Prostitution – A Sip and Scholar Lecture Night

Prostitution is one of those subjects on which almost everyone seems to have an opinion. Understanding it is another matter.
About this Event

Welcome to Sip and Scholar

Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Toronto bars.

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

🧠 Lecture: "Prostitution: What We Think We Know (Stigma, sex work, and the danger of moral certainty)"

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Amir Mostaghim

🎟️ Ticket: includes your first beverage!

Lecture Overview

Prostitution is one of those subjects on which society has no shortage of opinions, but considerably less understanding.

For decades, feminist scholars have been divided over a deceptively difficult question: Is prostitution an expression of patriarchal domination and the commodification of women’s bodies and sexuality, or can it also represent agency, labour and control over one’s own body?

Beneath that disagreement lies an even more complicated question: What does it mean to speak of “choice” when choices are made within structures of gender, class, economic inequality and power?

This lecture moves beyond the familiar arguments for and against prostitution to examine how stigma and moral certainty shape the way we understand sex work and the people involved in it. Drawing lessons from the ways society has historically responded to HIV/AIDS and opioid use, we’ll consider what happens when moral judgment becomes part of how we respond to complex social issues.

Themes: Sex Work · Stigma · Choice · Agency · Moral Judgment

Agenda

🕑: 06:00 PM - 06:55 PM
Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks
🕑: 06:55 PM - 07:00 PM
Host introduction
🕑: 07:00 PM - 07:45 PM
Lecture begins
🕑: 07:45 PM - 08:30 PM
Audience Q&A and open discussion