Decriminalizing Sex: Where Prostitution Meets Purity Culture

Hyperlinked show notes found at mereliberty.com/035


TIP JAR: https://donate.stripe.com/aEUdUE5YodhZgkUeUV 
Summary - Decriminalizing Sex: Where Prostitution Meets Purity
Culture

An odd twist in my research on a libertarian theory of
reproductive rights (and abortion), I've had to dive into how the
criminal justice system treats the crime of rape. In doing so,
I've been led to what might appear to be very strange. The
parallels between the culture surrounding illicit sex work and
evangelical purity culture. I cannot say where any causal
relations lay between the two, only that they appear to be,
strikingly, correlated. And correlated in such a way that
Christians in particular must pay attention and take heed.


In this episode, I seek to break down the legal concerns
regarding sex work and prostitution, and the connections to human
trafficking. The connection to human trafficking is difficult
given the prevalence and nature of trauma. I wrote a review of
Dr. Gabor Mate's work on trauma in a documentary called, The
Wisdom of Trauma. One aspect he addresses are the reasons why
women will prostitute themselves and it seems to stem exclusively
from trauma. But, when it comes to dealing with traumatized
people, there is a principled disagreement about how to deal with
sex workers with trauma: use the legal violence of the state to
rescue women, penalize women, or only in response to violence
done against them.


But there might be another way to deal with trauma, trafficking,
and voluntarily choosing to prostitute oneself. And that lays in
education concerning sex and intimate relationships. I've found a
strong correlation between the views of men and women by "Johns"
and "primps" and the view of men and women in evangelical purity
culture. Have evangelicals unwittingly set the stage for sex
trafficking and prostitution? I think there's good reason to
believe that American evangelicalism contributed to the problems
some evangelicals are trying to now fix, regarding sexual
violence.


The popular view by Christian anti-human  trafficking
organizations is to embrace the Nordic model - make the men
behave! Use the threat of legal violence to make bad men behave
better. But does this work? I also explain why the nature of
economics will not allow for legal violence to "deter" bad
behavior. And why this necessitates decriminalizing sex work if
we're going to improve societal and legal views concerning women
and sex.


DISCLAIMER: While this episode is aimed at supporting
decriminalizing sex work, it is not an endorsement of sex work as
morally legitimate. I hold and maintain a Christian sexual ethic
(sex is designed by God only for heterosexual marriage
relationships), though I believe evangelical "purity culture" is
an unbiblical, anti-Christian view. 
Main Points of Discussion

00:00    Introduction


Ep. 292: Decriminalizing Prostitution: Can Christians Support it?


01:45    Definitions: 'sex work', 'prohibition',
'prostitution', trafficking'


04:04    Why is it important to understand these
distinctions


05:46    Difference between 'decriminalization'
and 'legalization'


07:58    Explanation of legalization; Nevada vs
Rhode Island


09:08    The feminist argument against
decriminalization (Nordic model)


09:55    Clip from Julie Bindell's opening
statement at the Soho Forum


13:43    "The bleakest view of masculinity"


14:50    Do we know how many sex workers are
trafficking vs voluntarily participating?


16:24    Clip from "Sold in America" - a "John's"
view of women in purchasing sex


17:41    Evangelical Purity Culture Detour


18:09    Does 'rape culture' exist?


 19:28   Nancy Pearcy: how "nominal" evangelical
men skew divorce and domestic violence data in the church


23:01    What does evangelical purity culture have
to do with decriminalizing prostitution?


27:08    What the so-called "experts" told
evangelical women about how to have a good Christian marriage


27:33    Quotes cited by Shelia Wray Gregorie's,
The Great Sex Rescue


31:55    Ontological distinctions between men and
women don't require a predator/prey relationship


33:39    Connecting the stigma of sex in purity
culture to the stigma found in legal prohibition of prostitution


34:21    Legal denial of basic human rights - No
Humans Involved


36:22    The unjust handling of sexual violence by
our criminal justice system


40% of police officers perpetrate domestic violence in their own
homes.


37:41    Are victims of rape stigmatized because
of prostitution, or is prostitution stigmatized because of
certain views about women, already discussed? (Connection to
spiritual manipulation of religious values)


41:57    The perpetual victim status of women -
propagated by feminists and patriarchalists


43:17    How do we change society to value women
and children, abhor the evils done against them, and still
maintain a system of justice?


43:59    Misunderstanding economic demand is
resulting with failure and unintended consequences


46:39    In countries that have the Nordic model,
no decrease in demand but an increase in antisocial behavior


50:18    Compare to New Zealand - decriminalized
sex work in 2007


51:05    Why Christians should care about
decriminalizing sex work - even while we don't endorse it.


52:12    Let our yes mean yes, and our no mean no
- justice requires it.


52:58    Concluding thoughts - what
decriminalizing prostitution means for Christian teaching about a
biblical sexual ethic.
Additional Resource Links

Mere Liberty Monthly Memberships

The laws that sex workers really want | Juno Mac

Deacon pleads guilty to child porn charges