Quote: Nude model Ami on her fully clothed day job

by Furry Girl

03.18.10

"During the day I work as a writer at a prestigious international institution. I interview diplomats and promote myself as a thought leader. I write about women’s issues, and work for the promotion of women’s empowerment. But I’m entry level so I’m not paid.

[...]

I worked on an article about sex work during the World Cup in South Africa, which my editor had many qualms about. She did not like my inclusion of a quote about the potential for economic opportunity through sex work during the event. She worried that I was not problematizing the fact that women can be economically forced into sex work. She was stuck on a victimized view of sex workers. And eventually she said that really it was part of her discomfort with the broader trend in society that women make more and get ahead more easily by using their sexuality, femininity and sensuality than by using their intellect.

Well. I thought. Then perhaps you should pay me so I can sustain myself through my intellect, not through my body."

-- Ami, in Sex Work, Human Rights, & Feminism Series Part 1: Musings of a nude model on sex work, feminism and empowerment, on paradigmshiftnyc.com





2 Comments »

  1. So, this can be read as acknowledgment that sex work has too many problems to be a healthy and legit choice for women. (and IMO always will, but again, IMO.) It's really the crappy state of pay that is the problem. So, sex work does not alleviate the real problem, it's an attempt to put a really (low-quality) band-aid over the problem.

    Comment by stefan — March 21, 2010 @ 11:52 am

  2. I think put most simply: if you want to eradicate sex work, advocate that all jobs should pay several hundreds dollars per hour. If you're one of those rich academics/activists/authors/lobbyists who's opposed to the sex industry, you ought to offer to pay people their current (sexual) rate to work for your company/organization.

    Comment by Furry Girl — March 21, 2010 @ 2:25 pm

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