No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. – John Donne, Meditation XVII
It’s Friday the 13th again, and since the last one was so recent and the next sex worker rights occasion (the Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers) is this coming Tuesday, I think it would be a bit much to subject y’all to another entire column on the subject; so, I’m going to do something a little different this time by letting our allies speak. Y’all may remember that back in September I wrote that “every single post y’all make today will be announced and linked in my next Friday the 13th column, only three months down the road on December 13th.” All in all, 23 people responded to my call: Amazing Susan, Aztec Lady, Eve’s Tempations, Rhonda and Sex Hysteria reblogged that column, and 17 others wrote the original posts listed below:
Sasha Castel, “Friday the Thirteenth”
Mark Draughn, “Boys and Harlots Beware”
Emily Dubberley, “Support Sex Workers on Friday 13th (and every day)”
Elf, “The Right To Say Yes”
Eve’s Temptations: “Friday the 13th”
Leonard Fahrni, “Triskaideka-whora-philia” and “A Nation of Malvolios”
Ally Fogg, “White Slave Traffic: A Friday 13th guest post by Emma Goldman”
Formerly Dave, “What’s Wrong With Sex Work?”
Chris Hall, “Stigma and Bad Laws Hurt Everyone”
Keen Observer, “Sex Workers’ Rights Day (Friday the 13th)”
Korhomme, “Challenge the Givens”
Ed Krayewski, “Don’t Blame Sex Workers for Your Failed Marriage”
Lily White LeFevre, “Courtesans in Romance”
Georgia Lewis, “Why Sex Workers’ Rights Matter”
Daniel McNally, “Why You Should be Against Sex Work Prohibition”
Not Just Bitchy, “Prostitution Should Be Decriminalized”
Skepticism First, “The Ethics of Sex Work”
Ken White, “For Their Own Good: Friday The Thirteenth Reflections On Society’s Treatment of Sex Workers”
Tim Worstall, “Hey, Preacher, Leave the Whores Alone”
Finally, Eric Barrier reblogged the Ed Krayewski article from Reason.
I’m letting class out early today because I want y’all to read as many of those as possible…then bookmark the rest and read them later. That’s because they’re all good and they’re all important. Some are short and some are long; some are intellectual and some passionate. Some are directly on-point, and others are tangential but still mention the cause. And some are even by people who personally disapprove of sex work, yet understand that governments have no right to restrict peaceful, consensual, private activities, or recognize that attempts to suppress such activities invariably harm those they suppress. I was very happy to see such a wide variety of responses, because that’s the very essence of this observance: good people from all walks of life working together to call attention to a wrong which, while it may not affect them directly, still offends their sense of how free human beings ought to be treated.
