{"id":12565,"date":"2024-06-24T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/?p=12565"},"modified":"2024-06-24T09:53:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T07:53:33","slug":"polish-bez-association-prostitution-is-not-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/polish-bez-association-prostitution-is-not-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish Bez Association: Prostitution Is Not Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anna Golus: I am nearly forty years old, and with both astonishment and concern, I observe the growing trend of normalizing prostitution as ordinary work, ostensibly in the name of feminism. This is currently the dominant feminist narrative, which might influence the decisions of young girls and women. You are in your twenties and encountered this narrative already in your teenage years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Ob\u0142\u0119kowska: <\/strong>Initially, we encountered the conservative narrative, for instance, in school, during discussions of literature where prostitution is depicted as a moral downfall for women. Later, as we began to engage with feminism, the first feminist narrative about prostitution we encountered was that it is \u201csex work.\u201d A job like any other, potentially even a form of sexual liberation for women. As we grew up, this was the main feminist message reaching young women through social media. Many girls believed this, especially since they had no opportunity to hear other perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabe Wilczy\u0144ska: <\/strong>As a teenager raised in a religious environment, I believed this narrative. Following the dichotomy of the bad conservative approach to women versus the good feminist, leftist, progressive approach, I believed that \u201csex work\u201d and everything encompassed by the term hookup culture was good for women. Commodified female corporeality was presented to me and other girls as something positive, not as another step towards dystopian capitalism and gender inequality. Any critical voices were dismissed as backward and conservative, and the very word \u201cprostitution\u201d was considered stigmatizing and harmful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gabe Wilczy\u0144ska from the Polish Bez Association. Photo: private archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prostitution and Language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anna Ob\u0142\u0119kowska<\/strong>:<\/strong> Currently, both on the left and in academia, the word \u201cprostitution\u201d is rarely used; people are afraid to use it. Even sexual slavery is referred to as \u201cforced sex work.\u201d I haven\u2019t encountered this in Poland yet, but in English-language publications, terms like underage sex worker are also used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocates for Child Protection also advocate replacing the term \u201cchild prostitution\u201d with \u201ccommercial sexual exploitation of children,\u201d rather than \u201cchild sex working.\u201d Your association, Bez (Against Misogyny, Exploitation, Violence), also proposes certain linguistic changes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Ob\u0142\u0119kowska: <\/strong>Primarily, we oppose normalizing prostitution as ordinary work and assist those entangled in the sex industry in exiting it. We understand the crucial role of language, but we do not focus solely on it. We have specific terminology that we use, which we believe is the most precise and non-diluting while also being non-stigmatizing. However, we never correct individuals who approach us. If someone refers to themselves as a \u201csex worker,\u201d we never suggest that a better term would be \u201cperson with experience in prostitution\u201d or \u201cwoman involved in the sex industry,\u201d although we use those terms ourselves. We do avoid the term \u201csex work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recommend:<\/strong> Polyamory, Swinging, Open Relationships: The Dangers of Normalizing Deviant Relations<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Polyamory, Swinging, Open Relationships: The Dangers of Normalizing Deviant Relations<\/a><\/blockquote>