Li Yinhe talks about sex

Chapter 23 The Commercialization of Sex and Its Feminist Countermeasures

It is not acceptable for sex workers and sex workers to adopt an "ostrich policy", and this problem cannot be solved simply by attacking it blindly.In order to solve the problem of commercialized sexual activities, the only way out is to sort out the thinking and straighten out the policies.

In our country, the legal status of commercialized sexual activities (also known as sex work) is as follows: this act itself does not violate the Criminal Law, only a third party other than the parties involved in commercialized sexual activities, that is, both parties Intermediary (force, seduce, shelter others in prostitution) will be sanctioned by the Penal Code.When a citizen engages in work that is not illegal, he will not be punished by the "Criminal Law", so it can be said that according to the current "Criminal Law", Chinese citizens have the right to engage in sex work.

However, in administrative regulations other than the Criminal Law, prostitution is punished in accordance with Article 30 of the Public Security Management Penalty Regulations.So far, since sex work does not violate my country's "Criminal Law", sex workers are generally not sentenced to free punishment, and the only punishment methods are reeducation through labor, administrative detention and fines.I have investigated the situation of "women's correctional centers" in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and the shortest period of housing sex workers is half a year, and the longest is two years.There are correctional institutions like this all over the place.

The contradiction between "Criminal Law" and administrative regulations has caused the current chaotic situation of commercialized sexual activities and countermeasures in our country.In the words of a karaoke owner, either you should completely ban prostitution, or you should completely open it up. Half-legal and half-illegal things like the present ones will cause a lot of official corruption and you need to manage various management departments, otherwise it will not be smooth. business.

On the issue of sex work countermeasures, there are three viewpoints in the western society that are vigorously debated.The first is the view of conservatives to decriminalize sex work; the second is the view of liberals to legalize sex work; the third is the view of decriminalization of sex work put forward by feminists from the perspective of women's status.

Criticism of sex work comes mainly from old-fashioned ideas based on the morality of sexual repression, which condemns all sexual activities outside of marriage and romantic relationships, especially commercial sexual activities, as immoral.From this standpoint, sex work is considered illegal.Although many countries and regions in the world have legally stipulated that sex work is illegal, the police often open their eyes and close their eyes to commercial sex, and do not strictly enforce the relevant laws, or only take light measures against it. Penalties, so few countries have actually outlawed all sex work.

The second position advocates legalizing sex work.It argues for the decriminalization of consensual sexual acts, whether paid or not.The reason is that there is almost no society in this world that can completely stop commercial sex workers, and there is no exception.One of the benefits of legalizing sex work is that by taxing sex workers, the interests of sex workers and clients can be guaranteed, which can largely free sex workers from exploitation and do not have to rely entirely on brothels Bosses and prostitutes; the second benefit is that it can reduce the burden on the public security system, so that sex workers are less harassed by the underworld, and have more opportunities to seek protection from the police when they are threatened and exploited; the third benefit is Avoid government officials and police corruption.It compares the sex work industry to the liquor business: a government-controlled liquor business that is heavily taxed and has specific regulations on hours of service, age of customers and qualifications of licensees.Countries and cities that have adopted sex worker registration and licenses and established red light districts include the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, some parts of Germany, and cities such as Amsterdam and Hamburg.There are concerns that if sex work is legalized, new sex workers will be created in large numbers, but this has not happened in countries where sex work has been legalized.

The third position is the decriminalization of sex work from a feminist perspective.This is an important angle to analyze the issue of commercialized sex work.From the perspective of equality between men and women, the phenomenon of women's sex work is inseparable from male hegemony.It can even be regarded as a typical and symbolic manifestation of male hegemony.The feminist ideal society should be a society free from commercial sex work.However, because no society can really completely eliminate sex work, and because simply cracking down on sex work will hurt sex workers, and because some sex workers not only do not "appreciate" the help of feminism, but strive to control themselves The rights to the body complicate the issue of sex work enormously.

The position of decriminalization in sex work responses is extremely important.It reveals a reality that many people, especially moral conservatives, are unwilling to face: free and consensual sex is only an ideal state of sexual relations, but in reality there is a lot of sex that is not free or consensual.Among them, the roles of women fall into the following three categories:
The first category: prostitutes.Short-term transactional relationship, no engagement.The second category: concubines.Long-term support relationship, no marriage contract.The third category: wife.Long-term support relationship, there is a marriage contract.

Obviously, there is no essential difference between these three types of people.Therefore, it is illogical and unfair to sanction only one or two of them.And no one in the world thinks that wives who have a supporting relationship with their husbands should be punished by the criminal law. Similarly, the other two types of people should not be punished by the criminal law.According to general social moral standards, free and consensual sex is morally high, while non-free sex is morally low.But an adult, a citizen, has the right to choose his own moral standards.If he chooses an immoral way of life, social morality can criticize him and educate him, but he has no right to use the "Criminal Law" to punish him.Using the form of law to punish citizens' immoral behavior is a kind of legislative morality.The basic principle of a modern legal system is that laws should not be made on the basis of the moral standards of some people in the society to punish the behavior of other people in the society that does not infringe the rights of others.

Since the reform was carried out in our country, women in some impoverished areas have used sex work as a means of getting rid of poverty, and there has been a situation of "laughing at the poor but not at the prostitute".This also reflects the low status of women, the decline of these women's moral standards and the decline of social moral standards.This phenomenon is obviously of the same nature as some women's "sugar daddies" being wives. They are both behaviors of women selling their own sexual services as commodities, but the former (sex workers) are short-term and multiple-time. Retail, the latter (full-time wife) is a long-term, one-off wholesale.If legal means are used to sanction, it is illogical to only sanction the former but not the latter; and no one would hold the view that the latter should be sanctioned by law; it follows that it is also unfair to sanction the former by legal means.If the above logic is complete, we can only draw the following conclusions: To deal with sex work, we can only use methods to improve women's status, improve women's moral level and the moral level of the whole society, instead of legalizing commercial sex, criminalization approach.

China is now facing the situation of discussing countermeasures for commercialized sex activities. It is not acceptable to adopt an "ostrich policy" on sex workers and sex workers.In order to solve the problem of commercialized sexual activities, the only way out is to sort out the thinking and straighten out the policies.Strictly follow the legal provisions of my country's current "Criminal Law" on the decriminalization of commercial sex work itself, and ban administrative regulations that contradict it.This means amending the provisions on prostitution in the current security regulations, and amending the relevant provisions on procuring in the current Penal Code.Consensual sex transactions between adults are regulated by commercial regulations.For social moral issues, we should use the method of strengthening moral education and make a long-term effort to subtly influence them, instead of trying to solve moral issues in one fell swoop with unreasonable and severe punishments, because doing so will only make more haste.

(End of this chapter)