As a cam girl and pornographer, I find that people sometimes think I’m less than a whole person. I don’t really see it happen often because most of my fans are coworkers are really great people, but every now and then a comment about how I’m a dirty whore, or deserve to have violent things happen to me, or must have abused as a child, or any number of other ridiculous, mean, and out-of-context appears. It’s really stupid. I mostly ignore them and focus on the many supportive, thoughtful, and beautiful people out there who like my work.
But it got me to thinking about what constitutes “whole personhood.” Right? So if being a “normal” person who doesn’t make sex part of their career… like being a banker or something… makes a person worthy of being treated like a human… What does that mean for the rest of us? How about those of us who really like sex but are too scared of the jerks lurking on the internet to be public about it? Wouldn’t that be most of us? Or does being enthusiastic about sex automatically remove our personhood? (I’m talking hypothetically, mostly. Obviously it doesn’t. But to the average internet troll, that seems to be the idea.)
And that made me think… what about, like, robots, you guys? Or highly intelligent animals? What about non-humans who are really people? If you make a robot, or a cyborg (which is part human), and it’s as intelligent as a human but has no sexual urges… does that make it more human than a porn star? And what about an animal whose mating cycle only comes around once a year, but which displays a high level of sentience? Does that animal qualify as more human because it doesn’t focus as much on sex, except for a period of a few weeks in the spring, as a normal person? If sex demeans us so much, shouldn’t most of the animal kingdom be considered a higher life form?
And if so, then should we extend personhood and all the rights therein to robots, cyborgs, and animals?? Should we have some sort of criteria, based on intelligence and sex drive, to test them–and ourselves–to decide who gets to be treated with respect and counted as a voice under the law? Should we all get tested for perversion before we can vote?
Just some late night ponderings after a particularly weird day. Any input is welcome.
In other news, you can learn lots more about me and my whole biz at TracyQueen.com!