Recommended Reading #109: Responding to Discord
“Sex Work Snobbery” by Charlotte Shane (Sex Work, Sex and Culture, Self-Awareness) 10/13/11
While often when I’ve considered stereotypes in regard to sex work, I’ve been considering them from mainstream society/non-sex-workers, I have found it true in my experience and observation that a lamentable tendency toward what the author terms “sex work snobbery” has existed throughout the industry. I have not always observed it, of course, but I have seen signs of it and found it disheartening. I agree with the author that the tendency is neither helpful nor appropriate; society tends to marginalize the industry as a whole, and feeling a need to “elevate” ourselves to some higher level in the way this piece describes inherently (even if we don’t intend to or realize we’re doing it) degrades someone else’s line of work or professional methodology. I appreciate the author’s plea that it would seem helpful for this propensity to cease.
“The missing stair.” by Cliff Pervocracy (Conflict, Psychology, Sociology, Self-Awareness) 6/22/12
I find this well-put, and the idea of recognizance, especially in the context of recognizing that someone’s actions are that person’s responsibility and that it is not up to others to simply accommodate it in order to avoid conflict or upset, is one that seems of profound importance to me.
“The best response we’ve heard to Daniel Tosh’s ‘misquoted’ rape jokes” by Curtis Luciani (Abuse, Sociology, Perspective) 7/12/12
Beautiful and brilliant. The subject matter (that is, what this is a response to) is something I find so disheartening I frankly don’t even want to delve very far into any details of it, but I appreciate intensely this response—and especially the (what I find) impressive use of analogy. Well done.
