Feminism and Stripping?

An interesting opinon piece about feminism and sex work (specifically stripping). Sarah Katherine Lewis is one of the most interesting and intelligent writers I've ever read (and Venus Vegas and I had the pleasure to meet her at the $pread Magazine Party in NYC), and has many things to say about the correlation between stripping and feminism.

The argument goes like this: By using sexual stereotypes professionally, by "owning" them (using them consciously), and by "subverting" them (choosing which stereotypes to exaggerate and which to discard), a sex-working woman is participating in a feminist reclamation of both personal and economic power. Her deliberate use of gender-drag turns wearing a g-string and gyrating on stage -- or behind glass -- from an act done merely to pay her rent into a strong, assured and transgressive statement more akin to political performance art. You can't objectify me -- I am objectifying myself, shrewdly and self-consciously, in order to obtain power through money, and control through being considered sexually desirable.

It's almost as if sex work is the most feminist thing a women can do -- because if women are objectified every minute of every day against our will and without any personal benefit, why not grab the reins on that process and make a decent living wage at it? If women's bodies belong to everyone, some feminists argue, why not be the ones to profit from our own bodies instead of being consumed for free?

If we're going to be forced to sell regardless, we may as well name our own prices and take comfort in pocketing our own net gain. It beats working a minimum-wage job forty hours a week while performing a second, unpaid, full-time job as visual erotic entertainment for society at large, simply by existing as a female in the world. Why not demand payment for that second shift?

And, as it turns out, that second shift pays far more than minimum wage -- and all you have to do to claim your paycheck is to agree to perform a ritualized acknowledgment of your status as entertainment by revealing your body or performing sexually. Goodbye polyester smock and plastic nametag -- hello tuition payments!

Whether you agree with her or not, this is an article worth reading. Many people you know might be in the industry in some way or another; I'm always intrigued to find out how many current/former sex workers I know. As a feminist, and someone working (albeit behind the scenes) in the adult industry, it's always refreshing to hear things from this point of view.

Essin' Em

Check out the entire piece at Alternet.org