ashi wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:49 am
The problem is, this is all no longer theoretical. We are 20 years into the dual experiment of pairing the decriminalising of selling sex with funding exit programmes and retraining police to not treat prostituted and trafficked women like criminals (the Nordic Model) and the full legalisation of Germany which resulted in clean, safe brothels surrounded by illegal sex trade and trafficked women.
I agree with you, and beyond the fact that I believe legalized prostitution provides a convenient smokescreen for the real problem of sexual slavery, I simply don't think that the realm of social/universal ethics should be handed over to the right on a platter like it's none of our business. There is value in coming to a consensus about what we as a society think is ethical and not ethical, right and wrong, and where we draw the line when it comes to the commodification of a human being. Liberalism insists on bringing this issue to the sphere of individual choice, but I think it's more of a touchstone that reveals where a society's most profound values lie.
The Bolsheviks shut down every brothel across the land as they swept into power (along with progressive policies like legalizing free abortion, postcard divorce, alimony and child support, etc. etc.). I shudder to think of what today's left would do with an issue like prostitution today. I feel like the notion that we stand for something as a society - for everyone in that society - has disintegrated, even in the left.
I came here to post about something and now I forgot, lol.