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Ashley Judd slams John Oliver for comparing sex work to making sandwiches at Subway


https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ashley-judd-calls-out-john-oliver-for-insensitive-comments-about-sex-work-listen-to-survivors-164059668.html

During last week's Last Week Tonight segment on sex work, Oliver made what some consider an off-color joke. “The main difference between sex work and working at Subway is at least in sex work you actually know what the customer is eating,” he said, adding: “And yet, some people feel highly uncomfortable with the very idea that sex is labor and therefore should be treated as such.” Oliver's joke was met with outrage on Twitter. In response, Ashley Judd shared a video made by World Without Exploitation, an organization whose goal is to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation across the globe. "John Oliver compared prostitution to making sandwiches at Subway,” the caption read alongside a video featuring sex work survivors reading an open letter to the host. “Survivors listened to John Oliver. Now it’s time for John Oliver to #ListenToSurvivors," it concluded.

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haha good for her, john oliver sucks

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Someone was outraged?? Why...that's never happened in all of the history of mankind!!!

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It's sad the way things are heading people can not even take a joke for what it is.

A large % choose sex work not forced into it but people like Ashley would claim otherwise.

Prostitution is one of the oldest professions

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I didn't see the show, but knowing John Oliver, my guess is that far from dismissing and deriding sex workers, by comparing them to other 'legitimised' workers, he was essentially advocating for their rights and protections; because, as you say, NOT EVERY sex worker is a victim of sex trafficking and forced prostitution.

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If Ashley Judd had a brain she would understand that its actually more insulting to Subway than it is to sex workers.

Also “sex worker” is not synonymous with human trafficking, it covers all types of sex workers, such as porn, Onlyfans, or strippers, all of which are legal and voluntary.

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John Oliver's 'joke' may have been crass, but he has a point, and Judd is a posturing, self-aggrandising asshole for suggesting that *all* sex-work is a result of trafficking and exploitation.

Personally, and ideally, I'd prefer that NO-ONE went into sex work, but that ain't the world we live in, and the truth is that some women do have control and autonomy over their decision to go into sex work. What is important, and what I suspect Oliver is advocating for, is that any and all sex-workers are protected and respected by the law, and given support *if* they are abused during their work.

Judd isn't helping and supporting those prostitutes who go into the sex trade as self-employed/autonomous workers when she suggests that their situation is the exact same as women kidnapped/coerced into sex work *against their will* by traffickers and pimps. The former category of women DO need rights and protections, but they don't necessarily need to be 'rescued' from sex work.

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She needs attention.

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