Prostitution

Abstract

This chapter looks at prostitution. There is a great deal of variation in how various jurisdictions treat such conduct, ranging from criminalizing both the purchase and the sale of sex, to criminalizing only the purchase, to decriminalization and civil regulation of the whole transaction. The methodology of this chapter differs from that employed elsewhere in the book. Rather than ask whether and why prostitution is wrong and should be criminalized, it focuses on a definitional question, namely, what counts or should count as prostitution. In particular, it asks what should count as sex and as buying or selling within the context of the sex trade. It shows how the answers to these questions will ultimately depend on what purpose one thinks the law of prostitution is meant to serve in the first place.