I thought y’all might enjoy this Twitter conversation I recently had, primarily with Matisse and Carol Leigh; it touches on a number of themes that recur frequently in my work. Twitter conversations tend to branch, but I think I’ve managed to gather the main elements I want to share.
I just assumed they think either we are 'evil' or something like that, so that makes it ok to harm us. Or they are like the 'strict' parents/family and that 'strictness' crosses the line to abuse. Or maybe a mixture.
— carol_leigh (@carol_leigh) January 1, 2021
Remember, the Inquisition thought that actually torturing "witches" to death was OK because they were "saving their souls". And prohibitionists are the spiritual descendants of inquisitors. They don't want to save our LIVES; they want to save our souls. Even if it kills us.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 1, 2021
Right, just like puritanism became "progressivism" and "sinful" became "unhealthy". Religion must now disguise itself as "science" and politics in order to win the support of anyone who isn't a diehard fundie. Sex workers are simply proxies for uppity women in general.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 1, 2021
Oh yes. Because adversity (especially but not limited to disease) is still viewed by childlike minds as divine punishment, it often spawns crusades to please the gods by inflicting harm on those who do not adhere to the True Believers' notions of sexual sin.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 1, 2021
And every hurricane is followed by preachers claiming it was Jehovah's punishment for treating queers like human beings.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 1, 2021
The ancient archetypal whore is a symbol of female power, and is attacked by patriarchal religions & cultures because of that. The modern "victim" myth is an attempt to gut that ancient female power by convincing women they're weak and in need of paternalistic "protection".
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 1, 2021
The first ones I know of date to the early 13th century, when the Catholic Church shifted to the model of whores as "fallen" women who needed to be "saved" rather than wicked women who needed to be purged. pic.twitter.com/dEOBPD2Wz6
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 1, 2021
Oh I remember reading about that! One theory being that they men who married them to “save” them had already – ahem – sampled the services. 👍
— Mistress Matisse (@mistressmatisse) January 1, 2021