Feminism fail: Jadaliyya blames illiterates and illiteracy for causing prostitution

In a story called "A Monarchical Affair: From Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula," from 10 April 2012, Samia Errazzouki writing for Jadaliyya discusses the relationship between Morocco and Gulf countries. While her article covers some important and interesting information, she nonetheless falls into the all-too-common 'illiterates are ruining the world' trap. About two thirds through her article, she writes:



"Aside from the lack of legislation that addresses sex trafficking, high illiteracy and poverty rates, especially in rural areas, have turned the sex industry in Morocco into a lucrative market."



A quick reading of this sentence might not reveal the offensiveness of her point, so allow me to draw it out for you. First of all, how many times do we need to be reminded that CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION. In other words, high rates of illiteracy correlate with increased lucrativeness in the sex industry, at least according to Errazzouki. Fine. I need to get back to finishing my dissertation, so I am not going to take the time to look that one up. But illiteracy does not CAUSE prostitution or make prostitution a more appealing or make sex work a more lucrative career. In fact, both illiteracy and prostitution are caused by a complex set of structural factors rooted in patriarchy, economic inequality, and poverty. While it is true that there are sex workers who claim that they entered into sex work by choice, there are also sex workers who enter the trade because it pays better than cashiering at Kmart, or in the case of rural Morocco, anything else. Illiteracy doesn't cause women to become prostitutes, and being illiterate certainly doesn't increase a sex worker's earning potential, as Errazzouki's ambiguously worded sentence might suggest. More troubling, claiming that "high illiteracy...[has] turned the sex industry in Morocco into a lucrative market" in Morocco does not go into enough detail about who is profiting and how.



In any case, there is a lot more I could say about this, but I need to get back to my chapter on gender relations in Morocco so I can get my Ph.D. already...