Posts Tagged with ‘prostitution’
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Can the Sub-Alterns of the Sex Industry Speak?
08 Jun 2013
The sex industry is a highly conflicted site within modern feminism. A global industry tainted with extensive forced labour and trafficking, it is situated at the crossroads of labour and abuse. Those who argue for "sex worker rights" position it within a service industry narrative; those who argue for an …
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…and then they came for the trans* people.
05 Jun 2013
Operation Zeus in August last year marked the start of an ugly reminder of a European past that we thought we had long buried. Nearly 60 years after the end of the Second European War, migrants were round up from the streets of Greece and shoved unceremoniously into internment camps. …
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Is there Blood on your Strawberries?
12 May 2013
The situation for the migrant workers of Manolada hit the international headlines last month in the aftermath of a mass shooting. But behind that acute incident lies a murky world of slave labour and sex trafficking all overseen by a corrupt and mafia infiltrated establishment. In 2010, the investigative journalist, …
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Objects & Subjects of Sexual Desire
23 Mar 2013
Guest Post from Davy Marzella One biological purpose of sex is the fertilisation of an egg by sperm to produce offspring and propagate the species. Presumably this is a main evolutionary reason for the impulse to be sexual. Though very few people have sex exclusively and solely for this purpose. …
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Subjects, Objects and the Sex Industry
20 Mar 2013
One of the areas which causes most consternation in feminist circles is the sex industry. Many, particularly women in the industry consider some of the narratives that surround abolitionist discourse insulting, demeaning and ultimately harmful. It is critical to appreciatie that within a situation of pre-existing power relations, the choice - …
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Sexual Violence and the Greek Left
14 Feb 2013
Article also available in French As anyone who reads this blog, particularly the updates from Greece will know, this is incredibly difficult time in the country's history. The veil of democracy which hides an authoritarian and despotic government is threadbare, and the rise of an openly fascist party, combining thuggery …
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Disability and the Sex Industry
02 Feb 2013
The recent changes to the benefits system in the UK have seen masses of disabled people thrown off disability benefit. In some cases leaving them to cope with the demands of jumping through the hoops of job seekers allowance and others seeing them cut off benefits entirely. In such a …
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A Campaign against “Lawlessness”
11 Jan 2013
Earlier this week, the mayor of Athens announced a crackdown on "lawlessness". On Wednesday, a successful re-occupation of Villa Amalias was evicted within half an hour as police poured chemical weapons into the building, then raided an hour and a half later, arresting the 93 who were in the building. …
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Are you a potential prostitute?
09 Jan 2013
Well, are you? Not sure? Well - now you can check. Some nice kind people have set up a website where people can report "potential prostitutes". No I'm not linking, but it ain't hard to find. The premise of the site is that people feel "threatened" by online prostitutes. …
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Why don’t we just ban sexual abuse?
07 Dec 2012
The BBC ran a story today that 200 Women's Rights Groups are calling for an all out ban on the "right" to sexually abuse people in exchange for payment across the EU. Sweden led the way in this in 1999, and since then fewer men are coercing women into sex from …
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Prostitution as work: implications of legalising an industry
07 Nov 2012
Discussions over the status of prostitution have raged over the past few years. The current position in Scotland is that activies surrounding the sale of sex are illegal under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, however the purchase of someone for the purposes of sexual gratification is perfectly legal. Internationally …
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The Moralising of the Sluts
11 Aug 2012
Almost a hundred years ago, the Russian revolution saw a transformation in the status of women. Yet in the country of Kollontai, who foretold a land free of both marriage and prostitution, where sexual relations were as simple as sipping a glass of water and women could not be bought, …
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The proliferation of sexwork
01 Jul 2012
I went to a really good session at a dayschool ran by the ISG yesterday on sexual commodification and socialism, ran by one of their new organisers. Feminism and socialism have always been uneasy bedfellows since the start of the second wave, where the personal got political and the political …
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Feminism, Women and the Sex Industry
30 May 2012
The third wave has thrown up many challenges to the prevailing ideas within feminism. One of the most debated topics is relationship between feminism, sex workers and the sex industry. The sex industry is wide and sprawling, encompassing not only prostitution, but also lap dancing, topless waitressing and everything in …
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Athens: Omonia by night
02 May 2012
Having had no sleep the night before, and a rather sore foot from marching, I retired rather early on Mayday, going back to the same hotel I had stayed in previously and immediately crashing out around 6pm. I woke up just after midnight, starving, and decided to go find somewhere …
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Socialism, Feminism & Prostitution
12 Sep 2006Prostitution is currently a live issue in the Scottish Parliament with Margo McDonald an independent MSP proposing a bill which would legalise prostitution within recognised “Tolerance Zones”. These zones would be established by the local authority following notice and consultation with the police local health board, property owners in the …