all trapped
> in a maze of a trade off that demands the sell-off of our possbile
> liberations, via gadgets and fantasy-promises. The revolt of the
> privelaged, gains greater control through globalization, its networks,
> and an never ending war on us the people, and the constant creation of
> wars to distract us from claiming civil liberties, whilst they say
> civil-rights is nothing but a privelage in itself.
>
> The other thing to remember, is that supply and demand whether
> technological or 'physical', social construction, is based on exploiting
> 'habits' not 'needs'. Thus, if we are to expect to change anything,
> either personal or societal, we need to recognise that our habits are
> our weeknesses. Re-establishing control over our 'INNER' contexts will
> only be truly evolutionary or revolutionary, if we express, think and
> act beyond habit. For the habit of the individual/masses, creates ways
> in, various roots - where methods of psychological power is at its most
> potent and exploitative.
>
> As you say 'its about power', of course - but there different forms of
> power, and it is up to ourselves to gain some hold of power reflecting
> own contextual nuances which are less driven by the powers over us and
> more about mutual powers and personal forms of power. And power involves
> claiming control of a situation, of others, of things and of aspects of
> life; the resolutions we weave are not always going to be seen by the
> journalists, the media, the lucky enlightened, but by personal localism
> where communities forge out their own contexts, not reliant on
> hegemonical, distant unrelated dialogue or remits. For the general
> dialogue out there, is close to entertainment, whilst being in a
> post-modern sense, important at the same time.
>
> Regarding the Sun Newspaper and Page 3, I think you know what I think
> about it (and Ruth). This is the video we did last year 'at winter
> equinox we burn The Sun' http://vimeo.com/18325342
>
>> It was shocking when a senior newspaper executive responded by saying
> page 3 girls
>> are harmless fun. They do enormous harm to those involved in their
> production and
>> all those exposed to them. The impact of hard porn is arguably that
> much greater,
>> as is the impact of prostitution.
>
> Again, I must refer to prostitution from experience. When I was younger
> I knew prostitutes personally, some were friends of my family and just
> like anyone else they are varied and different, in respect of
> intelligence and class. I have never sex with a prostitute - but have
> talked with many, played board games and stayed round their houses and
> have been to parties with them as younger lad; and the wisdom and
> knowledge they possesed about men and the world is deep, tragic,
> violent, beautiful, hilarious, enlightening, horrible and more. The Sun
> Newspaper has cheapened sex, based around principles of patriarchal
> mechanisms of economy and shallow habitualness, to a point where sex
> becomes a taboo. The power game here, is that, we are now unable to
> claim sex and its variant forms because it has been exploited to such an
> extreme level - the real depths of its (possible) beauty can only be
> discussed within a political context alone - it has been stolen from us,
> dialogue is now inflammatory and our potential as human beings to
> explore sexuality on our own terms is no longer acceptable as an
> awakening and discovery.
>
> Wishing you well.
>
> marc
>
>
>> The recent submission to the Leveson inquiry by a number of feminists on
>> this topic was timely.
>
> It was shocking when a senior newspaper executive responded by saying
> page 3 girls are harmless fun. They do enormous harm to those involved
> in their production and all those exposed to them. The impact of hard
> porn is arguably that much greater, as is the impact of prostitution.
>
> It's all exploitative. I stress again, this is not a moral issue but a
> political one - it's about power.
>>
>> best
>>
>> Simon
>>
>>
>> On 8 Feb 2012, at 16:36, marc garrett wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Simon,
>>>
>>> I remember in the 80s, a radical lefty feminist artist who was showing
>>> strange artwork in a Brixton Gallery in 84, introduced me to Kathy
>>> Acker's work; and lent me a copy of her book 'Blood and Guts in High
>>> School'. I found the book not only disturbing but also liberating. A
>>> brillaint writer, I wish there much more like her. She challenged men
>>> and women.
>>>
>>> What I like about her work, is how it cuts across the hypocrisy around
>>> 'self censored & imposed ideas', on human sexuality. Much of the work,
>>> unearths, even admits, certain realisms about human sexual fantasy
> which
>>> may not necessarily be acceptable in polite or conservative thought
>>> (right across the board), but is what it is.
>>>
>>> Of course, in respect of sex slavery - I am a humanist and believe that
>>> people should never be made to do what they do not wish to.
>>>
>>> I have worked with people who have experienced such situations
>>> themselves, and it has been traumatic (personally) to work with these
>>> individuals. Especially in some of the homeless centres I have
> worked in
>>> in London. The systems in place seem designed to exploit rather than
>>> support.
>>>
>>> Wishing you well.
>>>
>>> marc
>>>
>>>
>>>> Kathy Acker's work was often sexually explicit, in print and
>>> performance (I was a videographer for the Pussy, King of the Pirates
>>> performance in London, with the Mekons, so "was there"), but I'd never
>>> have considered what she did as pornographic. Pornography isn't about
>>> sex. There is plenty of pornography that has no explicit sexual content
>>> (much popular culture fits in this definition). I would argue that any
>>> representation that is created with the intention of inducing a
> sense of
>>> gratification at the expense of those presented in or consuming the
>>> representation is pornographic. This is also true of any particular
>>> activity, not just representations, so when sex involves such dynamics
>>> it is exploitative. I can accept that sex workers and their clients
>>> might not believe themselves to be in an exploitative relationship with
>>> one another. However, my earlier argument was not about those directly
>>> involved in what might be fully consensual activities but the affect of
>>> their activities upon others. When activity is in the pubic realm then
>>> you are going to encounter major issues. Again, this isn't just about
>>> sex. The same dynamics can be seen in sport, the creative arts and
>>> elsewhere. Coming back to Acker, her work often sought to highlight how
>>> what appears to be quite normal human interactions are actually
>>> exploitative and pornographic. I see Alan's work in the same light.
>>>>
>>>> best
>>>>
>>>> Simon
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 8 Feb 2012, at 13:46, marc garrett wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Simon,
>>>>>
>>>>> Let's I def-agree that we do not abide sexual exploitation...
>>>>>
>>>>> Yet, people also need to be able to find their own sexual identities
>>>>> beyond the restrictions of the state or moralists.
>>>>>
>>>>> One of the problems with sex is that is one of those things which is
>>>>> deeper than society can 'openly' deal with - you have interesting
>>>>> individuals crossing the borders of their sexual activities such as
>>>>> Kathy Acker, and much of 70s French cinema, and the sexual
>>>>> liberationists such as Tuppy Owens. Where their sexual exploration is
>>>>> linked to their liberty and politics and they consider society as a
>>>>> social construct limiting their particular feral discoveries...
>>>>>
>>>>> Pornography is exploitative because we exist in a male dominated
> world,
>>>>> with men who value exploitation and its industry above the liberty for
>>>>> others - and this goes way beyond sex itself, wars, vid-games, sport,
>>>>> economies - pornography is such a loaded term, and usually
> appropriated
>>>>> as an absolute and partial to simplistic symbols. Yet, the problem is
>>>>> not sex - it is our lack of freedom to explore the 'feralness' of
>>>>> ourselves, in a world contained by frameworks trapping people's 'real'
>>>>> potential as intimate human beings at various levels - thus it creates
>>>>> scarcity and isolation as part of the product.
>>>>>
>>>>> Stop men controlling everything - then we'll find new ways of
>>>>> rediscovering things beyond literalization of our 'selves'...
>>>>>
>>>>> Wishing you well.
>>>>>
>>>>> marc
>>>>>> The question might not only be about whether the sex workers
>>> themselves are being exploited but that others not associated with
> their
>>> activities are. For example, sexual representation of young (or young
>>> appearing) sex workers could be leading to the sexualisation of
>>> children. Ditto, images of women performing as subservient sexual
>>> partners to men exploits women generally. There are loads of examples
>>> like this. It's not just pornography - it's a concern in representation
>>> in general (eg: Louis Malle's representation of Brooke Shields in
> Pretty
>>> Baby, a great film with huge problems).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Of course, such exploitation is not unique to sex work. It happens
>>> in other domains too. But there is no justification for such
>>> exploitation, wherever it happens.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is not a moral argument but a political one. I agree with the
>>> feminist argument that pornography and sex work are intrinsically
>>> exploitative, not just of women but everyone involved in, exposed to
> and
>>> even those totally unaware of it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> best
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Simon
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 8 Feb 2012, at 10:02, marc garrett wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> [Copied from the Spectre list...]
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sex Work and Consent at @transmediale - by Dmyri Kleiner
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Transmediale 2012 is over. R15N is closed again, until the
>>>>>>> next occasion. As usual, lots of great people at the
>>> festival, and
>>>>>>> lots to talk and think about.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Saturday I attended the discussion "Commercialising Eros" with
>>> Jacob
>>>>>>> Appelbaum, Zach Blas, Liad Hussein Kantorowicz, Aliya Rakhmetova and
>>>>>>> moderated by Gaia Novati. Aliya Rakhmetova, supporter of sex
> workers'
>>>>>>> right working as a co-ordinator with SWAN, gave an overview of her
>>>>>>> organization and it's campaigns defending the rights of sex workers,
>>>>>>> including campaigns to fight violence against sex workers. Jacob
>>>>>>> Appelbaum went over his experience working in the IT department of
>>>>>>> smut.com, a leading internet pornography company, which he left as a
>>>>>>> result of his opposition to exploitive pay inequality at the company
>>>>>>> which paid the performers far less that the executives at the
> company.
>>>>>>> Liad Hussein Kantorowicz talked about her work as live erotic
>>> performer
>>>>>>> at a internet pornography site, and performed her job on the
> stage for
>>>>>>> her online clients while the other panelists gave their
> presentations.
>>>>>>> Zach Blas gave an overview of the work of the "Queer
> Technologies" art
>>>>>>> collective.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I enjoyed the presentations and discussions and applaud the
> panellists
>>>>>>> for their support of sex workers. One question stuck with me, I
> didn't
>>>>>>> expand upon it at the discussion, but I'd like to here.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Several of the panelists referred to the issue of consent as a
>>>>>>> justification for sex work and a way of arguing against legal
>>>>>>> repressions of sex work, and against the opposition against sex work
>>>>>>> that some feminists and other have, as well as a way to
>>> distinguish sex
>>>>>>> work from rape. Sex work is distinguished from rape because it is
>>>>>>> consensual, and neither legislator nor moral campaigner has any
> place
>>>>>>> interfering with what consenting adults do. Yet, this argument is
>>>>>>> unsatisfying.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Within the capitalist system, where workers and their families face
>>>>>>> destitution and homelessness unless they work, no work can be truly
>>>>>>> described as consensual. What's more the pretense of consent, is
> often
>>>>>>> used as justification for exploitation and to excuse the exploitive
>>>>>>> behaviour of employers. After all, the worker chose to accept
> the job.
>>>>>>> Yet, as the cliche goes, in context this choice is not much
> different
>>>>>>> than the one that a mugger gives you. "Your money or your life" is
>>> also
>>>>>>> a choice.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Like all professions, there can be no doubt that many sex
> workers feel
>>>>>>> empowered by their work, and take great pleasure in it. However,
> there
>>>>>>> can also be no doubt, that many sex workers are directly or
> indirectly
>>>>>>> coerced into doing this kind of work, and face emotional and social
>>>>>>> trauma as a result.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Consent" seems to justify not only the sex-work itself, since
> the sex
>>>>>>> worker consents to perform sexual services for a client, but the
>>>>>>> conditions of the sex-workers labour as well, since the sex-workers,
>>>>>>> like other workers, has consented to the terms of employment. Thus
>>> while
>>>>>>> consent may help us differentiate sex work from rape, it
> justifies the
>>>>>>> economic exploitation of the sex worker at the same time, since
>>> both the
>>>>>>> workers relationship with the client and the employer are ultimately
>>>>>>> consensual.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I would prefer to see a stronger line of argument that says that sex
>>>>>>> work is a valid form of work not merely because it is
> consensual, but
>>>>>>> because it is valuable. Rather then a week liberal argument based
>>> on the
>>>>>>> sanctity of what consulting adults to, a strong social argument that
>>>>>>> argues that sex workers do necessary and beneficial work and
> should be
>>>>>>> protected and supported.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Like the consent argument, the value argument also differentiates
>>>>>>> between sex work and rape, as rape clearly is not socially
>>> valuable, but
>>>>>>> unlike the consent argument it doesn't excuse the economic
>>> exploitation
>>>>>>> of sex workers, since such exploitation is not socially valuable.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If we accept that sex work is valuable work that has a place in
>>> society,
>>>>>>> then we can focus on the health and well being of the sex workers
>>>>>>> directly, and acknowledge that many of them are not empowered
>>> consenting
>>>>>>> workers, but rather victims of coercion, trafficking and
> exploitation,
>>>>>>> often forced, unwillingly, into their work. Pretending that they
> have
>>>>>>> consented to their own exploitation is both delusional and
>>> disrespectful
>>>>>>> when it's quite likely that the empowered sex worker who takes
>>> pleasure
>>>>>>> in their work is the minority within an industry that recruits
> most of
>>>>>>> its workers by way of terror and desperation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The value argument also confronts the moral issues more directly,
>>> since
>>>>>>> the consent argument doesn't necessarily dispute the immorality
> of the
>>>>>>> work, it only argues that nobody that is not directly involved
> has any
>>>>>>> business with it. The value argument makes a much stronger social
>>>>>>> statement: that sex work is not just a private business between
>>>>>>> consenting adults, but a form of work that benefits society and, far
>>>>>>> from being immoral, is a vital part of human civilization and
>>> always has
>>>>>>> been, despite persecutions and prohibitions. And that such
> persecution
>>>>>>> and prohibition should stop, not simply because it interferes with
>>>>>>> liberal rights, but because it is wrong and harmfull.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> First we must reject capitalist ideological notions of consent,
>>> these do
>>>>>>> not help sex workers, only make them responsible for their own
>>>>>>> exploitation, and exploitation aint sexy. Once we see sex work as an
>>>>>>> essential form of work, we can fight for the conditions of these
>>> workers
>>>>>>> along with those of all other workers.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'll be at Cafe Buchhandlung for Stammtisch tonight at 8pm or so,
>>> I hope
>>>>>>> some transmediale folk who are still in town will join for a
> drink in
>>>>>>> celebration of a great event.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Stammtisch is here: http://bit.ly/buchhandlung
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Dmyri Kleiner
>>>>>>> Venture Communist
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list
>>>>>>> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
>>>>>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Simon Biggs
>>>>>> simon at littlepig.org.uk http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK
>>> skype: simonbiggsuk
>>>>>>
>>>>>> s.biggs at ed.ac.uk Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
>>>>>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/
>>> http://www.movingtargets.co.uk/
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Simon Biggs
>>>> simon at littlepig.org.uk http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK
>>> skype: simonbiggsuk
>>>>
>>>> s.biggs at ed.ac.uk Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
>>>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/
>>> http://www.movingtargets.co.uk/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>> Other Info:
>>>
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>>> http://www.furtherfield.org - for art, technology and social change
>>> since 1997
>>>
>>> Also - Furtherfield Gallery & Social Space:
>>> http://www.furtherfield.org/gallery
>>>
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>>
>>
>> Simon Biggs
>> simon at littlepig.org.uk http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK
> skype: simonbiggsuk
>>
>> s.biggs at ed.ac.uk Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/
> http://www.movingtargets.co.uk/
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Other Info:
>
> Furtherfield - A living, breathing, thriving network
> http://www.furtherfield.org - for art, technology and social change
> since 1997
>
> Also - Furtherfield Gallery & Social Space:
> http://www.furtherfield.org/gallery
>
> About Furtherfield:
> http://www.furtherfield.org/content/about
>
> Netbehaviour - Networked Artists List Community.
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> http://twitter.com/furtherfield
>
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Simon Biggs
simon at littlepig.org.uk http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK skype: simonbiggsuk
s.biggs at ed.ac.uk Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/ http://www.movingtargets.co.uk/
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