Thread by @herong, It's the commute here on the East Coast and no one is [...]

It's the commute here on the East Coast and no one is going to read this, but I've seen a LOT of well-meaning otherwise quite progressive folks (perhaps unintentionally) replicating right-wing rhetoric on The Internet today, so I'll just remind y'all that

SEX WORK IS WORK

Well-meaning progressive (Wmp): Please don't normalize this.

Me: Normalize what. Articulate yourself.

Wmp: You know.

Me: Sex??

Wmp: No, of course not!! Sex is great. Sex is beautiful!!

Me: Work??

Wmp: No, of course not!! Everyone should be free to work!!

Me: THEN. WHAT.

Well-meaning progressive (Wmp): You know. *whispers* trafficking.

Me: Ah! Oh yeah, trafficking is fucking terrible. We should ban fruits and vegetables and all proteins, eh?

Wmp:

Me: You know! Trafficking! Farm labor trafficking! https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/28/426888946/beyond-brothels-farms-and-fisheries-are-frontier-of-human-trafficking

Beyond Brothels: Farms And Fisheries Are Frontier Of Human Trafficking

The State Department's annual human trafficking report this year gives special attention to slavery in agriculture and fishing. Human rights advocates say there's much work to be done to fight it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/28/426888946/beyond-brothels-farms-and-fisheries-are-frontier-of-human-trafficking

Well-meaning progressive (Wmp): You know it's not the same!! Prostitution is . . . rape!

Me. Uh huh. Rape and sexual violence and pretty much an inherent part of all exploitative labor.

Wmp:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/550109/

There's a Sexual-Harassment Epidemic on America’s Farms

Many of the women who work in agriculture often have few options but to put up with abuse on the job.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/550109/

Well-meaning progressive (Wmp): Well, fine! Farm labor and agricultural trafficking is bad. But you can't assume all sex workers *want* to be sex workers!

Me: Lol. Nor do I assume that all baristas want to be baristas, nor lawyers lawyers, nor maintenance staff maintenance staff

Me: Nor do I assume or demand that the people who clean the shit out of our toilets at work want to do that, or gig economy Lyft drivers!! Nor Amazon fulfillment staff. What I *do* do is pay them well in cash whenever I can, support their right to organize, and LISTEN TO THEM.

Well-meaning progressive: But it's not a safe job!!

Me: Omfg lol. And farming is? Mining heavy metals?? Mining diamonds? Steel work? FISHING? Health care? You know what makes these jobs marginally safe? Worker and union-demanded precautions. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/1002500001

25 Most Dangerous Jobs in America

It was not until 1970 that Congress, under President Richard Nixon, passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act. There were 14,000 workplace fatalities that year. As part of the act, the Occupati...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/1002500001

Well-meaning progressive: Men paying women to rape them is not work!

Me: Ok first of all. No. Second of all, is women paying women of color to raise their children work? Is people paying a therapist work? Is people paying a birthday clown work? Is people paying athletes work?

Well-meaning progressive (Wmp): But!! It's!! DIFFERENT!!

Me: How. The. Fuck.

Wmp: Little girls . . . !!

Me: Uh huh. And what are you doing for the little girls in garment factories? Are you in support of banning all garment factory work?

Wmp: That's absurd!

Me: Is it?

Well-meaning progressive: But men steal girls from their families and threaten them and rape them!

Me, softly: Yes, they do. Some of those girls are forced into sex work, some into child care, some into house cleaning, some into agricultural labor, some into manufacturing.

Me: You're talking a lot about trafficking. I wish you understood just how much of the stuff we buy and eat and sit on and wear doesn't just *use* trafficked labor, but *relies* on trafficked labor to compete in global capitalism.

Me: Capitalism needs people to be disposable and exploitable. All people. The ONLY antidote is worker organizing. How do you support exploited workers organizing? Do you support banning all labor? Because *all* labor that requires you to work in order to eat is exploitative.

Well-meaning progressive: Well, I still don't *like* it.

Me: AND I DON'T LIKE YOU BUT YOU DON'T HEAR ME OUT HERE BANNING NEOLIBERALS FROM REPLICATING RIGHT-WING TALKING POINTS DO YOU?? SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GIVE MONEY TO SEX-WORKER ORGANIZING RIGHT NOW!!!

So listen. You can use these to disrupt Well-Meaning Progressives from replicating right-wing rhetoric, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

The right-wing does NOT need us to do their work for them.

Seriously.

You can follow @herong.

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