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Feminism, Legal Activism, and Sex Work: Reconciling to Move Forward
D’Adamo, Kate
D’Adamo, Kate
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Adobe PDF, 1.58 MB
Abstract
When it comes to the sex trade, some principles of feminist legal theory have done grave damage to those on the ground. While intended to uplift, these principles have instead created more violence, discrimination, and gender-based hierarchies. Two main areas where feminist legal theory has failed to appreciate the lived realities of sex workers are its reliance on the criminal legal system and its limited view of who counts as a woman.
While I wish to explore the relationship between theory and practice, I reject the idea that these are two separate spheres that should interact. This view posits that the interaction between theory and practice is a choice, but it is not. Sex work has inspired theories on how to understand and address certain issues related to transactional sex. The creation of theories and their
implementation impacts people in the sex trades. This interaction is a constant reinforcing loop, but only theorists can choose to ignore it. While we should continually re-envision what lessons from the ground feminist legal theory can learn from, the exchange between theory and practice must begin with repair, and it must recognize the effect that feminist legal theory
has already had on people who trade sex. This work must begin to repair the incredible damage done to sex workers as a result of the implementation of these theories.