Sex Work Today

Sex work in present day society is certainly not a very well perceived or acceptable field. The opposite is overwhelmingly true, and is based on the precedent for years now that the notion of gaining your income or being employed in the practicing of sex or from sexually inciting others is disgraceful. This, of course, is then based off of the fact that sex in the first place is something that a graceful or tactful or civil person should not publically admit to doing. So here we are in the present day, all sorts of preconceived negative notions coming to our heads the moment we find out that someone is a sex worker. Interestingly enough,we actually tend to look at sex workers as one of two things: victims or criminals. We either deem them victims of circumstance or sexual exploiters or something uncontrollable and beyond their autonomy, essentially saying that they have no independence of thought or way to find their way out of the predicament, or else we classify them as criminals. Then they become strange and illicit people who are autonomous but as a result also criminal and deranged—because who else would actually want or prefer to do such work for a living? We do not have hardly any shades of grey on this issue. This is telling of our want to write it off without serious consideration or depth of understanding. Because we are generally ashamed to discuss our own sexual lust publically, the issue remains quite dichotomous. However, recently, it can certainly be advocated that pornography and pornographers are becoming somewhat more acceptable in the public sphere. This is in large part due to the fact that pornography is becoming so widespread, and therefore generally and publically acceptable, due to the onset of the internet. Looking forwards, as we come to see sex, sexuality, and its implications on ourselves with a more understanding light, we may well come to see sex work in these same terms.