Skip to main content
Reaction dressed up as radicalism
HELEN O’CONNOR is unimpressed by an imbalanced discussion of ‘sex work’ where women who do not feel empowered and liberated by prostitution are either dismissed or ignored
Soho red light district

I WATCHED a recent YouTube interview by social media activist Owen Jones on the scandal of MP Neil Parish viewing porn in the House of Commons and it made me angry. 

An opportunity to ask serious questions about both pornography and misogyny, to present a balanced discussion on their impact on society as a whole and on women who sell sex, was missed. Instead, the show promoted so-called “sex work.” 

The “sex industry” interviewee acknowledged that it is not OK to view porn in public, and while MPs were “enjoying the labour of sex workers,” claimed it was essentially no different from others doing the same. 

Morning Star call for advertising
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Glasgow protest
Features / 11 August 2024
11 August 2024
With fascists and their supporters cynically and falsely posing as ‘defenders of women,’ the left must take violence against women seriously and gain a better understanding of women’s oppression, warns HELEN O’CONNOR
support
Features / 3 August 2024
3 August 2024
As some celebrate a pay rise, outsourced, privatised workers face continued exploitation — ending this injustice by bringing them in-house must become a top priority for the labour movement, writes HELEN O’CONNOR
Women protest
Features / 11 June 2024
11 June 2024
HELEN O’CONNOR sees a worrying trend of women exiting the labour movement in their thousands, and warns that if this tide is not stemmed with proper and effective action, it will only be to the benefit of the capitalist class
9gmbambulance
Features / 10 June 2024
10 June 2024
Far from being ‘more efficient’ and providing ‘choice,’ privateers taking over the public sector have worsened service delivery, and workers rights’ have been utterly compromised on the altar of corporate greed, warns HELEN O’CONNOR