Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Debate over Legal Prostitution

The Reason Libertarians sponsored this debate:
Do people who hire sex workers deserve to go to jail, or should all laws prohibiting consensual sex work be repealed?

On May 9, 2022, writer and activist Julie Bindel debated Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown at the Sheen Center in lower Manhattan. The resolution was "A good society should criminalize the purchase of sex."

The event was hosted by The Soho Forum, a monthly debate series sponsored by the Reason Foundation.

Bindel is the London-based author of The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth. She opposes arresting women for the selling of sex but wants their customers to face consequences for their actions.

Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown, who's also the co-founder and president of Feminists for Liberty, took the position that all laws prohibiting consensual sex work should be abolished.

I previously posted:
I am convinced that legal trends will result in legalized prostitution. [But] Texas is bucking the trend.
The argument for criminalizing prostitution narrowly won the above debate.

You would think that I would agree with one or the other, but I don't.

They both called themselves feminists, and claimed to be for equality of the sexes, but they were the opposite. They were the sort of feminists who believe in expanding the sexual freedom and opportunities for women, while restricting them for men. For example, the one wanting to criminalize prostitution only want to criminalize it for male customers, while letting the perps go free!

They only talked about what is good for women prostitutes. Neither would discuss what is moral, or that is good for society, or what is good for men.

When asked about disabled and other incel men, one said that they are probably jerks who should not be able to buy female favors.

They talked about the freedom to sell sexual favors for money, but they should really distinguish between private and commercial arrangements. The prostitution laws are only aimed at commercial arrangements, ie, where the services are openly advertised.

So I still think that prostitution will be de-criminalized, as good arguments against it will not be made.

1 comment:

Roger said...

It appears that this comment got lost: "Ask a feminist if she would want her daughter (if she has one) to grow up to become a prostitute. I guess she might answer with some platitude about freedom of choice etc."

Try also asking if she wants her daughter or son to grow up LGBTQ. Then you might get a platitude about non-choice, as LGBTQ is not supposed to be a choice.