What's the real price of selling sex?

Prostitution and pornography are products in the same market. Does that make the shoppers the same?

The oldest job in the world is under fresh scrutiny thanks to a new report that says paying for porn is the same as buying sex from prostitutes.
Predictably, the research has come under fire for “egregiously” failing to draw a “reasonable distinction” between booking a hooker and pay-viewing a porno.
At first, this distinction seems obvious.

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Yes, porn and prostitution are products in the same market, but that does not make the shoppers the same.
Or does it?
Does paying to watch rather than participate make you just as much a John?
Of course, that’s not the really interesting question.
The real head job here relates the conclusion drawn by the “prostitution abolitionist” behind the new study – that porn and prostitution, being the same, not only make Johns of most men, it mucks up their thoughts about women and sex as well.
It is a curious proposal in a time when the word ‘sex’ may be used conjunction with ‘empowerment’ as easily as ‘sin’, or indeed ‘sells’.
It is also a proposal I don’t entirely agree with.
Clearly the sex industry is not a ‘pure’ market, in a moral or economic sense of the word. Forces at play include addiction, corruption and, if I may be so bold, real evil.
But adopting the view that all sex business is ‘bad’ business is too clumsy and too simple to be truthful, inasmuch as suggesting all consumers of sex products are warped (or inferring that all consumers of sex products are men for that matter) is narrow and false.
Significant epidemiological maturation coupled with the social liberalisation of views about sexuality has helped contribute to the idea that sex is complex and individual. That sexuality is influenced by biological and cultural factors. That we have sex, seek sex, buy sex, enjoy sex or abhor sex, for many, varied reasons.
Sex can be about pleasure, it can be about procreation, or it can be about private enterprise.
And there’s a lot about this that is healthy – diminishing ‘unknown’ quality of sex helps erode that unhelpful sense of fear that has dogged the carnal corners of our lives for so long.  If we’re talking about ‘warped minds’, let’s talk about the warping that goes on when sex is taboo and even thinking about it will send you straight to Hades.
So is it reasonable to be heartily both pro-porn and pro-prostitution? I believe so. I believe you can make the argument that sex is a natural, acceptable part of life, and therefore the sex industry is a natural, acceptable trade.
Of course, it is also reasonable to stand in opposition to porn, prostitution and the sex trade at large. To vilify Johns as perverted deviants who treat people as products and respect them even less. To say that we should abolish pornography, criminalise prostitution and censor all reference to sex or sexuality that goes beyond an ‘accepted’ social norm.
But you’d have to define that norm first.
And you have to convince me.
So go.
But first, read this. It might challenge your assumptions on Dear Johns ...


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/blogs/citykat/whats-the-real-price-of-selling-sex-20110719-1hmws.html#ixzz1ScjEEQ7s