The Internet is not a virtual street corner

“Craigslist has become the high-tech 42nd Street, where much of the solicitation takes place now,” said Richard McGuire, Nassau’s assistant chief of detectives.

No, actually, it hasn’t.

I know people need things they already understand (like mini-skirted hookers yelling “you wanna date?” from under a streetlamp on a trash-strewn street) to be able to understand something new, and that’s fair, but street work and Internet-based sex work are entirely different beasts.

The piece on crackdowns on prostitution via Craigslist in today’s New York Times focuses on law enforcement, as usual steering away from interviewing the women it talks about. And of course the piece makes the assumption that prostitution is a monolith – though a different kind of monolith than the all-sex-work-is-trafficking folks say it is.

Sex workers who use the Internet to do business often are middle class, and not because they do sex work – many grew up middle class. Sex workers who use the Internet often had computer and Internet skills before they became sex workers. Some become sex workers because the Internet makes it easy or because they find that they can work without an agency (or a “pimp” as the media loves to call any middleman in the sex industry).

There are pretty big class disparities between street workers and Internet-based workers, and a lot of the issues around the work is different. Yes, when you boil things down to their essence, both kinds of workers are exchanging erotic labor for money, but in very different contexts, settings, and (often) locations.

“[Craigslist-based prostitutes] like to move around, that’s for sure,” said Assistant Chief McGuire. “They’re flying in from out of state because there is money here” on Long Island.

That is true – it is true because the Internet makes it possible to put together a tour with pre-booked appointments, set up through a combination of sites like CL and Eros.com as well as messageboards and the support of other sex workers. It is also true that there are many many sex workers who don’t have the luxury of flying where the money is.

I want to see a more nuanced analysis of the different kinds of sex work and the way sex workers are affected by class disparities – and that’s not just about their hourly rates. This is one of the big things missing from pieces like this – which is why I just have to insert it myself.