Prostitution: notes for debate

Abstract

 In the following pages I attempt to show what arguments may be raised against the exchange of sex for money. The difficulty for those who argue against prosti­tution lies in the fact that we hold a non-significant conception of sex according to which consent is a necessary and sufficient condition for the moral and legal acceptance of sexual relations. I analyze 5 arguments: moral perfectionism, the lack of consent that allegedly implies buying sex, harm, instrumentalization and the so-called “expressive arguments”.