When people of “like minds” find themselves opposed to each other on certain specific issues, there is usually a fundamental principle or concept either missing from the debate or being misrepresented / misunderstood.
Recently, two seemingly unrelated issues have offered evidence of this epistemological dilemma: (1) prostitution, and (2) immigration.
On the prostitution front, the recent murder of sex worker Josie Glenn in London, Ontario, has renewed the local debate about prostitution and the sex trade. On one side of the debate are anti-sex feminists, as represented by Megan Walker of the London Abused Women’s Center. On the other side are pro-sex feminists as well as the women who work as sex workers (as represented by Safe Space).
Is prostitution best defined simply as “sex for money” or as something that is “intrinsically violent”? Are these views of prostitution contradictory or are they simply differing perspectives on the same activity? It’s an unusual divide: feminist against feminist; women against women. Continue reading »