Sex work and morality

By brett Submitted on 9 June, 2009 - 07:04
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A few weeks ago, the South African Law Reform Commission issued a discussion paper on adult sex work. It's now asking people to write in with submissions, in response to the proposals. Eventually, the process will culminate in a new law on adult sex work in South Africa.

Now sex work, like abortion and homosexuality, is one of those subjects that tends to get people in a froth. Many religious people in particular, see it as a moral issue, and argue that it's just wrong and should never be permitted in society. But to me it's more complex than that and I think the law commission has done an excellent job of summarising the issues and presenting South Africans with four options: total criminalisation of sex work, partial criminalisation, decriminalisation, and regulation.

In its discussion paper, the commission outlines what each option would mean, and then asks people proposing that option to think carefully about a set of questions, such as, 'how will this option fit in with the Constitution?' or 'how will this option reduce the demand for sex work?', or '...reduce harm and abuse of sex workers?'

This process provides us with an opportunity to move beyond the reflexive moral judgments and knee-jerk reactions to really think about our values and what kind of society we want.

As for my views, I think that if we are to take a moral stance, then we need to think about all aspects of morality - not just whether sex work is 'right' or 'wrong'. I ask myself, is it moral to allow the current situation to continue, where sex workers are exposed to violence and abuse - by employers, clients and even the police?. Is it moral to continue with a situation where sex workers are seen as criminals, but their clients usually are not? Is it moral to condemn sex work, when we have little understanding of why people do it?

If you're interested in making your views known, have a look at the discussion papers on the site of the SA Law Reform Commission, or get more details as download the summary from the website of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat).