Citation

Haker H. J. Relig. Ethics 2015; 43(2): 218-243.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jore.12095

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Taking Catholic sexual ethics and liberal feminist ethics as points of departure, this essay argues that both frameworks are ill-prepared to deal with the moral problems raised by sex trafficking: while Catholic sexual ethics is grounded in a normative understanding of sexuality, liberal feminist ethics argues for women's sexual autonomy, resting upon freedom of action and consent. From a perspective that attends both to the phenomenological interpretation of embodied selves and the Kantian normative interpretation of dignity, it becomes possible to critique both the Catholic and the liberal feminist frameworks of ethics. I argue that Catholic sexual ethics requires a reconceptualization as social ethics in order to meet the challenges of our present time, but that the shift is possible without giving up the moral imperatives of both Catholic and feminist ethics to protect human dignity and women's rights.

Keywords:Catholic sexual ethics; feminist ethics; sex trafficking; human dignity; women's rights; social ethics; justice; Human trafficking

Language: en