Sex Workers

• Individual Ownership of One’s Own Body

Fundamental to individual liberty is the ownership that each citizen has over their own body.  LPNC recognizes this individual right for all individuals who have attained the age of consent.  Individuals also have a degree of responsibility for ensuring their own well-being.

• Age of consent

This paper assumes that an age of consent has been established.  It will not explore this topic in general.  However, it is noted that the rights described in this essay presume that participants have adult status and mental competence.  LPNC does support the right of minors to be free from all forms of physical or mental abuse, but does not support a right of a minor to engage in sexual activity.  It is also assumed that no individual has the right to transfer the right to consent to anyone else.  Thus, no one may consent to placing themselves in a status of involuntary servitude.

• Fraud

  Essential to consent is an honest representation of what is being consented to.  No contractual arrangement, commercial or otherwise, should be based on misrepresentation.  This would be a fraudulent transaction.  Fraud could be personal or monetary.

• Right of Commerce

LPNC recognizes the right of an individual to use their own property for commercial purposes.  In the case of one’s body, this right extends to the option to rent their own body.  As noted above that right does not extend to a right to place oneself in a condition of involuntary servitude.  This right might allow for a variety of commercial transactions.  Among those would be a right to engage in sexual activity for personal profit.  This essay will not attempt to itemize the possibilities this allows, except to say that no commercial transaction should be allowed with violates anyone’s rights, neither a service provider, nor a service consumer.

• Individual Responsibility

            It is the responsibility of both service provider and service consumer not only to respect the rights of other individuals, but to assume a reasonable degree of responsibility for their own safety and security.

•        Health Concerns

It is an implicit responsibility for any individuals who engage in sexual contact to exercise a minimum degree of caution with respect to health concerns.  No party to such activity should misrepresent themselves as being healthy and/or free from contagious infection.  Where risks exist, all parties have an obligation to disclose them and/or take appropriate precautions.

•        Consent and withdrawal of consent

All individuals who participate in these practices must do so in the context of mutual consent with any other participant. LPNC recognizes that there are many forms of consent, some more formal than others.  Despite this, a minimum requirement for consent would require a meeting of the minds between any participants.