Catholic Feminist Ethics Reconsidered: The Case of Sex Trafficking. Issue 2 (June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Haker, Hille
• Is Part Of: Journal of religious ethics. Volume 43:Issue 2(2015)
• Page Start: 218
• Page End: 243
• Publication Date: 2015-06
• Subjects: Catholic sexual ethics -- feminist ethics -- sex trafficking -- human dignity -- women's rights -- social ethics -- justice; Ethics -- Periodicals; Religious ethics -- Periodicals; Morale religieuse; Religion; Théologie; 205
• DOI: 10.1111/jore.12095
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0384-9694

Abstract

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.