Katha Pollitt’s “Why Do So Many Leftists Want Sex Work to Be the New Normal?“ is the latest in a spate of perturbed responses to Melissa Gira Grant’s new book, Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work.

Pollitt is concerned that the Left’s embrace of the “‘sex work is work’ cliché” normalizes male privilege and entitlement. With her trademark blend of sass and opprobrium at those damn kids, Pollitt insists to those that liken sex work to waiting tables, “Maybe there’s a difference between a blowjob and a slice of pie . . . a difference that today’s young left feminists don’t want to think about.” She goes on:

When feminists argue that sex work should be normalized, they accept male privilege they would attack in any other area. They accept that sex is something women have and men get (do I hear ‘rape culture,’ anyone?), that men are entitled to sex without attracting a partner, even to the limited extent of a pickup in a bar, much less pleasing or satisfying her.