Some Machinations of Libertarian Socialism: Pornography, Sex Work, and Entheogens

Libertarian legal mandates and constitutionally enshrined rights should be comprehensive, as well as well thought out and constructed. Authentic socialism is libertarian in character. We should strive for a state which shares political and economic power with rank and file organised workers’ councils. The crux of libertarian socialism is individual enlightenment emanating from maximizing freedoms in and for identity construction and formulations, without exploiting one another.

The harm in pornography is anonymous sexual surveillance of others who make or star in pornographic material. This is a kind of reverse panoptic power: where the many surveil (neologism: verb form of the noun surveillance) the few in voyeuristic anonymity. Hence, there is a tension between the right of an individual to star or feature in pornography versus the exploitation of pornographic actors by pornography consumers and/or by other pornographic actors. In a beyond good and evil synthesis, a gradualist policy approach to exorcising (sexual) exploitation or sub-optimality is preferable. Firstly, a protective law could be passed to illegalise acting pornographically for young adults. The brain continues maturation well into the 20s, with the male brain taking longer than the female brain. 25 years of age as a minimum legal requirement to consensually participate in pornographic acting would diminish exploitation considerably. Implementing this law and legal standard would drastically reduce exploitation of would-be younger porn-stars who have not biologically nor socially (in terms of accrued sexual meta-knowledge) matured to a humanizing degree by older porn-stars and by anonymous consumers who also may be older and have varying degrees of accrued sexual meta-knowledge: it would drastically reduce inequalities in biological and social (sexual meta-knowledge) maturation between actors and consumers. By sexual meta-knowledge I mean understandings about the nature of sexual exchanges and power dynamics and play between sexual agents. The gradualist abolition or out-growing of real pornography – pornography that technologically records and reifies sexual acts between real people shared for consumption – can be achieved with the development of virtual pornography – animations and artificial intellgience featuring sex acts of and between virtual porn-stars. This is, I allege, the ‘Buddhist middle-way’ between pro-porn and anti-porn positions. Gradually exorcising the exploitative surveillance of real porn-stars is overcome, whilst allowing for psycho-sexual growth, sating sexual desires, and fulfilling the very human need for sexual experimentation (without exploitation). The point at which virtual pornography becomes just as stimulating or even more stimulating than real pornography, is the point we may illegalise and/or just organically outgrow real pornography, its dissemination, consumption, and possession by people. I argue, at this said point in virtual pornography’s development – surpassing real pornography, becoming and rendering it entirely redundant or outmoded.

Similarly for sex work, we should first focus on mitigating exploitation in this profession, before we may socially outgrow it altogether. Sex work should be thoroughly legalised and legally regulated. As with increasing the legal age of participation in pornography to 25 years old as a minimum this could be adopted and enacted into law regarding sex work. This would promote safety and increase bodily autonomy and integrities of sex workers. Sex workers should also unionize to protect their economic interests. Exploitation is both inherent and exacerbated where there are economic inequalities between individuals and nation states. So the libertarian socialist project respects the authenticity of sex work whilst mending economic and social inequality as this will greatly diminish exploitation in this profession. Similar inequalities eliciting exploitation applicable to pornography, as discussed above, also apply to sex work.

Potential neuro-toxicity and residual neuro-toxicity of entheogen psychotropics used for recreational altered states of consciousness is a concern. Some persons may be more susceptible to cognitive damage from entheogens than others. Furthermore biological brain immaturity may predispose entheogen consumers to more neural damage than in biologically matured brains. Thus, legalisation for 25 year old’s and older, combined with moderation or abstinence in consumption may be desirable. Consumers would take entheogens at their own risk, with abstinence the safest and most encouraged option, until we know more about the brain, and entheogen effects on the brain. I suggest that governmental legalisation, regulation and manufacture such that recreational drugs such as psychedelics are only legally available for mature adults at 25 years of age or older every five years as a minimum quota, will substantially minimize their risks to residual brain functioning, allowing for their beneficial properties to users in regards to tapping the unconscious mind with spiritually nourishing, entheogenic and shamanist religiosity, and/or enlightening (peak) experience(s) benefits accrued. Use of any entheogenic psychotropic substance would exhaust each five year quota. So, users may choose marijuana in for the first five years, peyote for the second, ayahuasca for the third for example, or just keeping with the one drug for each five year period, from the 25 years of age legal cushioning restriction. Minimalist and careful consumption in this way, circumvents a lot their risks to brain health. It is well worth the endeavour of designing synthetic entheogens that could be provenly safe for use in the future. Legalisation promotes individual responsibility re entheogen consumption for mature adults.

The common themes for pornography, sex work, and entheogens are liberty, but for biologically mature adults – 25 years or older – as the conditional humanizing, humane promoting, and damage minimization caveat.