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James R. Martin's avatar

The arguments for decriminalization of "sex work" are better than the arguments for the criminalization of the same. So I'd certainly favor decriminalization of "sex work".

That said, no, I don't believe sex really is "work," and that we ought not to treat it as if it were work. But I'm not saying it is morally wrong to treat sex as work. I'm saying it is aesthetically repugnant to treat sex as work. Here, I'm raising aesthetics up to occupy a space overlapping with ethics which together, these two, have what is often called a "spiritual" saliency. For me , as a nature mystic, and a non-theist, this kind of spirituality I allude to isn't theistic in nature, but natural. My ethics and aesthetics, which are integrated rather than segregated, are naturalistically "spiritual," but not religious.

Just because something is ethically and aesthetically repugnant is no reason to make or enforce laws about it. For me, sex is a sacred gift, not work. But I'd not outlaw "sex work".

When we treat sex as "work" we tend to desacralize it. But , as you say (or, rather, imply) Chris Ryan, most which we call work is also a kind of desacralization, since it tends to be exploitative in nature. I would wish to sacralize all work. And I'd like us to treat all things erotic as a sacred art rather than a commodity for sale.

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Stanley Krippner's avatar

Your post needs to be read carefully because it is an example of focused thinking regarding a perspective that many people hold, making a knee-jerk reaction when someone calls prostitution "exploitative." Instead, they need to take a close look at the broader picture. What work is free from any taint of exploitation? The example of CASINOS is an excellent case in point. It is in the very nature of work that some sort of "exploitation" inevitably enters the picture. If WORK is exploitative, what about PLAY? One can make the case that PLAY exploits people because it turns their attention away from "more important" tasks.

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