Feminist Philosophy Commons^™

Human Dignity And Prostitution, Clara Kernodle

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

In the twenty-first century, it is common to see feminists and pro-sex work voices lauding prostitution and other forms of the sex industry as viable expressions of women’s sexual and financial agency. As long as every participating party consents, they argue, sex work is not only tolerable, but admirable and positive – a form of transaction or service deserving license, protection, and respect in the name of individual freedom and female agency. Such voices argue that prostitution can even be dignified, as the sex industry supposedly allows participants full freedom to express their sexuality. In this paper, I offer an …

On The Morality Of Prostitution Under Hierarchical Social Structures: A Radical Feminist Analysis, Kendra F. Ballard

Quest

Moral Philosophy Essay

Research in progress for PHIL 2306: Introduction to Ethics

Faculty Mentor: John Macready, Ph.D.

The following article represents exemplary student research produced in PHIL 2306, a sophomore-level course in ethical and moral philosophy at Collin College. PHIL 2306 introduces students to an array of ethical and moral theories, such as virtue ethics, deontology, consequentialism, and contractarianism, as well as the dominant critiques of these theories. These ethical and moral theories provide models for reasoning about ethical and moral issues, which students practice by applying these theories to specific issues like abortion, torture, capital punishment, and genetic engineering. …

[Not] Buying It: Prostitution As Unwanted Sex, Rebecca Whisnant

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Noting the relative invisibility of prostitution buyers, or Johns, in discussions of the morality of prostitution, this article criticizes Johns’ behavior on the grounds that they are culpably involved in causing the typical harms of prostitution in the lives of the women whom they pay for sex. Those harms are, at bottom, the result of being habitually subjected to unwanted sex, and they are exacerbated rather than mitigated by such sex being bought and paid for. Efforts to normalize and legalize sex-buying should therefore be resisted.

Making Sex Work For The State : The Policing Of Sex Work In The United States., Madeline A Clabough

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the ways that sex work is regulated within the United States, and analyze the ways that regulation is shaped by contemporary feminist discourse. To do so, it analyzes the ways in which sex workers have been and pathologized since the 19th century, and address the ways that these conceptualizations have been incorporated into the legal regulation of sex workers. Finally, this thesis will look to contemporary practices in the state regulation of sex workers, and argue that the relationship between neoliberalism, the carceral state, and what has come to be termed “carceral feminism” operate in conjunction to …

The Evil Of Banality: On The Life And Death Importance Of Thinking By Elizabeth Minnich, Kathleen Barry

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Work, Sex, And Sex-Work: Competing Feminist Discourses On The International Sex Trade, Kate Sutherland

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article explores the competing discourses of radical feminism and sex radicalism on the international sex trade. These voices have been dominant in feminist debates on this issue and both have proved significant forces when it comes to legal reform. Radical feminists characterize prostitution as an abuse of human rights, regardless of whether it is forced or voluntary, and have fought for its abolition. They have had a substantial impact on the development and adoption of anti-trafficking legislation and instruments in various countries and at the international level. Sex radicals have offered compelling opposition, shifting the focus from the abolition …