Owning a person

SAM said:
Guess in that case, its entirely irrelevant if I think its ethical whether they sell them for hard labour or sexual intercourse, isn't it?
It has been irrelevant to this thread throughout. You were originally attempting to talk about prostitution, but got distracted or something.
 
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SAM said:
No I was talking about prostitution as an example of owning a person.
You would need to pick an example of prostitution involving ownership, which is a little difficult and narrow. Selling children for sex is not prostitution, for example.
 
It has been irrelevant to this thread throughout. You were originally attempting to talk about prostitution, but got distracted or something.
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No I was talking about prostitution as an example of owning a person. I wondered if it could be considered as a category of trafficking. As you can see I am introducing variuos aspects of prostitution as a barter of a body which I think relate to other instances of bartering bodies for various instances in an attempt to describe why I think prostitution is a form of trafficking. After all we do not think a person who takes drugs has the right to abuse their bodies so why should they be "allowed" to barter it? Most places even consider suicide as an offense. You cannot kill or drug yourself, but you can sell yourself for sexual favours?

For example, if the person who expected you to move his piano suddenly unzipped his fly and said, I'll give you a bonus for a blow job, would you consider it appropriate?
 
SAM said:
No I was talking about prostitution as an example of owning a person
For that, you would need an example of prostitution that involved owning a person.
SAM said:
You cannot kill or drug yourself, but you can sell yourself for sexual favours?
Nowhere I know of. Slavery is illegal, at least technically, everywhere.

SAM said:
For example, if the person who expected you to move his piano suddenly unzipped his fly and said, I'll give you a bonus for a blow job, would you consider it appropriate?
No. Nor vice versa. But neither involves ownership, or is an example of anyone owning anyone else.
 
No. Nor vice versa. But neither involves ownership, or is an example of anyone owning anyone else.

It does if the person thinks that "buying your time" = "owning your body for sexual services"

If you proceed to go ahead, you kinda agree to that, IMO
 
SAM said:
It does if the person thinks that "buying your time" = "owning your body for sexual services"
The deluded or mentally incompetent do not establish reality for others.
 
SAM said:
The deluded or mentally incompetent do not establish reality for others.

Unfortunately they usually do.
Not in the realm of service for money. If someone thinks they own me because they agreed to pay for my services moving a piano, I inform them otherwise.

Have you never held down a service job, or what is your difficulty with the concept of "fee for service"? It is not that complicated, one would think.
 
Not in the realm of service for money. If someone thinks they own me because they agreed to pay for my services moving a piano, I inform them otherwise.

Have you never held down a service job, or what is your difficulty with the concept of "fee for service"? It is not that complicated, one would think.

I have but in all cases, I have refrained from adding my body as part of the package deal. I don't consider it as an item of sale. Haven't you?
 
SAM said:
I have but in all cases, I have refrained from adding my body as part of the package deal. Haven't you?
Nope. The labor of my body has been frequently included and assumed - it's a key factor in moving pianos, for instance.

Unless you are confusing this with some other kind of transaction? We were discussing fee for service transactions, IIRC
 
Nope. The labor of my body has been frequently included and assumed - it's a key factor in moving pianos, for instance.

Unless you are confusing this with some other kind of transaction?

Is a sexual favour equal to labour in your opinion? Is it "work"?
 
SAM said:
Well if you were moving pianos from the local music shop to the local fence, for instance, would it still be work?
And I'm getting paid? Sure.

For all I know, that's what I've been doing some days.
 
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Set specific terms

S.A.M. said:

Is prostitution a form of barter where you own a person's body?

No. You are buying services, not the body. At least, that's the underlying principle. Whether or not the johns understand that is something of a crap shoot, as I understand it. (I live in a state where a judge has ruled that prostitutes cannot be raped; there is very little I can say about that that falls anywhere near the realm of civility.)

Is there anything that one is not legally permitted to do to a bought sexual partner?

Depends on the terms. A john should not presume that just because he has bought "sex" he can do whatever he likes. Nor should a prostitute presume that the john understands that. Specific terms should be set.

IOW, if you pay for sex, are you trafficking in that persons body?

I'm going to go with no. If you are the pimp, facilitating the sale, the answer is yes.
 
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