For example, some argue that regardless of questions of human dignity, prostitution should be legalized, because legalization will reduce violence and venereal diseases. As Steven Pinker has argued, “human dignity” is a squishy phrase used to smuggle in all kinds of baseless taboos and prohibitions.29 We can count the number of victims of sexual violence, but we can’t measure the loss in human dignity that occurs when a person sells their body. We can’t even agree that human dignity is a thing, or that prostitution is an affront to that dignity. If we are each responsible for our own moral
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