Opposing the sex industry is a common and principled left stance. It is only in capitalist countries where their cops are funded to harrass people and Johns are rarely punished where there has been a need for a “sex work is work” movement.
In countries run or established by communists, they were often facing racial or otherwise imperialist systemic rape (“comfort women” for Japanese imperialists, for example), recognized how this worked in both slavery and “transactional” capacities, and correctly banned it. Things like erotica were swept up in this total purge of marketing sex, and enforcement is inconsistent as it is usually regional.
Please so your best to educate yourself, be accurate in your summaries, and to not be sinophobic.
Sex workers are workers, end of story.
I understand you Americans have fucked up views on sex workers and treat them like shit, but that is on you.
Also Australia women were taken as comfort women by Japan, and yet we still legalise and protect our sex workers.
Sex workers are workers, end of story.
Most things labelled “sex work” are actually human trafficking and most Western left groups that oppose expansion of the sex industry and even want it banned are made up of former “sex workers”. So no, not end of story, you do need to actually investigate the topic and understand it as more than a slogan.
I understand you Americans have fucked up views on sex workers and treat them like shit, but that is on you.
This is not exclusive to the United States.
Also Australia women were taken as comfort women by Japan, and yet we still legalise and protect our sex workers.
Was Australia occupied and had its people constantly forced into slavery roles, including rape, by the occupiers? Comparing a handful of captured during the war vs. decades of occupation and society-level abuse is disgusting.
Since you are presumably in Australia, can you tell me some stats on human trafficking there?
And all work is coercive.
So what’s it called when you coerce someone for sex?
Oh so you want to abolish all farmers and factory work? Sorry, didn’t know I was talking to a a ComPrim.
If your mom had to start working as a prostitute from now on, would you think this is ok because all work is work?
If she had to do that because she had no choice? That would be horrible. If she started an OnlyFans because she enjoyed the attention, I’d be embarrassed, but good for her.
Most things labeled as “sex work” is human trafficking. I am educated and I regularly organize with former participants in the sex industry.
We are talking about fiction stories, so let’s bring that back. I asked you a question in another thread, I’m ending this one.
Things like erotica were swept up in this total purge of marketing sex, and enforcement is inconsistent as it is usually regional.
A convenient excuse to stifle a person’s consenting sexuality and agency. Written erotica hurts no one, and those arguing otherwise are falling into their authoritarian tendencies.
If you don’t like sex work like pictured/video pornography and prostitution I can at least understand your reasoning. Both have massive issues of trafficking and sexual slavery. But swinging the hammer down like this on written erotica is purely authoritarian. And trying to justify arrests made as “inconsistent enforcement” is giving cover, purposeful or otherwise, to that authoritarianism.
A convenient excuse to stifle a person’s consenting sexuality and agency.
It is not a convenient excuse, it is an understanding of other cultures and their histories. I did not even present a judgment of whether it is good for this to have happened.
Written erotica hurts no one, and those arguing otherwise are falling into their authoritarian tendencies.
Who here is arguing otherwise and what are their authoritarian tendencies?
If you don’t like sex work like pictured/video pornography and prostitution I can at least understand your reasoning.
I couldn’t because there are different ways someone can like or not like those things and they have different impacts on society when turned into political action.
Both have massive issues of trafficking and sexual slavery. But swinging the hammer down like this on written erotica is purely authoritarian.
What does it mean to be “purely authoritarian”? This is not a concept that I have ever seen coherently employed. Do you just mean that you believe it is unjust? That does not really address trying to understand more about where it is coming from, which is what the part of my comment that you quoted is describing. In fact, depending on what “authoritarian” even means, acknowledging the basic history of how China acquired anti-sex industry stances would require you to understand that it is not “purely” so, but draws from a reaction to systemic sexual violence and oppression.
In a sense, this kind of oversimplification is the core kernel of national chauvinism and orientalism.
And trying to justify arrests made as “inconsistent enforcement” is giving cover, purposeful or otherwise, to that authoritarianism.
Putting aside my criticism of the term authoritarian, what cover am I providing by providing relevant context about regional enforcement that sinophobic Westerners - who are all over this comment section - are usually unaware of?
It’s not a convient excuse
It is. You’re handwaving away criticism of laws that are being applied improperly and unequally. Even if this was a local failure, which it isn’t since this type of content is illegal all over China, that doesn’t excuse failure to equally enforce in this circumstance.
Who here is arguing otherwise
Plenty of comments are defending China’s actions here saying it’s necessary to fight sex work. It isn’t. It’s an authoritarian action taken to stifle sexuality and exert control. You see this most often in fascist governments when setting up dictatorships. And before I get dumb comments, China isn’t fascist. But they are authoritarian in several of their tendencies.
I couldn’t
K.
What is “Purely Authoritarian”
It’s dictating human nature and what is allowed based on governmental morals. You say this is in reaction to the sexual and war crimes that have occurred in China. While that may be the root of the law, that does not make it just in this application of the law.
Consenting adults in the privacy of their own home writing/collecting their own written material are not engaging in or even condoning such tragedies. To harken back to such tragedies when talking about something unrelated is yet another excuse to give cover to authoritarian actions.
If we were talking about pictured/video pornography or prostitution that would be one thing. But this is written erotica. There is no physical person being engaged with. This is at best reactionary and at worst authoritarian.
Also reactionary actions can still be authoritarian. Was the term “purely authoritarian” hyperbole? Yes. Are you being a complete pedant in pointing this out? Also yes.
What cover?
By using “inconsistent enforcement” as an excuse to ignore criticism. There is no justification for these arrests, and yet excuses are being made for what occurred. On top of all of that: inconsistent enforcement is a tell tale sign of authoritarianism as the law is used as an excuse to arrest whoever offends. Even though said laws aren’t applied uniformly. Thus manufacturing pretty much any consent needed for an arrest.
You can claim things like western chauvnism and orientalism, but those words have actual meaning that you debase when you throw it out at any criticism of China. This arrest was, once again, reactionary at best and downright authoritarian at worst.
