
Originally Posted by
asinglehungrygrasshopper
I have far more detailed ideas on this than I'm going to type in here, but the gist of my opinion is as follows:
There is nothing less liberated that someone else telling you what you can and cannot do, what parts of yourself you can and cannot sell, and what behaviors are and are not appropriate for someone who respects herself as a person. A person or a philosophical standpoint that tells you that you are not allowed to sell the image of your naked dancing body because it "objectifies" you is itself treating you as an object and not a person.
Jobs are not places where you are loved and cherished for every aspect of your complex being. If you're a stripper, the only part of you that your job cares about is your hot body. If you're a JAVA programmer, the only part of you that your job cares about is your ability to write code. If you're a secretary, the only part of you that your job cares about is your ability to file and take dictation. If you're a tailor, the only part of you that your job cares about is your ability to make a nice pair of pants. (Yes, these are intended as overly-simplified statements; it is of course true that customer service, ability to get along with people, etc. is important to being able to perform perhaps all of these jobs.) People don't pay you to be yourself and present your amazing personhood in all of its faceted individuality; people pay you for a product or a service that they want.
If someone says it's OK to sell the labor of your analytical mind to be a scientist, or the labor of your emotions and expression to be a poet, or the labor of your problem-solving skills to be an engineer; but it's not OK to sell the labor of your body to be a sex symbol, who is it that is making "you" into nothing but your body and sexuality? I see no logical way to say that it is the person who says it's OK to sell any part of yourself or any service that you wish to sell that makes "you" into nothing but your sexuality. It's the person who says that your sexual image is the ONLY thing that it's not OK to sell that makes "you" into nothing but your sexuality.
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