Ask Lemmy

Well no, prostitution is specifically the form of work that involves delivering sexual experiences to clients; just as bricklaying is the form of work that involves installing bricks in an organized fashion onto clients' property. Bricklaying doesn't normally involve sexual experiences, and prostitution doesn't normally involve bricks, but both are work.

Prostitution is also performance work, which is a category that also includes acting, music, and pro wrestling. It is also body work (that is, the worker does something to the client's body); which is a category that also includes massage, surgery, and hairstyling.

You are correct that morally, and practically, sex work, and other forms of work, are no different.

You are incorrect that both are prostitution, as the word has a specific definition.

Selling your sex organ is no different than selling any other part of your body, like your voice, brain, muscles, and more, just to get money.

Um, no, it's very different, the main difference being that the first one is defined as prostitution, while the other isn't. So the answer to your question is, no all work is not a form of prostitution

prostitution is definitely a form of work.

The word prostitution comes from the word prostate though. Which nobody at my workplace has because we're all women at the moment.

that’s not how definitions work.

Figuratively it works, but literally it doesn't. I feel like people lose this simple distinction frequently online.

Not all work is paid!

But no, not all paid work is prostitution. Only when something personal is used for commercial ends does it become even figurative prostitution.

And literal prostitution is even narrower, narrow enough that it doesn't include all sex work. That's right, not even all sex work is prostitution.

the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment

Yeah, gotta agree that prostitution is something different, something more specific, and something not mixed in every work existing (climbing in work ranks through sexual favors is another matter).

Depends how hard you are getting fucked and if you are getting a raw deal

More like union busting strike breakers. There is a supply union, with rationing, but the free lancers are providing supply against union scarcity rules. So those in the union dislike the strike breakers.

There's a lot of different nuance takes out there, but I think this is one of the main sources of animosity of this employment group. In some societies it's totally fine, and other societies, typically more religious societies, it's very much found upon - partly because of this union approach. We control the supply side how dare you provide supply outside of our rationing system.

I don't think that selling your sexual organ is the same as selling another part, which is probably a big part of the distinction. If I were walking down the street and I saw a dude drop something heavy, I'd offer to help him gather it up and help get it to his car if it was nearby, for free, just to help out.

I would not offer to a dude on the street who, magically, I could tell never has sex and is in need of physical comfort, even for a significant sum of money. When I give away muscle usage, all I have to do is exert moderate force for a variable amount of time.

When I give away my sexual organ, I not only have to consent to having the sex, which can involve trauma, or potentially fatal disease risk, and just because I perform the act doesn't necessarily mean I entirely consented or wanted to, my need for money may override that discomfort. It also means I have to get naked for them, which is vulnerable and may also involve trauma or discomfort.

And sex isn't just that, it's also physical, I have to exert force, and it's also mental, most people expect some form of dirty talk, which is basically a skill, and the knowledge of different positions and when to change them, or the knowledge to know when to switch to and from oral or foreplay or penetrative sex.

Basically, sex at its best is extremely involved in many different ways that most other singular forms of work are not, or at least, not as simultaneously and intensely where if I wanna do my best just lifting something or stocking a shelf, is not even close to the same amount of emotional and mental duress on top of physical.

This is naive. I think every response sees where you are coming from. And some make sound arguments about why all work isn't prostitution. I will take another approach. Be scientific about it. Test it.

If you already have a job, then you know what that feels like. So now, you need to know what it is like to let someone fuck you for money. So in order to do that, you would need to go out and do it. If you are a guy, you will find it is much easier to be a gay prostitute. Just a note. And remember, it is only for money and business is business.

Technically yes, but I’d say it’s more that prostitution is just a normal job, instead of everything being prostitution.

No. Prostitution is when you sell sex