Sexwork and sorrow
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
When I first thought of this post, I was going to say that it pained me too much to write about the anthology Sex Work, but I have gotten over the days of suffering.
It was painful to read all those stories (I’ve so far read only the section of personal stories about sexwork, not the political and nonfiction portions) and not really see what I had heard tell was there– joy in the work. There were really three strands of experience– sorrow/anomie, smugness, and brittle shrillness. Most of the women were sad or just kind of wearied by the work and the idea of it. The sorrowful tone was palpable. There were a couple who were disgustingly smug about the work, all white women of highly desirable demographics. And then there were a few loudly proclaiming the happy hooker partylines, but they really did not seem to have their hearts in it, so to speak. Their stories were told in a shrill, brittle manner that was uncomfortable to get through.
Nobody really deriving joy or pleasure from the work. I had read a little about this book various spots, and I thought it would be different. It was depressing, frustrating and upsetting.
The racial/class aspects and total, utter, complete lack of actual female solidarity also didn’t help matters. It was swimming through a sea of sorrow, and no comforting beach of sacred whoredom to wash up on.
Kathryn Cramer is a whiny blonde thing.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
I suppose I could call the Cramer thing a lady, but that would be disrespecting ladies. I could call the Cramer thing white, but, like omigaw, race doesn’t exist on the internets!
Apparently Kaycee was harrassed by anonymous people claiming to be affiliated with Blackwater. This is held up as an example of how tuff Kaycee (or perhaps KatCram?) is to use what passes for a ‘real name’ and whatnot, like this creature personally shot mercs as they parachuted into the bedroom or something. But Blackwater isn’t all mercs and trying to spin the whole thing as an example of how badass you are to keep using your real name online is just ridiculous and foolish.
The link up there is about how it’s evil to ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever use a pseudonym. Like, ever. Also there is racism– the scary blatant kind that is just shy of saying ‘The niggers are out to get little blonde me!’ It’s not stated *quite* that bluntly, but it’s about the same deal.
Considering that Kaycee edited an anthology featuring pseudonymous writers in it, the drooling, whiny spooge about the evils of pseudonyms is all the more baffling and strange. So if white people whose work you admire use pseuds, then it’s ok? Appears to be that sorta double standard. Completely unsurprising to see inconsistency, incoherence and hypocrisy from a whiny blonde thing– it’s one of their core competencies. And yes, there is a reason I am using a specific pseud to refer to Kaycee.
Kaycee really is some dumb blonde, likely hired for her trim figure and bubbly head. It happens, even in sci-fi land. Maybe she didn’t edit the anthology I’m thinking of– maybe she was just in the room when the actual work was happening and rushed to take her share of the credit. You know how those people are about not working, but wanting to get paid the same. And you know they never would have hired one of those people without affirmative action.
Whitefolks sure are funny when they rant about evil cullud hordes coming to get their porcelain flesh and allathat.
And so I fill my quota of sark for the season…
ETA March 2009: So far as I know, the link no longer works, but it serves well enough as an archival sort of thing. Clicking through is risky, as KayCee has been mucking about with redirects and such to hide/obscure/disappear what she once proclaimed publically instead of displaying her words in a historical public sense. One might hope a redirect leads here, cos that would show an intriguing sense of humor. Perhaps we may be so gifted. Time will tell.
