Re: [Pen-l] supply & demand at work

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

> But disagree with what? Surely they wouldn't disagree with the fact that
> "there are women in such desperate poverty that they are forced to sell
> their body to survive"?

Shane Mage wrote:
> Everyone with any sense would disagree that performance of an erotic service for pay amounts to selling one's body (rather than one's labor power). <

No, even though I flatter myself and think of myself as having sense,
I'd say that no-one "sells his or her body" (except someone who
volunteers to be slave).  Rather, what prostitutes do is _lease_ their
bodies to the "johns" (with restrictions on their use, just as in any
rental agreement). It's just like the normal act of selling one's
labor-power, which involves temporary submission to the authority of
the employer (within socially-defined limits), except I'd guess that
prostitutes are under more pressure from the reserve army of labor
than most  workers are.
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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