Left of #MeToo

Berg, Heather

doi:10.15767/feministstudies.46.2.0259

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Radical feminism perceives of all sex work as rape and exploitation: society makes a "false distinction between forced and voluntary prostitution" (Jeffries, 1997, p. 10;Nordic Model Now!, 2016, p .4). But, as Berg (2020) highlights, in the framework of radical feminism, the "problem" with sex work is less about "damage" to sex workers' own well-being "but rather what happens when men impose this same treatment on respectable women outside the home and the brothel…The sex worker is not a person with her own claims for respectful, negotiated working conditions, but rather a metaphor to dramatise the harms" that other women face (Berg, 2020, p. 273). So, can a case be made that sex work is harmful to other women on the basis of which it should be abolished?…”

Section: Sex Workers Versus the Sisterhoodmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Black feminism reveals an even deeper history of engagement with the "problem" of care (Berg, 2020). Here, exploitation has long been identified in the domain of domestic service, which comes in the form of zero or miserable pay, together with physical abuse and sexual exploitation.…”

Section: What About the Cleaning? And Who Cares?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LaShawn Harris (2016) argues that, in the case of the USA, some domestic workers moved into sex work in preference to working in white homes. In fact, not only is there a history of physical and sexual abuse within domestic work, it is one that continues today (Berg, 2020;Harris, 1990). Moreover, while much of the discussion of international trafficking tends to focus on sex work, domestic slavery is also a significant part of the trafficking world.…”

Section: What About the Cleaning? And Who Cares?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…287-288). Sex work certainly can be forced, coerced or involve little choice, but at the root of that is poverty, which is better addressed by the same kind of policy approach being pioneered in regard to domestic labour and care (Berg, 2020;Zatz, 1997). Interestingly, like Marxist feminists, liberal-leaning Martha Nussbaum seems to agree, arguing that "[radical] feminist theory may be insufficiently grounded in the reality of working-class lives and too focused on sexuality as an issue in its own right, as if it could be extricated from the fabric of poor people's attempts to survive" (Nussbaum, 1999, p. 278).…”

Section: What About the Cleaning? And Who Cares?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

How Decriminalisation Reduces Harm Within and Beyond Sex Work: Sex Work Abolitionism as the “Cult of Female Modesty” in Feminist Form

Bateman¹

2021

Sex Res Soc Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Sex work has a long history and takes different forms, but the associated precarity and danger, particularly where poorer women and minorities are concerned, is undeniable. There is growing evidence that decriminalisation reduces harm, and, indeed, it is the policy approach favoured by sex worker groups. Despite this, many feminists instead seek to “end demand” for paid sex, recommending legal penalties for sex buyers, with the aim of abolishing sex work altogether. Method This paper takes a comparative approach, examining why “end demand” is applied to sex work but not to care work. Abolition is typically justified both in terms of reducing harm to sex workers and to women more generally, with sex work’s very existence being thought to perpetuate the notion that all women are “sex objects.” Women are, however, not only exposed to harm within care work but are also commonly stereotyped as care givers, and in a way that has similarly been argued to contribute to gender inequality. Results By comparing sex work with care work, this paper reveals the logical inconsistency in the “end demand” approach; unlike with sex work, there is little push to criminalise those who purchase care or other such domestic labour services. By revealing the moral nature of abolitionist arguments, and the disrespectful way in which sex workers are characterised within radical feminist literature, it argues that, rather than reducing harm, the “end demand” approach perpetuates harm, conspiring in the notion that “immodest” women are the cause of social ills. Conclusions Reducing the harm that sex workers—and women more generally—face requires feminists to challenge “the cult of female modesty”, rather than to be complicit in it.

show abstract

Section: Sex Workers Versus the Sisterhoodmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: What About the Cleaning? And Who Cares?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What About the Cleaning? And Who Cares?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What About the Cleaning? And Who Cares?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How Decriminalisation Reduces Harm Within and Beyond Sex Work: Sex Work Abolitionism as the “Cult of Female Modesty” in Feminist Form

Bateman¹

2021

Sex Res Soc Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1 Greater public attention to SVSH, especially following the rise of the #MeToo movement in 2017, has generated increased interest in how best to prevent and respond to SVSH. 2 Undergraduate and graduate students have placed increased pressure on university administration regarding SVSH over the last decade 3 via lawsuits and high-profile protests and the federal government has, in multiple iterations, radically altered Title IX rules and regulations governing campus reporting processes which impact the ease of reporting. [4][5][6] Despite these actions affecting the entire student body, campus administrators and leaders focus almost entirely on undergraduates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graduate students’ knowledge and utilization of campus sexual violence and sexual harassment resources

Bloom

Sorin

Oaks

et al. 2021

Journal of American College Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Graduate students are uniquely vulnerable to sexual violence and harassment (SVSH) and largely marginalized in campus-based prevention and response efforts. Objective: This study is a preliminary investigation of graduate students' experiences with on-campus SVSH training and knowledge and utilization of SVSH resources. Methods: We conducted 21 in-depth interviews and 8 focus group discussions with 43 graduate students on three public university campuses in California. Results: Graduate students had limited knowledge of SVSH services, and mandatory SVSH training curricula was perceived to center around "responsible employee" duties rather than information about how to prevent or seek help for SVSH themselves. Graduate students had mixed experiences seeking SVSH-related assistance. Conclusions: Graduate students should be prioritized in SVSH prevention and education efforts beyond required responsible employee training. Graduate students are invaluable to the everyday success of universities; accounting for their vulnerabilities in SVSH prevention and response is vital for campus communities everywhere.Participants were recruited at UC Los Angeles (UCLA), UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), and UC San Diego (UCSD) via targeted and snowball sampling. From January to May 2019, graduate student interns first conducted 21 in-depth

show abstract

The House That Deconstruction Built: Can Post-Structuralism Inform A Liberatory Social Work Praxis?

Talarico

2023

Affilia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social work praxis has long been in conversation with feminist praxis and has more recently been informed by an anticolonial feminist praxis that aims to center theorizing, activism, and service delivery around individuals and communities considered “most marginalized.” While this “most marginalized” class may be deemed newly worthy social service consumers this framing reinforces extant settler colonial hierarchies of power and oppression by constituting new classes of “deserving” and “undeserving” social service recipients. This article explores how the feminist organizing, scholarship, and activism of the past decade—specifically around the #MeToo movement and trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF) wars—have impacted social work praxis and laid bare the dualistic binds of a post-structuralism that has been consumed and recast within neoliberalism as demobilized identity politics. By examining these limitations, questions are raised regarding next steps for a social work praxis concerned with justice, transformation, and liberation.

show abstract

Left of #MeToo

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

How Decriminalisation Reduces Harm Within and Beyond Sex Work: Sex Work Abolitionism as the “Cult of Female Modesty” in Feminist Form

How Decriminalisation Reduces Harm Within and Beyond Sex Work: Sex Work Abolitionism as the “Cult of Female Modesty” in Feminist Form

Graduate students’ knowledge and utilization of campus sexual violence and sexual harassment resources

The House That Deconstruction Built: Can Post-Structuralism Inform A Liberatory Social Work Praxis?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About