Julie Bindel in The Spectator

[stokecity]

anyone seen this article in this week's Spectator?

Possibly not worth a read, tbh, there's not much to it for a cover story, but it is the silly season

External Link/Members Only

i think she's been to too many liberal nrthwest london dinner parties where they think prostitution is now v normal and mainstream....who thinks this?!

also, she equates working as a prossie in a premier inn in Reading with working in a no doubt horrible brothel in calcutta.

any sex act is an act of violence too, if i'm reading her correctly.

it's an interesting topic to have a chat about, but this article doesnt add anything to the sum of human knowledge.

i havent read them, but the comments sections in the spectator are normally quite amusing...i'll see what they say....usually incredible and properly right wing libertarians who think the state should only exists to guarantee the legal system and property rights...i suspect they'd have a different point of view to Julie's

anyway, just thought i'd point it out...comment if you fancy, obviously

sc

[NIK]

Don't need to read it to know it will be a load of bollocks.
After all it's by Bindell. 

[vw]

She joined here with the name Peter Sutcliffe

External Link/Members Only

Says it all she has a screw loose or 4.

[faggins]

She did a similar piece in the Independent recently. Unfortunately for her, it's nowhere near as black and white as all that. I'm sure some people who punt indeed consider WGs as pieces of meat for their own gratification, but they probably would treat civvies exactly the same. On the other end of the spectrum you get the fluffy crowd.

Sure, there is a problem with trafficking/coercion (a reason why (apart from crap write ups) I tend not to see EE WGs), but there's equally coercion in terms of people working in nail bars/restaurants, but there's no moral panic about that, because that's something nice liberal middle class elites indulge in. Our "hobby" is beyond the pale in "polite" society (though it wouldn't be in Germany of Holland), hence the opprobrium.

Why people punt is unique to them (without too much detail, OH suffers from a series of debilitating illnesses which makes "relations" nigh on impossible). Given that it's known as "the oldest profession" and will never go away, far, far better to follow a German/Dutch model if you're worried about the vulnerability of WGs

[Rosepetals]

As a female, there IS a difference to being forced into work, any kind for that matter, and choosing to work, whether one enjoys it or not.

If Tinder is allowed and legal, no matter how much it's messing up what 'relationship' is meant to be like this day and age, then why on earth shouldn't selling body for whatever kind of sex be legal?

No different to twerking on music videos for rap guys, and no different to modelling with legs spread for Agent Prov and Marc Jacobs perfume ads

Guess it's social stigma and no parents or family want their girl in that profession ha!

If only they knew how much more respect we get from transactions than that drunken NSA you hear about 

[Jonestown]

There is an interesting comment :-

"Many feminists like to say regarding abortion, that a woman's body is her own, however, when it comes to prostitution, not so much."

[Rosepetals]

There is an interesting comment :-

"Many feminists like to say regarding abortion, that a woman's body is her own, however, when it comes to prostitution, not so much."

Well, there you go
Really annoying when they speak for them

[sparkus]

I note/like how she gets a quick mention of male prostitutes in, just to show she's balanced.

[fredpunter]

Writing shite to get a reaction isn't restricted to right wing nutters like that ex-apprentice bitch who's name I don't care to remember.
Bindle is just doing the same... provocative shit that the author can't really actually believe herself sells papers.

[Taggart]

I note/like how she gets a quick mention of male prostitutes in, just to show she's balanced.

Do you mean that the feature is balanced or she is? 

[sparkus]

She's trying to be, to avoid accusations of overlooking it (as they have been made by defenders of prostitution).

[smiths]

anyone seen this article in this week's Spectator?

Possibly not worth a read, tbh, there's not much to it for a cover story, but it is the silly season

External Link/Members Only

i think she's been to too many liberal nrthwest london dinner parties where they think prostitution is now v normal and mainstream....who thinks this?!

also, she equates working as a prossie in a premier inn in Reading with working in a no doubt horrible brothel in calcutta.

any sex act is an act of violence too, if i'm reading her correctly.

it's an interesting topic to have a chat about, but this article doesnt add anything to the sum of human knowledge.

i havent read them, but the comments sections in the spectator are normally quite amusing...i'll see what they say....usually incredible and properly right wing libertarians who think the state should only exists to guarantee the legal system and property rights...i suspect they'd have a different point of view to Julie's

anyway, just thought i'd point it out...comment if you fancy, obviously

sc

Bindel is a femi-nazi and has an agenda like another of her ilk Harriet Harman to criminalise all punters. Fortunately it was near the end of Browns government that Harman got her coercion law through, she wanted to criminalise all punters then but ran out of time and support for that.

With these people the facts and truth are of no interest, their views are set it stone, ALL WGs are victims and ALL punters their abusers, complete crap of course but what these people have going for them is they can spout this rubbish publicly whereas many WGs and punters cant and they know it and exploit it. Most of the media is anti-prostitution or too shit scared to Bindel and her ilk to stand up to them.

Where this can become dangerous is them linking prostitution to trafficking and slavery, this is where the government of any party might well pass new laws at some time. In reality there are already enough laws around prostitution to nick traffickers and/or those that force WGs to be WGs.

As prostitution proves their being a law doesn't mean the top cops in their area choose to enforce it which is why the street scene and brothels flourish in some areas despite being illegal. It would cost vast amounts of money and manpower to nick punters of off/street WGs under a law that criminalises all punters. What is a fact is prostitution will always find a way, the end result of criminalising punters is making it less safe for WGs. Seems to me this is acceptable collateral damage to Bindel and her ilk, or as someone else suggested WGs being less safe is what they want to see occur, so they can pursue their agenda further.

[willie loman]

The spectator, carries or used to carry ads for hookers on the back page. And one of their better  known columnist was an enthusiastic patron of sex saunas in Thailand, he often wrote about it.

[Robinh191]

"One of the most disturbing discoveries I made was that the loudest voices calling for legalisation and normalisation of prostitution are the people who profit it: pimps, punters and brothel owners. They have succeeded in speaking for the women under their control".

Where that happens, it is tragic and I agree with many of the points made. However, whilst I would not describe independent SPs as happy hookers, they are not owned by pimps, punters or brothel owners and the independent SPs have made a genuine choice.

There's a reason why it's known as the oldest profession in the world and this or any other article is not going to change that in the near future. The only thing I seen on the horizon that may have an impact on the human sex worker is a non-human one i.e. robots. Although one could argue that there are mechanical sex machines available but they probably exist as an addition to rather than replacement for a human sex worker. Also current technology probably favours women and gay men in terms of choice and variety of available products and we'll have to see what they come up with for heterosexual men.

Last point, the sex trade referred to in the article refers to women as the SP and men as the consumers but no reference that part of the sex trade where men are the SP for either men (so-called rent boys) or for women (so-called gigolos).

[PatMacGroin]

She joined here with the name Peter Sutcliffe

External Link/Members Only

Says it all she has a screw loose or 4.

I was thinking she might have browsed UKP or other sites like it.

Her quotes sound like something that could have been very roughly paraphrased from discussion here. E.g.

"I have interviewed a number of punters, both in the UK and elsewhere, and this is the sort of thing they say: ‘I don’t want her to enjoy it — that would take something away from me.’"

Could almost have come from this thread:

https://www.ukpunting.com/index.php?topic=16454.0

Although only if she has completely ignored that at least half of the posts are punters saying the complete opposite. 

Then again, that is exactly what her article is, completely one sided waffle that doesn't even attempt balanced investigative journalism. 
 

[Chorley]

Biased, ill informed agenda-driven bollocks!!!

End of!!! 

[sparkus]

Would I get thrown off UKP if I posted a 'review' of Julie Bindel as WG?

[PatMacGroin]

Would I get thrown off UKP if I posted a 'review' of Julie Bindel as WG?

 

If you have the writing skills I would love to read that.

[maxQ]

Bindel is just a fat feminist dyke who hates men, all men

So the very idea of men having sex with women pisses her off

Gay men like women, and also men of course, hetro men like women and also men (not in a sexual way)

But why do fat dykes hate men so much, could they not just ignore us, I do my best to ignore them

[sparkus]

She can foam all she wants.

Two sets of occupations keep WGs in business: coppers, journos and judges (wait, that's three).  As long as these pieces shift copies and keep the various arms of the law happy, status quo continuum.

She probably needs to have a word with those who commissioned it.  Here's former Spectator editor Boris Johnson (remember him?), a few years back:

“Here’s an easy one..where was penicillin discovered?...Yes, Praed Street, Paddington.” The audience laughs as he adds: “penicillin - a very useful thing to have after a night out in Praed Street.”

Knowing reference?