'Pro-feminist' men again, erk!

[flexibeast]

A sex worker has posted an entry in both the feministsexwork and feminist_rage communities, entitled "patriachy is still alive and well with some male feminists...", about her experience attending a "men stopping violence" conference in Atlanta. Unsurprisingly (to me, at least), the experience included an encounter with a man who was apparently upset at the notion of a feminist who is not only a sex worker, but who is also not anti-sex work; and an encounter with "older men who were so venomous in their verbal attacks as to leave my co-presenter shaking at the end [and who] were simply bound and determined to save 'those women' from 'the male oppressors'." :-/

Note to guys who want to call themselves 'pro-feminist':

• Listen to the experiences of all women - don't ignore and/or dismiss the experiences of women who don't fit in with your pet feminist theory;


• Further to the previous point, consider the incongruity of claiming to be supportive of feminism whilst at the same time engaging in behaviour which is very much similar to the historic belittling by male culture of the experiences and beliefs of women;


• Realise that there is actually a substantial corpus of feminist writing which takes a more complex view of sex work than "Sex work is teh 3v1l!". Sheila Jeffreys, Gloria Steinem, Mary Daly, etc., whilst being important contributors to feminism, are not the definitive representatives of feminism in toto;


• Further to the previous point, try reading some alternative analyses of sex work from people actually involved in the industry, such as "Prostitution seen as Violence Against Women - a supportive or oppressive view?", by Liv Jessen (recipient of the first ever Human Rights Award from Amnesty International for Prostitutes' Rights work), or "Sexworkers Critique of Swedish Prostitution Policy", by Petra Östergren.

So guys, how about it? Or are you only supportive of feminism when you don't have to examine, consider and change your own behaviour?