I heard this interview with the founder of Philadelphia’s Dawn Court, a diversion program for sex workers, when it first came out. She talks about the sex workers who operate in low-income areas under the El in Philly. She talked about a survey of sex workers, and the average first age of sex work was 11-13 years old.…

Women will be forced to it if they make it legal but the police will have a harder time deciding when and who to investigate. The women I know where rescued because prostitution is illegal. If it had been legal the police would have a harder time justifying that there is the need to investigate some prostitution…

You hit the nail on the head, honey. I’ve had to trade sex for survival - not tuition - survival. Privileged little white girls (and some privileged little black girls, too) think it’s edgy and hip to claim “sex work is just like any other work”. Um, I don’t know - I can think of a difference or two without trying…

I agree. The writer’s point that men aren’t monsters because they’re paying for it gets a little lost when she adds they’re husbands and fathers (and glorifies her own monogamy), unless I missed a part about open marriage.

There’s a huge and growing list of porn actresses that regret going into the industry and I’m wondering why pro-sex work feminist refuse to acknowledge that?

I overwhelmingly see this attitude where people are like “well, his wife/girlfriend wasn’t having enough sex with him/giving him enough attention. WHAT DID SHE EXPECT?!”

Exactly! I feel like many Jez readers are white and priviledged and they have this idea that all sex work is empowering and those of us who are worried about women who are coerced or trafficked are “hysterical” like te author said. Well, I am Mexican and an immigrant and most women I know who did sex work were coerced…

THIS. “I know there are some advocates who argue that women in prostitution sell sex as consenting adults. But those who do are a relatively privileged minority — primarily white, middle-class, Western women in escort agencies — not remotely representative of the global majority. “ This is such a more complicated…

I’m really torn about this issue. On the one hand, I have friends who have been sex workers. They have been white, middle class women who chose to get into it to make a few extra dollars, to make an income when they lost their jobs, to put themselves through school, etc.

Even if that were the case and the wife rejected the husband, are we saying he’s just...entitled to sex? Or “connection”? If he’s unhappy with his connection to his wife, shouldn’t he at least have to discuss alternative options with her, including “outsourcing” sex or divorce?

Not to mention if a person is looking for “connection”, whether it be physical, emotional or intellectual, how gratifying could it actually be, knowing that you paid someone to basically pretend to be interested in you?

Decriminalize sex work. Don’t legalize and regulate it. Allowing a patriarchal, white, male-dominated government to regulate the sexuality of marginalized women is only going to harm sex workers more.

I wasn’t really referring to Charlotte though. I’m looking more at the “sugar daddy and sugar baby” concept and how reporters like Brodesser-Akner and people in general respond. I don’t think the power play aspect of the sugar relationships can be ignored. Many of these men feel entitled to treat the women poorly…

I dunno. Someone in my life said he looked elsewhere because he felt rejected, but I find it to be a bunch of whiny BS. Like, somehow a woman always has to emotionally fix things in relationships. Or relationships are all about women giving men attention and if their attention is elsewhere, that’s a crisis.

I don’t mind the sex workers, they have every right to support themselves, work in a safe environment, and have the opportunity for a safe exit of the industry (if that is what they choose). But I’m not down with anyone buying or renting a human body. It perpetuates human trafficking and slavery. Respect the workers,…

I like the Nordic model in the article. The problem is the status quo isn’t working. Just because men won’t learn they’re not entitled to sex doesn’t mean that women shouldn’t get the support and protection they need.

Brodesser-Akner is an asshole. The only time I feel like a journalist has been respectful during one of these sugar daddy reports, was Lisa Ling in her report last year. She seemed creeped out by the men and concerned about the well being of the women. Especially because the relationships often have an unequal…

I usually am of that opinion, but then Jez reposted this and I find it interesting: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/29/opi…

When family starts on an anti-immigration schtick, I remind them that great-grandad was an illegal immigrant. Of course they always insist that that’s different, but then can’t articulate why. Then everything eiather falls apart and they disperse, or we just change the subject, all because they don’t want to say…

Sure, his dad was Cuban, but both he and Cruz can pass for white, which is all that matters. That and he’s a Republican who is crazy as shit.