ABSTRACT
As in the quote at the outset of this book, we share the view of Martha Nussbaum in relation to sex work. The stigma traditionally attached to sex work is based on beliefs that are not defensible, and should be rejected by feminists. Her argument is based on the comparison between many kinds of jobs and sex work. In comparing different uses of the body, she argues that the main difference between prostitution and other jobs is the ‘invasion of the sex worker’s internal space’. Most of the other differences can be imputed to social stigma and to criminalisation. In order to look better at this issue she gives the hypothetical example of a Colonoscopy Artist: this person uses their skill at tolerating the fibre-optic probe to make a living. It has in common with sex work the consensual invasion of one’s bodily space. We would want to ban it or regulate it if we thought it too dangerous, but we would not be moved to ban it for moral reasons. And we would not consider such a person immoral (Nussbaum, 1999).
