284 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: What's the current feminist take on OnlyFans?
There isn’t a consensus. Sex work is one of the most contentious issues within feminist philosophy and politics today. The two perspectives you outline roughly correspond to the “sex positive” and “sex negative” perspectives, but there are many shades between those two.
Comment by Kaatman at 03/11/2020 at 02:11 UTC*
194 upvotes, 3 direct replies
This is the most direct answer.
Some feminists might argue that sex workers involved in the pornography industry are participating in the objectification and 'pornification' of women. Such a position is more indicative of how (some) sex-negative feminists would think of this kind of work. Even then, it's not as clear cut as 'sex-negative feminists would think this is bad'. Arguments made that things like pornography actively contribute to the dehumanization and oppression of women can be challenged or tempered by the counter that it is not pornography itself that is inherently oppressive, but certain forms of pornography. What about pornography that centers the agency or pleasure of women? What about pornography that inherently (and by design) presents the actors involved as mutually equal and consensual partners? Not all porn is inherently objectifying, unless we're arguing that women cannot practice sexuality anywhere other than strictly in private without being reduced to objects themselves - a pretty cynical and reductive view of the agency of women in relation to their own sexuality. In fact, the rise of webcam pornography, and sites like onlyfans, which are, generally speaking, directly controlled by the people who are engaging in that sex work, can and has been framed by many feminists as a reclamation of sexual agency by women within the pornographic industry. And what about those sex workers themselves? Are sex workers unable to be feminists, then? They are certainly an active part of this process/setting/phenomena/whatever. If you're interested in a more thorough and highly relevant expression of a sex-negative position in relation to pornography, you could check out Ariel Levy's 'Female Chauvinist Pigs'.
In contrast, sex-positive feminists, of which there are a great many, would suggest that sex work is, in fact, real and legitimate work (in the cases where sex workers are not being trafficked - in which cases, it would probably be helpful to distinguish between sex workers and sexual slavery) comparable in many ways to military service or labour - they would argue that the criticism of sex work being coercive and therefore not actually work (ie. rape) is a fallacious argument, as it is based on the assumption that somewhat comparable power imbalances do not exist in pretty much every area of employment. Why is it wrong for a sex worker to commodify their bodies when it is not wrong for a coal miner to do so? Both implicitly exist within systems of socioeconomic inequality and oppression, both adopt varying forms of risk, potentially both willingly and unwillingly. Both are, in essence, selling their bodies. To decry the sex worker suggests that they have no right to do what they are doing, and that it is morally wrong - a position that, many feminists would (and do) suggest actively strips away the agency of those workers.
Edit: had to correct an autocorrect.