User:Josieml04/Feminism in the United States

Second Wave Feminism and Sex Work
In San Francisco in 1973, Call Off Your Tired Old Ethics (COYOTE) was formed to be the first American sex workers' rights organization. Started by Margo St. James, a self proclaimed feminist and sex worker, COYOTE worked to give sex workers basic occupational rights and sexual self determination. That same year, the National Organization for Women (NOW) drafted a resolution in support of COYOTE, calling for the decriminalization of prostitution. After this, COYOTE and NOW worked together to fight to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which ultimately did not pass.

In 1978, the first feminist conference on the pornography industry was held in San Francisco. The next year, more than 5,000 women marched in Times Square against pornography, cementing the anti-pornography feminist movement. Anti-pornography feminists viewed porn as the graphic and sexually explicit way that men subordinated and dehumanized women. They blamed pornography for much of the rape, prostitution, and assault present in the United States. In 1983, an anti-porn ordinance, written and proposed by Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, was drafted in the Minneapolis City Council. Ultimately, the ordinance was defeated by a group of feminists who felt that the way anti-pornography feminists painted the affects of pornagraphy was inherently sexist and made women, especially sex workers, seem as though they were incapable of giving consent. The backlash from the anti-porn movement resulted in a faction of feminists who called themselves "fuck me feminists." These were women who empowered themselves by reclaiming the sexual objectification and exploitation that had always been used against them. While this seems like an inherently pro-sex work view to have, many "fuck me feminists" viewed sex workers as being victims or being oppressed, so they were unable to truly choose what happened to their bodies.

By 1985, support for prostitution and sex workers in the United States, especially by the feminists movement, hit a major decline. This was, in part, because of the divided views on the subject held by members of the feminist movement. The dominant point of view, one held by the U.S. Prostitutes Collective and Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt (WHISPER), supported decriminalization as an interim measure, but ultimately believe in the abolition of sex work.

Different Feminist Movement's Views on Sex Work
There are many different factions within the feminist movement, and each faction took its own stance on the issue of sex work.

Marxist feminists believe that prostitution is a result of capitalism, and therefore, sex workers are exploited by the ruling class, whether that is the pimp or the patriarchy. Marxist feminists believe that prostitutes symbolize the value of women in society, and how a woman's worth is measured in her social, sexual, and economic subordination. Marxist feminists fall into the abolition faction of feminists, and they view abolition of prostitution as an integral pillar to the eventual overthrowing of the patriarchy.

The domination theory feminists believe the root of oppression of women rests in sexuality, and sexuality is a thing to be stolen, sold, bought, bartered, or exchanged by men. Dominant theory feminists view prostitution not as an industry, but rather as a state in which all women find themselves. Because they view all sexual intercourse as violent and victimizing to women, dominant theory feminists believe in the abolition of sex work.

Liberal feminists tend to be split between the argument of whether all sex work is degrading to women and the argument that sex work is work and should be treated as such. Either way, liberal feminists believe in the legalization of sex work, as criminalization prohibits women's ability to control their own bodies.

Radical sexual-pluralist theory feminists reject the binaries through which other feminists view the world. They do not view the world as having goods and bads or normal and deviants, as it creates binaries where one form of thinking is praised and another is condemned. When it comes to sex work, radical sexual-pluralist theory feminists do not have a specific opinion on legalization. Instead, they believe sex workers should speak out against their own marginalization created by the binary, and that feminists should take sex workers opinions and experiences into account when forming their own.

Because of the many divisions within the feminist movement on the topic of sex work, big organizations like NOW preferred to focus on more universal women's rights issues such as abortion. While still controversial, reproductive rights are much less nuanced and leave feminists divided into just two or so divisions instead of many. Additionally, reproductive rights made an impact on every single woman in this country, instead of one group of women, which made it more appealing for large organizations.

Sex Workers and Feminist Safe Spaces
Feminists were not always welcoming to sex workers, even feminists who supported the decriminalization or legalization of sex work. They created safe spaces for women, especially lesbian women, where feminists could talk and be themselves. The ability to be comfortable with their bodies and sexualities was extremely important in these safe spaces, and women often danced together, sometimes taking their tops off as an expression of comfort with their femininity. Despite the purpose of these places being safe spaces for women, it was made very clear that these places were not meant to be lewd, meaning somewhere men could pick up women to have sex, paid or not. Because of the stigma associated with sex workers, especially with multiple sex workers frequenting the same place, sex workers were not generally accepted in these feminist safe spaces as the women felt it infringed on their comfort. Though never technically banned, sex workers felt isolated within these spaces and tended to avoid them.