- Joined
- Apr 26, 2007
- Messages
- 8,087
Interesting opsicle from Paul Krugman, in which he says, "Thomas Piketty tells us that we’re living in a new Belle Epoque — and he’s right, in some ways contemporary society feels more like that era than the cruder, more hypocritical American Gilded Age — and one thing extreme inequality brings is, yes, a courtesan class." In it, he linked to an Atlantic piece on "Seeking Arrangements," the dating site where men pay women for their company (yes, I know there's a word for that), titled "How Sugar Daddies Are Financing Higher Education," http://www.theatlantic.com/educatio...ddies-are-financing-college-education/379533/
I find this depressing on a number of levels. On the one hand, I have nothing against sex work. On the other hand, mainstreaming it and making it seem like a sensible way to deal with the fact that higher education is gouging the next generation ... yowza. And I'm sure there are at least a few young women out there thinking this is their chance to live out their Fifty Shades of Grey romantic fantasy, which, again, not that there's anything wrong with that on the surface - you want a BDSM relationship, you get down with your bad self! It's more the significant potential for abuse that you get outside the pages of erotica that makes me nervous about this being held up to young women as just another way to bring in the Benjamins. Or as a thing where it's totes sensible to trade sex for luxury goods ... few of the ladies profiled in the piece seem to need the money, after all.
I don't have a clear-cut end-point here: if anything, I'm just curious to hear what other people think of the phenomenon. At this point, my bottom line is that while I don't think that societal disapproval has ever stopped people about engaging in whatever kinky practices they desired (and, if anything, has occasionally made them more dangerous for the vulnerable parties, regardless whether we're talking about the fact that prostitutes are rarely taken seriously when they report assault, to gay folk being blackmailed or blacklisted back in the day, on and on and on), there's something about the relentless (re)commodification of women's bodies that makes me nervous.
I feel like on every conceivable level, women's collective boundaries are being pushed - what, you think the mainstreaming of violence against women in pornography is indicative of some weird backlash against feminism? you're against a consensually monetized sexual relationship? you want to police surrogacy in foreign nations where the income disparities make it impossible for women to say "no?" PRUDE. Then again, I could actually just be having An Old Fashioned Moment. Where do you-all stand?
I find this depressing on a number of levels. On the one hand, I have nothing against sex work. On the other hand, mainstreaming it and making it seem like a sensible way to deal with the fact that higher education is gouging the next generation ... yowza. And I'm sure there are at least a few young women out there thinking this is their chance to live out their Fifty Shades of Grey romantic fantasy, which, again, not that there's anything wrong with that on the surface - you want a BDSM relationship, you get down with your bad self! It's more the significant potential for abuse that you get outside the pages of erotica that makes me nervous about this being held up to young women as just another way to bring in the Benjamins. Or as a thing where it's totes sensible to trade sex for luxury goods ... few of the ladies profiled in the piece seem to need the money, after all.
I don't have a clear-cut end-point here: if anything, I'm just curious to hear what other people think of the phenomenon. At this point, my bottom line is that while I don't think that societal disapproval has ever stopped people about engaging in whatever kinky practices they desired (and, if anything, has occasionally made them more dangerous for the vulnerable parties, regardless whether we're talking about the fact that prostitutes are rarely taken seriously when they report assault, to gay folk being blackmailed or blacklisted back in the day, on and on and on), there's something about the relentless (re)commodification of women's bodies that makes me nervous.
I feel like on every conceivable level, women's collective boundaries are being pushed - what, you think the mainstreaming of violence against women in pornography is indicative of some weird backlash against feminism? you're against a consensually monetized sexual relationship? you want to police surrogacy in foreign nations where the income disparities make it impossible for women to say "no?" PRUDE. Then again, I could actually just be having An Old Fashioned Moment. Where do you-all stand?