Happens about February-March of every election year (the, ahem, independent media goes out of its way to induce it). Get ready for the next lib wave, and a bunch of iterations of the following script, which they’ve been practicing since like 1999:
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- “Eh, I disagree with [Democrat candidate] on a lot of things, but to pretend he’s not better than [Republican candidate] is just delusional.”
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- “Yeah, I know [Democratic candidate] is a war criminal and complicit in a genocide, but have you considered that [Republican candidate] is a war criminal as well, plus he said rude things about [minority group]? In the interest of harm reduction for Americans only, I have a duty to vote Democrat.”
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- “Your vote actually does matter.”
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- “The only reason the Democrats aren’t Wholesome Progressive Scandinavian Model Chungus is because they have to play politics with the Republicans. You have to recognize the reality of a two-party system.”
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- “We can push the Democrats left.”
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- “Such-and-such Democratic policy (usually the Affordable Care Act) was actually really progressive.”
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- “My [minority group] partner, whom I’ve never mentioned up to this point and very possibly just made up, is voting Democrat.” (This tactic also gets used by libs defending porn and/or prostitution, e.g. “my totally-real girlfriend loves it when I post videos of us having sex online”).
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- “If even one less person dies because [Democratic candidate] is in office, it’s my moral duty to vote for [Democratic candidate]. I am a mature, compassionate person who absolutely understands socialism.”
Conflating criticism or dislike of the sex industry with “sexist SWERF garbage” is a little silly… Are we really meant to suppose that pornography and prostitution is helping women and feminism? Or anyone, for that matter?
I think Gaia answered that question pretty well in the affirmative, as have countless communist sex workers before her, that yes, it absolutely can and does help people, including women. Anyone who says otherwise is discounting the voices of women and comrades. That doesn’t mean there aren’t terrible examples of exploitation in the sex industry and that it isn’t dominated by power imbalance. But so too are there terrible examples of exploitation and abuse in most other low wage work. From miners to service industry workers. Sex work is work, and it doesn’t deserve scorn or disdain any more than any other form of work. As communists, this should not be a difficult concept to grasp, but unfortunately patriarchal, reactionary brainworms still infect a not insubstantial subset in some leftist spaces.
I would feel pretty shitty and would kinda come off as a “pretty woman” fan if I tried to hit one of my girlfriends with that angle. I think Dirt_Possum is coming in hot but they’re echoing the sentiment that I get from these ladies that they prefer to work than sleep in the open. A lot of them recognize that it is capitalism that is their enemy, and explicitly state this.
Huge disclaimer, however, is that direct ownership of billing, protection, housing, and selection is the only thing I support. I hate pimps, and I hate pornography “producers” that aren’t the actors themselves. I don’t think taking a cut from people’s sex work should be legal, considering the coercive conditions that tend to lead a person down that path.