ABSTRACT
Some anti-commodification theorists say that many markets are objectionable in the way Drowning Man is objectionable. A market in child pornography might make things even worse, but the fundamental problem with the market in child pornography is the pornography, not the market. The commodification debate concerns whether there are goods, services, and activities that are permissible to possess, use, and exchange with others, but which may not permissibly be bought and sold on markets. As far as we can tell, paternalistic complaints about the market are covered by the Principle of Wrongful Possession. Paternalists think markets in bad things might make things worse, but they haven't identified any cases where the things in question would in their view be rightful to possess and use, so long as we don't sell them. The imperative to avoid exploitative sex markets does not translate into an imperative to avoid sex markets, period.
