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The Michael Shermer Show

327. Rachel Moran on Her Years in Prostitution, How She Got Out of It, and Why She Thinks It Is a Form of Sexual Exploitation

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4921 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2023

⏱️ 89 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Shermer and Moran discuss: her dysfunctional family background • her boyfriend who pimped her • the women who sell sex and the men who buy it • why other prostitutes have attacked her • agency and volition in prostitution: women and men • why “prostituted” as something done to women (instead of choosing it)? • what she thought about when having prostituted sex • drugs, depression, and suicide as responses to prostitution • the myths of prostitution • feminism and prostitution • how she got out of prostitution • the harm in consenting adult women selling their bodies for sex • what should be done about prostitution, if anything?

Rachel Moran is the Director of International Policy and Advocacy for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE, a leading non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography). Her work has been endorsed by Jane Fonda, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan and many others. Her bestselling memoir, Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution, is regarded by legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon as “the best work by anyone on prostitution ever” and has been published in more than a dozen countries and numerous languages including German, Italian, Korean, French, and Spanish.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to the Michael Sherman Shower Show. Hi, everybody, it's Michael Sherman.

0:16.0

It's time for another episode of the Michael Sherman Show, just to remind you,

0:19.0

if you're new to this, I am the publisher of Skeptic magazine.

0:22.0

Here's what our current last year

0:24.4

issues are about gender trans issues abortion matters the previous the next

0:32.2

one after that was on race matters and our latest one on nationalism and the rise of Christian nationalism and other forms of authoritarianism and populism.

0:42.0

The one we're working on now is on economic and money matters.

0:44.8

So we're branching out of skepticism to dealing with more current and mainstream

0:50.4

controversies and to that extent my guest today is Rachel Moran.

0:55.8

She is the director of International Policy and Advocacy for the National Center on Sexual

1:00.3

Exploitation, a leading nonpartisan organization exposing the links between sexual exploitation

1:07.4

such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking, and the public health

1:11.8

harms of pornography.

1:13.6

She is pioneering international progress in policy and collaborative advocacy in order to

1:18.0

actualize robust solutions to sexual exploitation.

1:22.0

Her work has been endorsed by Jane Fonda, U.S. President Jimmy Carter,

1:25.2

Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, and others. Prior to joining the International Center on Sexual

1:30.9

Exploitation, Rachel founded and led space, SPAC.

1:34.8

International Organization formed to give voice to women who have survived the abuse of

1:39.4

reality of prostitution.

1:41.6

Here is her memoir on this. I usually hold up Rachel the actual book but I have the

1:45.8

audio book for you. I didn't get a copy of the physical copy but the audio is great. By the way the reader

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