I am subjected, daily, to the same type of hate Yousef is now experiencing; not because of a highly publicized lawsuit, but simply because of who I am and what I do for a living. The media might only pretend that sexism is a thing of the past, but it doesn’t even attempt to do the same with sex work. There is an obvious stigma attached to sex work that rivals even the ones Yousef discusses such as gender, sexual orientation, and alternative lifestyles.
So Jahan, as a fellow woman, and someone who knows exactly what you are experiencing, I wanted to point out something you may not have considered, simply because you couldn’t possibly without having first hand knowledge of being a sex worker. No matter how hard I actually work, the fact is, the majority of people look at my job and say, “wow, you’re taking the easy way out, being a whore for money.” This is pretty difficult to listen to when I KNOW how hard I work and how much I care about what I do.
It might not be YOUR dream job, but I personally love it, so it does kind of suck to constantly hear society putting me down. I know you can understand this, because it’s exactly the type of negative and hurtful comments you’re dealing with now. All people are talking about is how much you DIDN’T do, or believe you didn’t do, instead of the things you did. No matter how pretty a girl is, she’s not going to become an epic success like you and your sister without A LOT of work. There’s hundreds of pretty girl DJs, but there’s only one Krewella.
It was only a sentence, but as you pointed out, the words we type are certainly powerful, and can have enormous influence on society, especially when they are written by a beautiful, successful woman such as yourself. And as you also said, it is up to us to challenge what we see written and promoted on the Internet. I’m accepting that challenge, and speaking up.
Respectfully, I ask that you consider the possible effects of using porn as a gimmick to garner hits, no matter how valid and important the rest of your points are. Just as it is abhorrent for there to beany assumption that Krewella’s success is predicated on sexuality, or solely dependent on the contributions or guidance of a man, it’s similarly damaging for you to make an off the cuff comment that implies that porn is something from which one would need to be saved.
I agree that the Internet should be a place that breeds peace, love, unity and respect (I’m certainly not too cool for PLUR), and I hope that by sharing my own experiences with you, we can take one step closer in that direction.
You can read it on Carter’s tumblr here, and you can even take a look around if you like. We won’t judge.
Facebook: Carter Cruise
H/T: edm.com
