I submit that the modern view is that prostitutes are performing sex work, in the same catagory as other workers. wcm > > ------ =_NextPart_000_01BCABEB.445DE640 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > >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 > > > ------ =_NextPart_000_01BCABEB.445DE640 > Content-Type: application/ms-tnef > Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 > > eJ8+IikWAQaQCAAEAAAAAAABAAEAAQeQBgAIAAAA5AQAAAAAAADoAAEIgAcAGAAAAElQTS5NaWNy > b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQ2ABAACAAAAAgACAAEEkAYAdAEAAAEAAAAMAAAAAwAAMAIAAAAL > AA8OAAAAAAIB/w8BAAAAbQAAAAAAAACBKx+kvqMQGZ1uAN0BD1QCAAAAAFRoZSBwaGlsb3NvcGh5 > LCB3b3JrICYgaW5mbHVlbmNlcyBvZiBOb2FtIENob21za3kAU01UUABDSE9NU0tZQE1BRUxTVFJP > TS5TVEpPSE5TLkVEVQAAAAAeAAIwAQAAAAUAAABTTVRQAAAAAB4AAzABAAAAHgAAAENIT01TS1lA > TUFFTFNUUk9NLlNUSk9ITlMuRURVAAAAAwAVDAEAAAADAP4PBgAAAB4AATABAAAANAAAACdUaGUg > cGhpbG9zb3BoeSwgd29yayAmIGluZmx1ZW5jZXMgb2YgTm9hbSBDaG9tc2t5JwACAQswAQAAACMA > AABTTVRQOkNIT01TS1lATUFFTFNUUk9NLlNUSk9ITlMuRURVAAADAAA5AAAAAAsAQDoBAAAAAgH2 > DwEAAAAEAAAAAAAAAjlNAQSAAQAeAAAAUHJvc3RpdHV0aW9uIGFuZCB3b3JrZXJzLi4uLi4AigoB > 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