[SWAF-Potluck] Thank you Mayor Ford by Fleur de Lit

[Andy Sorfleet]

https://www.nowtoronto.com/
NOW MAGAZINE
November 7-13, 2012

Fleur de Lit



p. 22.

Thank you Mayor Ford

It's going to be much easier now for those with checkered pasts to enter
politics

[image: Inline image 1]

It may take Rob Ford years before the layers of advantage that encircle him
-- the white, straight male privilege that facilitates his working-class
saviour complex -- fall away for real.

It may never happen. People who are heavily invested in these types of
plebeian heroics have the hardest time fessing up to their unmerited
advantages.

Even when guys like Ford do face some truths about themselves, it's within
the framework of the very persona-making machine that put them where they
are. Bad boys can always find a therapeutic model that allows for
quasi-self-examination, fallen Everyman anecdotes, pseudo-humility and
chuckles galore when the worst of the worst is revealed.

Admitting to crack use is the easy part; it paves the way for the Everyman
credibility that rehab bestows. Admitting he's an entitled asshole? That'll
be the day.

As a sex worker, I work with untidy, clueless white men like this all the
time. I am almost inured to their lack of self-awareness; I sometimes
facilitate their obliviousness for profit.

But to be honest, my strongest feeling about the Ford debacle is optimism.

I know half a dozen hookers and some clients who would make better mayors
than he. While not necessarily waiting in the wings for their opportunity,
they are certainly aware that their career paths and sexual interests
disqualify them from ever entering the political arena -- really smart,
conscious people intimidated for good reason by a hegemonic moral code.

They've all seen what a sex scandal can do to a man or woman with public
opinions. They've all seen the binary machine at work.

I have always known that my past and present as a sex worker would prevent
me from even considering entering the public realm. So I suppose I want to
thank Ford for his witlessness. Is it possible he's making it more
acceptable for people with ethically nuanced histories to feel a little
more at ease throwing their hat in the ring?

Fleur de Lit is the pseudonym of a Toronto-based sex worker.
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