Liberalism and Prostitution

by Peter de Marneffe

Civil libertarians characterize prostitution as a "victimless crime," and argue that it ought to be legalized. Feminist critics counter that prostitution is not victimless, since it harms the people who do it. Civil libertarians respond that most women freely choose to do this work, and that it is paternalistic for the government to limit a person's liberty for her own good. In this book Peter de Marneffe argues that although most prostitution is voluntary, paternalistic prostitution laws in some form are nonetheless morally justifiable. If prostitution is commonly harmful in the way that feminist critics maintain, then this argument for prostitution laws is not objectionably moralistic and some prostitution laws violate no one's rights. Paternalistic prostitution laws in some form are therefore consistent with the fundamental principles of contemporary liberalism.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2009

Reviews

[Roy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The thesis of this philosophical treatise is shown
here as a direct quote from the introduction:

In chapter 1 I state what I take to be the strongest
paternalistic argument for prostitution laws: that
prostitution is psychologically destructive and
results in the loss of important opportunities, and
that prostitution laws reduce this harm, by reducing
the number of people who do this work and by reducing
the amount of prostitution that is done by those who
do it.

An enlightening philosophical thought experiment:
substitute "abortion" for "prostitution." Like this:

In chapter 1 I state what I take to be the strongest
paternalistic argument for abortion laws: that
abortion is psychologically destructive to the
pregnant woman and results in the loss of important
potentialities, and that abortion laws reduce this
harm by reducing the number of people who get an
abortion and by reducing the number of abortions a
person will undergo.

Are adult women so feeble of mind and weak of
character that the State must protect them from their
own free choices? One thinks not.

I did not read the whole book, just the introduction.
I found the full text is available to borrow online
at archive.org (as of Jan 2024). Search the text for
"psychologically" to get the gist. I could not get
past such an overly paternalistic lens when viewing
competent adult women. The axiom is false therefore
the argument erected thereupon is fallacious.
The State ought to be indifferent to any claimed
psychological (whatever that is) consequences to
a person's mind that result from exercising their
free will.

Thoughts on: Liberalism and Prostitution (2009) by Peter de Marneffe