Jennifer Riera on "Forced to Choose: Beyond the Voluntary v. Forced Prostitution Dichotomy

In the chapter, “Forced to Choose: Beyond the Voluntary v. Forced Prostitution Dichotomy,” the author, Jo Doezema, starts off by providing a general overview of the history of prostitution in the West, especially as it relates to feminist and abolitionist activism, but then narrows in on the major split—voluntary v. forced—between the views on prostitution that have allowed for the emergence of the voluntary/forced dichotomous framework for viewing and analyzing prostitution. However, while the way this dichotomy came to be is an interesting aspect of this paper and the history of prostitution as a whole, my main focus for this blog post will be on how exactly this relatively modern voluntary/forced dichotomous view of prostitution has actually worked to reinforce existing systems and structures that deny and abuse sex workers’ rights.

As was mentioned before, the aspect that I will focus on for this blog post will be on how the voluntary/forced dichotomous view on prostitution has done little to help protect or provide rights for women in sex work. On the contrary, viewing prostitution under this dichotomous framework actually does more harm than good, especially to those who identify as “voluntary”, in the sense that it simultaneously reinforces this virgin/whore dichotomy for “respectable” women and, thus, helps make it easier to deny sex workers their basic human rights by virtue of their “role” within a sexual assault or sex trafficking incident. As was explained in the chapter, by viewing prostitution under the voluntary/forced lens, it often forces people to view those who are “voluntary” prostitutes as “whores” who brought it upon themselves by “volunteering” to work under such dangerous and risky conditions, while those who were “forced” into this sex trafficking life are victimized and, thus, viewed as the innocent “virgins” within this context.

As is normally the case, by using the virgin/whore dichotomy, it essentially reduces a woman’s respectability and worthiness down to which two categories they fall under, given their sexual past (or lack thereof). Similarly, the voluntary/forced dichotomy for prostitution acts along the same lines, in that if you’re a “voluntary” sex worker (or whore), than you are not worthy of human rights or protections, whereas the “forced” victim of sex trafficking (or the innocent virgin) is worthy by virtue of falling on the “forced” category and having no prior involvement with sex work or prostitution. I mention this last point because if the “forced” victim of sex trafficking was a sex worker as well, then she will be denied human rights and all the atrocities and violations committed to her will be overlooked. Therefore, although it may seem as though the voluntary/forced dichotomy makes sense at first glance, when you really think about it, this dichotomy forces us to, essentially, decide if women are worthy of rights and protections on the basis of their occupations as sex workers.

Because the author uses the virgin/whore dichotomy to help clarify how the voluntary/forced dichotomy is troubling for women in sex work, since where you fall dictates your worthiness and whether or not you can qualify for protection and human rights, I found myself thinking more broadly about the dichotomy of the virgin/whore and how it generally affects and represses women and their lives. Put simply, the virgin/whore dichotomy is a framework that forces individuals to categorize and discriminate against women on the basis of their sexuality and sexual history. For example, women can either be innocent, pure, non-sexualized “virgins”, or they can be the complete opposite and, thus, be viewed as whores. in other words, there’s no in-between for women—you can either be an innocent “virgin” or risk getting labeled a “whore” since you failed at being a “virgin”. Not only is this problematic for the obvious traditionally gendered and heteronormative component to it, but also because it severely restricts women and their movements and behaviors, especially as it relates to sex and sexuality. Moreover, it negatively influences our perceptions of women’s roles (virgin or whore) and severely limits our ideas about women can be and what they can achieve that wont take into consideration what they do in private or recreationally.

Now that we are on the subject of women and their sexualities, we should look more into women’s reproductive health (and reproductive justice) and how it’s constantly under threat by social structures and dominant gendered ideologies, such as the framework of the virgin/whore dichotomy.

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