The backdrop that words can paint October 26, 2010

Thanks to Hot Buttered Gun for sharing this – “The language of prostitution, or the prostitution of language”. It’s a great treatise on framing a debate based upon the descriptors used. While it’s primarily focused on those for and against the sex worker industry, it also serves as a reminder as to how an agenda can set the tone of a discussion in a way that, if unchallenged, tilts a discussion towards a pre-conceived narrative.

This is a particularly touchy area for me, because as someone who has friends that currently are, or have been sex workers, I am very sensitive to the concept of slut-shaming - especially as it applies to this profession. Without exception, they are all not only fantastically wonderful people, but deeply honorable and compassionate. To see them reduced to caricatures is… well, “a bit vexing” doesn’t quite cover it. If it isn’t about saving the children, it’s about saving us from ourselves, and quite frankly – I don’t need saving.

And neither do they.