July 2, 2019: Threats 20

[Z6IIAB]

yeah, johns and narcissistic men in general are nasty af, I wouldn't be able to keep face either

fake happy is a cool song. not ashamed to admit memes got me into it lol

[Z6IIAB]

for anyone wondering, this is "Fake Happy" by paramore.

[Foxgloves]

That's my automatic face when somebody mentions johns or a celebrity who I know is a john. Stuck in perpetual disgust.

[brainlent]

small point of contention with the pimp hat stories:
while I understand they're meant to represent the patriarchy as a whole, the imagery of the (male) hat going wooo~ beam at women and them instantly falling in line sits poorly with me. women don't end up in sex work because they're told it's okay, they end up in it primarily because they have no other choice and society provides no better safety net. the public is the one that's hypnotized into complacency. sex workers live in reality every day.
but yeah. taken super broadly the point stands, patriarchy is fucking over women in poverty. but sex workers don't care if sex work is real work, they just need the money badly and we don't act because look, they're all doing such good emotional labor we can't tell it's destroying them.

[pingupingu]

women don't end up in sex work because they're told it's okay, they end up in it primarily because they have no other choice and society provides no better safety net.

This is in and of itself not *entirely* true; Some measure of women do get into sex work under deluded perceptions - at least in western countries.

However, that is besides the full point: The comic is not talking about formalised sex work but the societal expectations for all women under the patriarchy and how women are brainwashed into subconsciously and consciously conforming to those expectations through the relentless exposure to mind-twisting propaganda via body-dysmorphia and the cult of sex.

Women in general being taught that their role, their purpose in life is to validate men and to meet and comply with their sexual and cultural power fantasies.

[Foxgloves]

small point of contention with the pimp hat stories:
while I understand they're meant to represent the patriarchy as a whole, the imagery of the (male) hat going wooo~ beam at women and them instantly falling in line sits poorly with me. women don't end up in sex work because they're told it's okay, they end up in it primarily because they have no other choice and society provides no better safety net. the public is the one that's hypnotized into complacency. sex workers live in reality every day.
but yeah. taken super broadly the point stands, patriarchy is fucking over women in poverty. but sex workers don't care if sex work is real work, they just need the money badly and we don't act because look, they're all doing such good emotional labor we can't tell it's destroying them.

I can see how you might get that impression from a single panel. Earlier parts of Sinfest have explored the material and social reasons why women enter prostitution though (poverty, war, addiction, lack of alternatives) and done a fair job in my opinion. It makes sense to have the pimp or minions of the pimp express the "sex work is work" rhetoric, because pimping is a multi-billion-dollar industry, which of course and especially wherever it's legitimized as "sex work management" has a well-funded lobby and influences public opinion. Despite the countless scandals of violence against women and girls in legal brothels pimps in my country still get to sit in talkshows and defend and glamourize themselves. They shape public opinion and they shape the image ---some--- women in prostitution have of themselves, where the sex work rheotric is employed as an understandable means of survival and hope of gaining some dignity. Sadly the johns don't treat her better just cuz they call her "service provider" instead of "hooker". All remains the same in that realm. Language is a powerful tool of obfuscation, but it cannot by itself reshape material conditions.

[Freemage69]

The hats use a variety of methods to control women. Gaslighting is one of those, but there's also brute force intimidation, as seen here: https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2019-06-30. Gaslighting alone isn't enough, of course--but the women know that there are consequences of actively resisting the subtler stuff--physical violence. So they have to remain in place, accepting and going along with the dictums being given to them.