After Capitalism
On the persistence of sex work
In honor of International Whore’s Day, here is one of my essays featured in I Hate My Job, an anthology on Sex Work and Capitalism edited by adrie rose and published by Working Girls Press. Copies of the book are avilabable at WorkingGirlsPress.com
Among leftist circles there is a cheeky thought exercise, the question of what job would you do after the revolution. In a post-capitalist, total utopic commune of your dreams, where money is certainly no object, what is the labor that you would dedicate yourself to? In the years directly post FOSTA/SESTA, when broached with this question, I would always answer plainly— my job, the oldest profession, would be the same. Positioned in a politically hostile world, I felt that I had to defend sex work’s existence even in playful theories. In retrospect, I realize that this response, the idea that I would continue to do sex work in a place where all my needs are met, is laughably false and additionally upends the vital truth to my personal relationship to the work, which is, I’m only doing this shit for the money.
It remains difficult to envision a life outside of capitalism, so much so that it bleeds into even the most remote territories of the imagination. Our lives formed around and dominated by this system as if it were an omnipotent god. To move outside of the consideration of capitalism is unfounded, unthinkable. It was capitalism that has dictated my entire career, my decision to enter and stay in sex work despite risk and stigma. The very crux of reason to our much debated and often loathed industry, the simple answer frequently overlooked.
Perhaps sex work is as natural as capitalism, the endeavor of commerce manifested. Existing in tandem, sex work as the ill-behaved child of capitalism, a constant and painful reminder of the parent’s failings. But often sex work is viewed as a shortcut or hack of capitalism, as a reclamation of time for many, and the only social reproductive labor (i.e. unpaid, invisible work which is often stolen from us in gender traditional roles) that women readily capitalize on in America and much of the West. Sex work attempts to wrangle herself out from under this system, able to pull a couple wins, but is still ultimately beholden to capitalism. Is a better way possible?
Marxist theoretician Alexandra Kollontai viewed prostitutes under communism as labor deserters and a threat to the hegemony of workers. In an equal society, prostitution stands to alter the relationship between genders, creating inequality through the economic dependence of women upon men. The profession was thought of as a phenomenon of the old bourgeoisie world, one which communism could abate through a more equitable society. In spite of this, prostitution has never fully dissolved under socialism nor communism. Though illegal, sex work is quite visible in even the most staunchly committed Marxist-Leninist countries, such as China and Vietnam. One may argue that these states have yet to build a communist system in its entirety, or that many of these economies operate with “capitalist aspects” like in Deng Xiaoping’s China, and thus the issue of prostitution in a communist system remains true to Kollontai’s thesis, however one cannot deny that the prostitute remains present throughout every economic system in defiance of firm theories.
With the abolition of both private property and the family under Marxism, where does this leave the prostitute? Informed first and foremost by a patriarchal system, women under the structure of the family are perceived as property to provide unpaid labor invaluable to economic maintenance, and prostitution the navigable means around it. While the prostitute engages in paid labor, separate from the traditional housewife in this way, under both capitalism and communism her rejection of women’s labor as either privately or state-owned undermines these patriarchal dominated economic structures in a severe way. The prostitute would not be a threat to either if there were genuine equality among genders, thus exposing a contradiction in the controlled fairness of communism and unfettered free choice of capitalism. While both of these systems claim to be naturally perfected, they are exposed without a thorough investigation of gendered labor.
Women’s labor for much of history has been used as a resource for men, an extractable asset utilized, or rather stolen, for systemic gain. Throughout even the most privileged countries, where women are engaged in the white-collar workforce, there remains rigid labor inequality, both within the office and the home. Often women are expected to take on unpaid roles in organizing and social planning, asked to participate in what is considered more feminine, and thus non-essential, labor. They are passed over for raises and promotions, asked to do more work for less money, and expected to be emotionally present for their job in a way their male counterparts are not, all while simultaneously tending to the duties of the home and family, her second (or maybe first) job, which is again, unpaid.
There is an argument to made that the decision to do sex work is purely a financial one. It is understood that, at the face of its reasoning, most of us do it for money, rather than genuine interest or love for the profession (obviously). There is an illusion of freedom through choice under capitalism, but what is centered through every decision is a dollar amount. Plainly stating this truth can give the impression that the work is shallow, frivolous, as it stands to contradict traditionally held views of sex as a sacred, private act (notice how this is exclusive to women, as sex for men is rarely held to the same standard). The thought of charging remains taboo, as women are expected to enjoy being second to men so much that our acts of labor are selfless and without reward.
Perhaps prostitution is considered theft by both communists and capitalists because it is. Because after centuries of supporting a variety of economies with labor stolen from us, some women decided that we wanted to do some stealing ourselves. There is a retribution to be had in withholding something that most expect to be given for free, to be given without earning it. The theft of our bodies, our time, taken back in revolt. This reappropriation demands that value be given to the labor that has quietly maintained a balance throughout the entirety of history, crucial to economic function. In rejection of this scheme, prostitution is a stick-up, a ransom, the unthinkable demand that you could hold your pussy hostage for as long as you want..
And so, the question remains… will sex work exist after capitalism? As much as hardline theorists would like to ponder the job into non-existence, the material conditions which allow sex to be traded are unlikely to disappear. Currency will likely continue to exist, as will sexual desire. Though revolutions usher change, certain things are bound to permanence— the sun will rise, the earth will turn, and people will sell hole.
Often it is thought that sex work will become obsolete under a completely equal economic model because there will be no financial need for women to sell their sexual labor. But this begs the question, what about demand? Though we may think of sex work as labor towards the reductive “end point,” the profession has been a valued form of entertainment throughout history. From the Meretrices of Ancient Rome to boomtown saloons of the American West to the burlesque and cabarets of the 19th century, sex workers have provided centuries of clientele with periodic reprieve from daily tedium through sexual entertainment. In a utopic future with abundant resources and considerable leisure time, why wouldn’t the citizens of an equitable society choose to spend their extra money on such good harmless fun?
There is a relationship between sex and culture which is concurrent through past and present histories, a symbiotic exchange. The pervert and the whore are a foundational pillar of society, tastemakers in the arts and true patrons of culture. If not for sparks of sexual perversion, our history is doomed to the gallows of puritanical morals, standards dictated by governing powers of men. Outside of the obvious notion of climax, sex functions as an expressive act, an endeavor beyond biology, significant to our identities as humans. Revealing intimate traits— obsession, fanaticism, shame, complex and world shifting desire. In either torrid rejection or welcomed acceptance, sex, and by proxy sex work, show us a mirror image of both the individual and society at large.
As much as sex work exists as a result of an economic system, it also exists outside of it. As much as our personal relationships to sex work are about capitalism, it is also of critical importance to culture, to resistance, and to a longstanding, rich archive of history. The question of sex work existing under different models or a complete abolition of economic systems is moot— sex work’s existence is as guaranteed as sex itself. If not out of necessity, then out of fetish, pleasure, perversion, boredom, or creative desire. Perhaps no, I would not do sex work if not for the money, however there are aspects of sexual labor I do enjoy: dancing on stage, entertaining a conversation with a stranger, constructing a detailed fantasy. It is the necessity of money, the looming figure of capitalism, which spoils this, adding a layer of complication and often shifting the relationship to the job, the transaction, and the client.
There were many nights in the club where maybe there was an indifference to money, not slow but not busy, just a regular night at work. We’d be counting our cash mid-shift, considering clocking out early, calculating how many more rooms or dances you’d want to sell before asking to leave. Ruminating on how stripping is a lot of waiting, how after a while you develop almost a sixth sense on what type of night it’ll be. Maybe there’s a different index, maybe it’s astrology or the stock market or the weather. Maybe you leave when Roxy, the club veteran of fifteen years, calls it. But the money’s solid and you’re not tired, and the girls are happy to stay for one more round or maybe two just shooting the shit. And in the fog machine haze, through the sound of bills moving in succession, someone would say, “You know, this job would be perfect if it weren’t for the fucking customers.”
And you say, “I’ll drink to that.”