I submit that the modern view is that prostitutes are performing sex
work, in the same catagory as other workers.
wcm
>
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> >From Karl Carlile:
>
> Prostitutes do not necessarily form part  of the working class since
> they do not sell labour power as a commodity. They are not wage
> workers.=20
>
> By contrast the prostitute sells his/her body, as opposed to labour
> power, as a commodity on the exchange market. This means that s/he
> sells her/his body piece meal over a sustained period. Her/his body is
> the commodity. The purchaser of her/his body relates to it as a
> commodity. In this sense s/he is a simple commodity producer: an
> independent commodity producer. This means that the class character of
> the prostitute is petty bourgeois rather than working class.
>
> Clearly this situation is modified if there is a pimp involved in the
> business of the prostitute. Under these conditions the prostitute sells
> her/his body as commodity in exchange for money. Now the prostitute
> through the medium of the market exchanges value in the form of a
> simple commodity for value in the form of money. There obtains equal
> exchange. There is no unequal exchange and consequently no exploitation
> either direct or indirect by the purchaser of the body commodity.=20
>
> However there is a form of oppression and exploitation when the pimp
> forcibly extracts a portion of this value from the prostitute. S/he
> extracts value in the form of money from the prostitute outside of the
> exchange process. Nothing is exchanged by the pimp for this value in
> its money form. It is simply appropriated by the pimp. In this sense
> this relationship of appropriation takes place outside the limits of
> value relations. Consequently not only does the pimp/prostitute
> relationship transcend capitalist relations but it also transcends
> simple value relations. The pimp acquires value gratis by virtue of the
> fact that the prostitute sells her/his body as commodity.
>
>  The prostitute turns her/his body into a commodity. This is the chief
> distinction between worker and prostitute. The worker turns her/his
> labour power into a commodity while the prostitute turns her/his body
> into a commodity. In this regard their exists a commonality between
> slavery and prostitution. The body of both are exchanged as
> commodities. However in the case of the slave his body as commodity is
> not her/his. In the case of the prostitute the body is hers/his. This
> is a significant distinction.
>
> Another distinction is that in the case of the slave the body is sold
> all at once while in the case of the prostitute it is sold piece meal.
> It is sold on a continuous basis. This means that even though s/he
> sells her body it is not sold in toto. Consequently even though s/he is
> engaged in the business of selling it, because of the peculiar way in
> which it is done, s/he still maintains overall ownership over it
> outside business hours. It is this peculiarly limited form in which her
> body is sold that prevents the prostitute from being reduced to the
> status of a slave.=20
>
> The prostitute reproduces his/her body so that s/he can sell it on the
> market. By selling his/her body as commodity s/he is exchanging the
> form of value in the form of commodity for the form of value in the
> form of money. The latter is the value form by which she can continue
> to reproduce her body  in order to sell it again. Now the prostitute
> who tends to produce a "better quality body" by putting more labour
> into the reproduction of her body increases the value of her body and
> thereby the price she gets for it.
> =20
> The prostitute contributes to the creation of value as a simple
> commodity producer by selling her body as a commodity. S/he then makes
> a contribution to the economic system by creating value. As a petty
> commodity producer s/he is petty bourgeois and not a member of the
> working class. Her/his petty bourgeois position will tend to reflect
> itself in her/his politics and culture. Her/his economic condition, as
> prostitute, tends to be a function of the specific character of the
> capitalist economy at any given time, the quality of her/his body as =
> commodity,
> the degree to which her/his body as commodity enters the exchange
> process, whether or not s/he has a pimp or employer and the character
> of her/his relationship to either.
>
> To sum up: As far as the circulation process goes there takes place =
> equal exchange between the prostitute and her/his customers. In that =
> sense there is no exploitation of the prostitute. People who are quick =
> to frown on prostitution because the body is sold as a use value  tend =
> to
> be reluctant to frown on the selling of labour power by workers. Why =
> should selling one's body be qualitatively any worse than selling one's =
> labour power to an industrial capitalist. Both can be considered =
> alienating and oppressive as forms of human conduct. Yet the selling of =
> labour power is experienced as an acceptable social norm  beyond moral =
> reprobation. Indeed the latter ipso facto entails exploitation whereas =
> the former does not. Workers who are the customers of prostitutes are =
> not ipso facto exploiting them.=20
>
> Greetings Karl Carlile
>
>
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