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UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship "Moral Criticism and the Social Meaning of Prostitution" Stewart Stephen E. Schmid 1 UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship Strategy • To argue against a couple of Shrage's core beliefs about the social views of women • To argue against social meaning as a justification for moral status • "...my central purpose is to challenge the assumption that the social meaning of a practice is decisive in determining its moral status or the moral rightness of condoning it." (81) Stephen E. Schmid 2 UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship Against Shrage's "1. Belief That Humans Possess Strong Sexual Appetites" • Stewart thinks this view may be implicitly held, but Shrage's argument for it is not justified • • Humans do exhibit a potential for strong sexual appetite Dani example is not as strong as Shrage needs it to be • Anthropologist Heider comments that the Dani are "unique" and "quite exceptional" in this regard • The Dani also lack energy and enthusiasm, are unintellectual, and not artistically inclined • Stewart wonders if a level of sexual interest seen in our society is indicative of a "general level of motivation and creativity characteristic of advanced cultures" (82) Stephen E. Schmid 3 UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship Against Shrage's "2. Assumption That Men Are Naturally Suited for Dominant Social Roles" • • Stewart thinks there's no more cultural justification for saying that one sex is more suited for some social roles than another • Our understanding of social structures and processes is incomplete • It makes no more sense to reject male dominance as it does to assert male dominance, given our incomplete knowledge In addition, it might be necessary to further distinguish domination in sexual relations • Some men are more sexually dominant, while some women (Stewart suggests prostitutes) are more dominant Stephen E. Schmid 4 UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship Stewart on Shrage • "Shrage provides no real grounds for the implausible claims that prostitution perpetuates beliefs of the sort mentioned, and that these beliefs are in turn the sole support of the practice as we know it today." (82) 5 Stephen E. Schmid UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship On Shrage's Core Argument • Is eating dogs or cat immoral or just "distasteful"? • • What does Stewart think? • Compare to interracial marriage – Is it immoral or unacceptable for some in society? • Compare to being a rape victim in Middle East countries – Is it morally wrong to be a victim? In all three cases, Stewart thinks it might be "distasteful" or might offend people, there is nothing morally wrong with puppy burgers, interracial marriage, or being a rape victim. Stephen E. Schmid 6 UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship Homosexuality as Analogous to Prostitution • There's an even better analogy with prostitution — homosexuality • Many find drag queens in gay parades disgusting, unacceptable, and detrimental to homosexuals generally • Stewart thinks that such behavior alone is not immoral • "Yet we should tolerate this behavior, even if it offends many; it is immoral only if it is intended to harm others in certain substantial ways, and in fact does." (83) 7 Stephen E. Schmid UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship Nothing Immoral About Prostitution • Stewart concludes that there is nothing immoral about prostitution "per se" • • • It might be morally wrong on other grounds, however Stewarts main point is that Shrage has not made the case that "social meaning" alone makes prostitution morally impermissible If Shrage had shown that i. there are harmful results from condoning and participating in prostitution ii. or, that women are denied opportunities in society because they are or have been prostitutes • Then, the "appropriate strategy" would be to change the appropriate beliefs or attitudes causing said harms Stephen E. Schmid 8 UW-Rock County Philosophy of Love, Sex, and Friendship Is Stewart Self-contradictory? • • Stewart argues that Shrage's relativism is unjustifiable However, the last sentence of the essay looks relativistic itself: • • • "This moral position becomes more defensible when we realize that it is the individual meaning, that is, how actors view themselves, their motives, and their partners, not the social meaning, of conduct that is most relevant morally." (83) Is Stewart contradicting himself? Or, might one argue that moral relativism itself is unjustifiable? If so, then Stewart's position is no more justifiable than Shrage's. Stephen E. Schmid 9