Re: [Pen-l] Prostitution

["David B. Shemano" <dshemano@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Raghu writes:

>> Is this a serious question?
>> 
>> My God, I know you are a libertarian and all that, but have you ever
>> considered that prostitution may be a human rights issue? Just like
>> malnutrition and lack of health care?
>> 
>> I mean, doesn't it bother you that there are women in such desperate
>> poverty that they are forced to sell their body to survive?
>> 
>> The question of pricing may make sense at the high end of the market
>> i.e. high-priced call girls for the rich, but is that what you think
>> prostitution is like?

I know this topic was dying out, but I find it too interesting.

I find prostitution a difficult topic.  At a philosophical level, I find my self in substantial agreement with the pro-prostitution side, in that I think any attempt to qualitatively distinguish "sex work" from any other kind of labor, including whether it is voluntary or involuntary, is ultimately unconvincing and rooted in irrational emotion.  On the other hand, I totally relate to Chris Rock's admonition that my primary job as a father is "to keep my daugher off the pole."   Therefore, as a Burkean Hayekian, even though I cannot think of a convincing reason today that "sex work" is qualitatively distinguishable, the fact that I feel the emotion of the argument and historically sex work has always been treated as distinguishable makes me stop and not rush to any conclusion.

My father is 88 years old.  As men of that age tend to do, he repeats the same stories over and over.  Bsed upon the stories he tells, his trips to whorehouses were some of the most important moments of his life.  As a teenager, the local house was essentially a clubhouse for him and his friends.  As for WWII, his stories primarily consist of the houses he visited around the world.  I don't get the sense of physical exploitation from his stories.  This was the era of madams, not pimps.

With respect to male-female relationships, I often wonder whether my father's world, the pre-sexual revolution world, was not better than my world.  The old world recognized that men and women were different and had different needs.  The old world distinguished "nice" girls, who had roles as caring and supportive wives and mothers, from "bad" girls, who satisfied the sexual demands of men.   In my world, women, in their capacity as girlfriends and wives, are expected to fulfill the dual roles.  That is a heavy burden, which often leads to frustration for both men and women in their relationships.

David Shemano


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