I'm a therapist. This 'not al sex workers were abused' just isn't true. Only women who've had their boundries repeatedly broken when young can do this work. The other group are not being honest. I've worked withclients who are sex workers for 35 years, not one came from a loving, functional supportive background. Even if they did, they got weird messages about boundaries. I'm all for freedom and I would not prohibit sex work, but you have to ask yourself, what is this really about? It's about control. Same as rape. You pay, you can do what you want. Patriarchy loves that.
Good article, but I do wish Loomis had given some more thought to the tension between "In 2003, the Lusty Lady’s owners decided to close the club. The workers themselves tried to run it as a cooperative, but that very rarely works and it didn’t here either" and the banner image being the Lusty Lady's workers at Pride in 2008. Like, that's at least five years of operations that are somewhat handwaved away as "cooperatives don't work", and perhaps that period deserves greater attention? It's just an awkward way to close what is otherwise a strong and appreciated piece of his labor history series.
Ta, Erik. In the mid-1970s in Houston TX, I worked as a dominatrix. I could never for the life of me figure out why the submissives got lower pay; IMHO their work was harder. Good for Lusty Lady in SF. The Union to which I belong, 1199, is allied with SEIU. I could make far more money running a dungeon, but I'm happily married and headed for happy retirement. Sex work is work, whether it's dancing, prostitution, or turning oil company executives into the worms they are (wrapping them head to toe in Ace bandages, leaving the ass free to feel the lash). Sex work is WORK, and the women and men who labor at it should be paid fairly and have benefits. Solidarity forever.
From the very few articles I've read about sex workers talking about their work, it's something like 40% customer service (fulfilling their fantasies), 40% therapy (listening to them), and only 20% actual sex.
"the choices for a lot of women were sex work or factory work"
There was a third choice, equally as dreary as working in a factory, and not carrying anywhere near the risk sex workers faced (and still face). A woman could go the "traditional" route: get married, be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, and let her man take care of her as he sees fit. (Spousal abuse -- physical, mental, and/or emotional -- was nothing new; it just remained in the shadows.)
-----
"too many feminists of a certain era, the power to control one’s own body meant a lot if you need reproductive care or want birth control, but meant much less for sex workers"
* There are still a number of hypocritical feminists who are convinced that feminism isn't inclusive, try to argue with a TERF that trans are also people with civil and human rights, and the feminist movement ***should*** fight for their rights as strongly as they fight for straight women and lesbians. (This wasn't always the POV of feminists though, the second wave condemned lesbianism:
> "Lesbian feminism largely emerged in response to the women’s liberation movement’s exclusion of lesbians. As the Second Wave of feminism picked up steam during the 1960s, feminist discourse largely ignored lesbianism.
[...]
NOW’s leader at the time, Betty Friedan, referred to lesbianism as the “Lavender Menace.” This phrase referred to her view that incorporating lesbianism in the feminist agenda would undermine the credibility of the women’s movement overall." https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/lesbians-20th-century/lesbian-feminism
--and--
"LGBTQ+ History: When NOW Purged Lesbians From Its Feminist Movement [title]
Yet the taint of the “lavender menace” was perceived by Friedan and other straight feminists, Shirley Chisholm and Gloria Steinem among them, to be problematic: lesbians were perceived as “man hating” and mainstream feminism was intent on presenting the movement as pro-woman, not anti-male. Lesbians were still viewed as perverts and even as mentally ill." https://www.advocate.com/history/betty-friedan-anti-lesbian
-----
"employers have largely captured the NLRB process"
If you think things were bad before then buckle up buttercup because it has gotten worse. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (that bastion of civil rights and equality, bless their collective hearts) decided last week that the NLRB is unconstitutional:
> "The National Labor Relations Act—that pillar of American democracy that gives workers the right to bargain collectively with their employers—was enacted 90 years ago this summer. Its constitutionality was upheld two years later by the Supreme Court, and no successful challenge to its constitutionality has been brought in the subsequent 88 years. Until last week, when the avowedly far-right Fifth Circuit decided otherwise." https://prospect.org/justice/2025-08-25-federal-appellate-court-finds-nlrb-unconstitutional/
In the Fifth Cirquit's own words:
> "On appeal, the NLRB argues that the district courts (1) lacked jurisdiction to enjoin ongoing Board proceedings, and (2) abused their discretion in doing so, because the Employers are unlikely to prevail on the merits and have not shown irreparable harm.
We disagree on both counts. First, nothing in federal law strips federal courts of jurisdiction to hear these claims—or to enjoin unconstitutional agency proceedings. Second, the district courts acted well within their discretion in granting preliminary relief.
[...]
The Employers have made their case and should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality. When an agency’s structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate—and the remedy must be, too." [NB: Elmo the Man-child is one of the three plaintiffs] https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-50627-CV0.pdf
At Boston's Pride event this year, my daughter and I donated to a group of sex workers that were trying to unionize. I can't remember the name of the organization, but I hope they're successful.
My old roomate was the shop steward of them thar union strippers for long long time, sometimes they'd have the union meetings in our backyard which was a fun chance to barbecue and hear Lusty gossip. I think it went under a little from being both a co-op and a union, but being to small to have that work instead of devolving to pettiness, but mostly and vastly from the rise of internet porn. They didn't serve drinks or food, it was just a peep show and business got slower and slower as online porn took off.
I'm a therapist. This 'not al sex workers were abused' just isn't true. Only women who've had their boundries repeatedly broken when young can do this work. The other group are not being honest. I've worked withclients who are sex workers for 35 years, not one came from a loving, functional supportive background. Even if they did, they got weird messages about boundaries. I'm all for freedom and I would not prohibit sex work, but you have to ask yourself, what is this really about? It's about control. Same as rape. You pay, you can do what you want. Patriarchy loves that.
Good article, but I do wish Loomis had given some more thought to the tension between "In 2003, the Lusty Lady’s owners decided to close the club. The workers themselves tried to run it as a cooperative, but that very rarely works and it didn’t here either" and the banner image being the Lusty Lady's workers at Pride in 2008. Like, that's at least five years of operations that are somewhat handwaved away as "cooperatives don't work", and perhaps that period deserves greater attention? It's just an awkward way to close what is otherwise a strong and appreciated piece of his labor history series.
I am still having The Sneezes and I do not feele gud.
I will be okay, though.
I am hopped up on cold medicine, so that's weird.
I also am about to dreemk some Twinings teea, which is proper 'cause it's from Ænglaland, and I like that.
Achoo. Achoo choo choo (ruffles feathers).
As Al Bundy would say… “I'M BLIND!!” 🤣
Sadly our society can't past two prevailing attitudes that prevent this:
1. Sex is dirty, nasty, filthy, and “sinful.”
2. Sex workers, particularly women, deserve to be exploited because they are noting more than objects to be fucked.
Ta, Erik. In the mid-1970s in Houston TX, I worked as a dominatrix. I could never for the life of me figure out why the submissives got lower pay; IMHO their work was harder. Good for Lusty Lady in SF. The Union to which I belong, 1199, is allied with SEIU. I could make far more money running a dungeon, but I'm happily married and headed for happy retirement. Sex work is work, whether it's dancing, prostitution, or turning oil company executives into the worms they are (wrapping them head to toe in Ace bandages, leaving the ass free to feel the lash). Sex work is WORK, and the women and men who labor at it should be paid fairly and have benefits. Solidarity forever.
So if sex work is just like any other job, if it were legalized in the entirety of the US, how would OSHA rules and regulations work?
One can only imagine… and well, that’s half fun so it’s said.
As your dungeon inspector, I recommend that you double sterilize x, y and z.
Very edifying. Workers of the world unite!
I wonder if sex workers are a bit like standup comedians- ability to sense the shifting mood of the audience must be a job requirement for success.
From the very few articles I've read about sex workers talking about their work, it's something like 40% customer service (fulfilling their fantasies), 40% therapy (listening to them), and only 20% actual sex.
"the choices for a lot of women were sex work or factory work"
There was a third choice, equally as dreary as working in a factory, and not carrying anywhere near the risk sex workers faced (and still face). A woman could go the "traditional" route: get married, be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, and let her man take care of her as he sees fit. (Spousal abuse -- physical, mental, and/or emotional -- was nothing new; it just remained in the shadows.)
-----
"too many feminists of a certain era, the power to control one’s own body meant a lot if you need reproductive care or want birth control, but meant much less for sex workers"
* There are still a number of hypocritical feminists who are convinced that feminism isn't inclusive, try to argue with a TERF that trans are also people with civil and human rights, and the feminist movement ***should*** fight for their rights as strongly as they fight for straight women and lesbians. (This wasn't always the POV of feminists though, the second wave condemned lesbianism:
> "Lesbian feminism largely emerged in response to the women’s liberation movement’s exclusion of lesbians. As the Second Wave of feminism picked up steam during the 1960s, feminist discourse largely ignored lesbianism.
[...]
NOW’s leader at the time, Betty Friedan, referred to lesbianism as the “Lavender Menace.” This phrase referred to her view that incorporating lesbianism in the feminist agenda would undermine the credibility of the women’s movement overall." https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/lesbians-20th-century/lesbian-feminism
--and--
"LGBTQ+ History: When NOW Purged Lesbians From Its Feminist Movement [title]
Yet the taint of the “lavender menace” was perceived by Friedan and other straight feminists, Shirley Chisholm and Gloria Steinem among them, to be problematic: lesbians were perceived as “man hating” and mainstream feminism was intent on presenting the movement as pro-woman, not anti-male. Lesbians were still viewed as perverts and even as mentally ill." https://www.advocate.com/history/betty-friedan-anti-lesbian
-----
"employers have largely captured the NLRB process"
If you think things were bad before then buckle up buttercup because it has gotten worse. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (that bastion of civil rights and equality, bless their collective hearts) decided last week that the NLRB is unconstitutional:
> "The National Labor Relations Act—that pillar of American democracy that gives workers the right to bargain collectively with their employers—was enacted 90 years ago this summer. Its constitutionality was upheld two years later by the Supreme Court, and no successful challenge to its constitutionality has been brought in the subsequent 88 years. Until last week, when the avowedly far-right Fifth Circuit decided otherwise." https://prospect.org/justice/2025-08-25-federal-appellate-court-finds-nlrb-unconstitutional/
In the Fifth Cirquit's own words:
> "On appeal, the NLRB argues that the district courts (1) lacked jurisdiction to enjoin ongoing Board proceedings, and (2) abused their discretion in doing so, because the Employers are unlikely to prevail on the merits and have not shown irreparable harm.
We disagree on both counts. First, nothing in federal law strips federal courts of jurisdiction to hear these claims—or to enjoin unconstitutional agency proceedings. Second, the district courts acted well within their discretion in granting preliminary relief.
[...]
The Employers have made their case and should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality. When an agency’s structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate—and the remedy must be, too." [NB: Elmo the Man-child is one of the three plaintiffs] https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-50627-CV0.pdf
fnord
I never realized we were like that.
Birb is very sorries.
At Boston's Pride event this year, my daughter and I donated to a group of sex workers that were trying to unionize. I can't remember the name of the organization, but I hope they're successful.
So, where does one “look for the union label” when dealing with people who are not wearing clothing?
A tat?
Like clothing, near the seam!
Careful, remembering that might make people think you're A Old or something:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lg4gGk53iY
maaaaan I am SLACKING!
yr smoking lamp of the weekend variety was lit moar than five whole minutes ago!!!!
I still have a colde.
I will be chewing maybe a tiny piece of edible. Do what you wish.
birb!
ohnoes!!
I hope you get warmed again sooooooon okay!
and have a nice leeettle nibble, pls :]
A thamke.
U are a fren. :)
(hooraaaay I have a birbfren!! :] )
I haven't finished my chores!!!!! 😭
it the weekend, soooooooo
relaaaaaaaaax :]
My old faves The Move render The Beatles' "She's a Woman" as proto-heavy metal sludge, to great effect (imo), 1970.
Oo! Neat.
No ICE
Nope
My old roomate was the shop steward of them thar union strippers for long long time, sometimes they'd have the union meetings in our backyard which was a fun chance to barbecue and hear Lusty gossip. I think it went under a little from being both a co-op and a union, but being to small to have that work instead of devolving to pettiness, but mostly and vastly from the rise of internet porn. They didn't serve drinks or food, it was just a peep show and business got slower and slower as online porn took off.
Of course she's this cool.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/30/lucy-lawless-actor-director-interview
One of us, also!
💪🏽
OT:
I am working on a story about That Man, The Demon.
It's about a golf outing of his. And some local people who get involved.
Nice!!!!!
I hope it has a golf ball or club-induced TBI as a story arc.
Shhhhh :)
Sweet! Can't wait to hear the deets, keet!
I am setting up an author's account on Draft 2 Digital, where the writers for Smashwords put their books now.
It may take a week or two for me to set it up. But it'll be there.