The media (and hell, society in general) just doesn’t get it.
Audacia Ray, former sex worker and editor of the sex worker magazine $pread, has pointed out that the public doesn’t even seem to understand what exploitation really means. The woman who did sex work for Spitzer has had her picture and personal history splattered all over the media in an incredibly insulting way. Nobody seems to realize she’s being degraded far more now than she ever was when Spitzer was her client. And she’s not getting any retirement savings out of it, either.
And, funnily enough, I haven’t noticed a whole lot of “media critics” talking about this point. It’s been mostly… *crickets*.
Guess what, the definition of exploitation is not “a type of sex that makes me uncomfortable.”
I have more to say about the Alternet article (which, interestingly, had its title changed sometime between last night and this morning) because there are a few points where I disagree with Annalee, and a few points I just want to expand on. But I’ll get to that later.
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3 Responses to "Exploitation"
It’s the same shit I’ve been screaming about with the anti porn folks and 2257. They exploit sex workers in more horrific ways when it suits them. Period.
Exactly. And sometimes I wonder how the cognitive dissonance doesn’t knock them out.
I don’t think I’ve ever personally seen a person so utterly sliced, diced, pureed, picked over, shot down, propped up, shot back down, and flung about for more. I feel like I’m watching some sort of man-vs-animal contest, and the animal (the MSM) is both winning in spades and bathing gratuitously in the blood spilled.
The MSM’s parlaying of Kristen’s sexuality and person by way of any discoverable aspect of her life is so completely involuntary… if it were physical we’d call it rape, without hesitation. I don’t use the parallel lightly, either - I really think it’s that bad.
My opinion - Kristen, along with all prostitutes, are branded by most as less than human, plain and simple, and are getting the historical treatment afforded to those branded as such. The only thing worse than the MSM coverage is the pile of “she’s (only) a prostitute” comments I’m seeing tacked on to MSM blogs. Historically speaking, if you’re “only” a such-and-such, anything done to you will pass muster.
Quite sickening. And sad.
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