Maybe this deserves a trigger warning, as it deals with uncomfortable subjects.
I was about 12 years old, and I was riding in a car with my mother's ex-husband, his son, and his boss. We drove past someone holding up a "will work for food" sign. My mom's ex turns to his boss and says, "No man should ever have to do that. Instead, he should just make his wife you know, giggle giggle wink wink nudge nudge for money instead".^1 There are a few moments in life that are truly enlightening. This was one of them for me. I began to see just how morally bankrupt the current system really was. To quote Shakespeare, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".
This kind of attitude held by my mom's ex doesn't just reflect poorly on capitalism. It also shows how society values women less than men.^2 It is an idea deeply embedded in Western thought. Here's Genesis 19:5-8 from the Bible:
And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
There is a very similar story in chapter 19 of Judges.
The economic crash of 2008 and growing economic inequality pushed me farther left, but the journey all started in that car.
^1. I hold that sex work is work. From my anti-work point of view, it is just as valid and just as distasteful as any other form of remunerated work. If somebody chooses to do it over other forms of work, that is not less dignified than choosing to rent one's mind to Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook.
^2. I don't identify as a male feminist, but I sure do find myself agreeing with feminists a lot.