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The Morning Star 2026 Conference
Reaction dressed up as radicalism
HELEN O’CONNOR is unimpressed by an imbalanced discussion of ‘sex work’ where women who do not feel empowered and liberated by prostitution are either dismissed or ignored

I WATCHED a recent YouTube interview by social media activist Owen Jones on the scandal of MP Neil Parish viewing porn in the House of Commons and it made me angry. 

An opportunity to ask serious questions about both pornography and misogyny, to present a balanced discussion on their impact on society as a whole and on women who sell sex, was missed. Instead, the show promoted so-called “sex work.” 

The “sex industry” interviewee acknowledged that it is not OK to view porn in public, and while MPs were “enjoying the labour of sex workers,” claimed it was essentially no different from others doing the same. 

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