Spirituality, Sex and Sexwork
By David Schneider
This article is going to develop several of my ideas on sexwork, spirituality and moralism within our society at the present moment. Now I'll warn you right here that I'm going to be critical of many "Christians". So before you read this, get upset, and want to come around to my house with pitchforks and blazing torches, please don't read any further if your religious beliefs prohibit you from having an open mind.
We live in a world where lots of people are trying to tell us what our spirituality must be. And how we must be "pure" in our spirituality. Oddly enough sex and sexuality seem, if many religious type folks are to be believed, mutually opposed to one another. This seems a little unusual because of the, to me, clear link between sexuality and spirituality.
Recently I attended the wedding of a "Christian" friend of mine. It was very religiously orientated, and I'm afraid, a tad too patriarchal in nature for me to stomach comfortably. Be that as it may, the woman who was being married was a very spiritual person, within the meaning of The Act and her denomination. Her father is a Padre, and she and her siblings have had a very religious upbringing. As a consequence sex before marriage was right out. One of her sisters once stated in my presence that she would not go to the Mars Bar (a Gay & Lesbian nightclub in Adelaide) because she wanted to do nothing to support their perverse lifestyle. Topics such as sexwork issues were treated with high levels of discomfort and generally ignored.
"Judge not less thee be judged"? Or should we perhaps trot out another tired old cliché and say "that God loves you, but He hates what you're doing". Or in other words, bollocks! These alleged spiritual folks preach tolerance and understanding, and have lots of nice tidy catch phrases, which are produced with monotonous regularity. However when it comes time to ante up, we find small mindedness alive and well and attempting to reconstitute our world in their own particular narrow vision. To be fair there are many religious persons who do act in good conscience and attempt to comprehend issues from the viewpoint of others, yet I fear that they are in a minority, at least as far as my own humble experience is concerned.
Why should sex and sexuality be regarded with such taboo and trepidation? Surely sex can be regarded as having a perfectly natural role within our lives. It is normal for persons who experience high levels of attraction to one another to want to enter into a sexual relationship.
Some sexual relationships are lengthy, and others are rather more limited in nature. It is also quite natural for people to become horny. To desire sexual relations even though they do not currently have a partner. Yet why should sexual relations between two consenting adults cause a third party to want to tell these others how they may behave, even when this third party is not present? Then there's the matter of the sex industry. Many persons claiming to be the proud owners of a nice shiny Christian spirituality are dead set against this sort of thing, and are not backward in coming forward in efforts to repress it.
Perhaps it's time to get into a few definitions in relation to exactly what sexwork and the sex industry is. In broad terms the sex industry is anything that has sexual connotations, which involves the exchange of money or other goods in exchange for services or products that are sexually related. As such magazines depicting nude, semi-nude or explicit photographs are a part of the sex industry. Pornographic videos, or varying explicit content, are part of the sex industry. The production and selling of sex toys, vibrators and lingerie are a part of the sex industry. And of course the provision of more personal sexually related services comprises a part of the sex industry. Some parts of the sex industry are legal, depending on various state and federal laws. And other parts are not. As can be seen, the use of the term "the sex industry" is deceptive, it is a convenient label for what is a large and complex industry involving a not inconsiderable number of people.
The use of the term sexwork itself is also a somewhat misleading term that covers a wide variety of activities within the industry. Doing nude photos can be a part of sexwork (though the lines between this and artistic nudity get blurred from time to time). Doing explicit photos or videos is sexwork. Working in a topless or nude bar is sexwork. Working in a massage parlour that gives "discreet hand relief" is sexwork. Working as a receptionist in a brothel is sexwork. Being a stripper is sexwork. Working in a peep-a-view and using a vibrator is sexwork. Performing various sexual acts is sexwork. Selling sex toys and pornographic materials is sexwork. Unfortunately the use of the term sexwork fails to differentiate between these different activities and leads to generalisations and misunderstandings.
Now I can certainly see how people can get a bit upset about some of the more gaudy aspects of the sex industry. However I would suggest that the issue here is more about good taste and those involved in the industry trying to be a little more professional, rather than with sex itself. Perhaps attempting to make their erotica a little more in line with reality is an option, though let's face it, a big part of the sex industry is involved in escapism, and so a fair amount of artistic licence can probably be granted here.
The problems with our sex industry that have arisen are where people who have their own specific definition of spirituality have attempted to legislate their beliefs into law. For how long was homosexually illegal because of the beliefs of a moralistic minority. Those who wished to restrict the behaviour of others in order to make themselves feel better about their own beliefs, morals and spirituality? We now have a situation where laws exist in this state to make sexwork, specifically prostitution, an illegal activity. In spite of attempts to reform the law in relation to this, many people block reformist efforts, because their interpretation of their spiritual beliefs finds this uncomfortable and difficult to deal with.
As a consequence we find ourselves in a situation where persons who provide sexual services are criminalized, with the attendant development of criminal records for involvement in such activities. Our clogged courts get unnecessary extra work handling these cases. The police have to divert resources from serious policing issues in order to act as a sop to the egos of people whose own spiritual beliefs can't handle such an uncomfortable reality. The tragic thing here is that the efforts of police to repress sexwork result in them targeting brothels, because that is easier to get a conviction for. This results in sexworkers being frequently diverted into so-called escort work. A form of prostitution that has many more risks attached to it than working within a brothel. Consequently one form of sexwork that is safer for the workers is prosecuted, whilst another less safe form is allowed to flourish. The hypocrisy of this situation is self-evident.
Our spirituality is supposed to be about our relationship with God, or nature or whatever it is that we believe in. Instead far too many people seem to be attempting to pervert it into something that we use in order to tell other people how they are permitted to conduct their lives. This is a very dangerous attitude. For many people I can understand how sexwork can be an uncomfortable issue. In spite of opportunity I have chosen not to pay someone to have sex with myself. This is not because I believe that sexwork is wrong, but rather because having sex with someone only because I am paying them to holds no charm for me. My spiritual beliefs insist that anyone that I have sex with should do so because they want to. My beliefs also tell me that I have no business telling someone else what they can and cannot do with their own body. As far as I am concerned, persecuting someone merely for being a sexworker is wrong.
I agree that there should be laws to protect people from being forced into sexwork against their will. I agree that there should be laws to protect children and animals from exploitation in sexual ways. But I do not now, nor will I ever, accept that we have the right to dictate how people may use their own bodies.