Theodore Dalrymple is a psychiatrist and commentator who has written for the Times and the Spectator. His books include Our Culture, What’s Left of It.

Does sex work, or indeed the trading on sex or beauty, represent a free choice?

The answer depends on what count as a free choice. It is possible to coerce people into prostitution, or to force young people, or people without mental capacity, etc., into it. But in the majority of cases, I think it would be a free choice, even if not a very good one in my opinion. But whatever category of person chooses prostitution, you would find many in the same category who do not.

How do we make sense of our periodic moral panics in relation to sexuality, prostitution, sex education etc.? Why are we afraid of sex?