Virtuous vice

It hasn’t always been easy being a progressive-minded man who prides himself on his sensitivity to issues of race, gender, feminism and sexual exploitation — and still gets to walk on the wild side. Political principles tend to get in the way of politically incorrect passions. You like to watch porn, but as a good feminist man you know that porn exploits women. You like to take cocaine, but it exploits poor Latin American farmers and enriches corrupt drug cartels. And maybe you have a secret passion for prostitutes, but you hate the idea that you’re paying for sex with some underage Albanian who’s been trafficked for your gratification. No porn. No drugs. No sex. What’s a poor would-be decadent to do? Take up golf? Knitting? Stamp collecting?

Nowadays, though, you can indulge your more dissolute pleasures and still occupy the moral high ground. Welcome to the era of ethical decadence, where yesterday’s shameful vices are repackaged and promoted as today’s politically correct virtues. A good example of ethical decadence is the growing market for what is called vegan bondage. Vegan devotees of S&M can now purchase a wide range of ‘cruelty free’ and ‘ecologically aware’ equipment: whips, handcuffs, neck chokers, gags and harnesses — and they’re all made without leather. After all, there’s nothing worse than having to stop mid-flogging to ask, ‘Is this whip suitable for vegans?’

The British sex industry is also getting a moral makeover, to allow it to cater to a new type of politically aware consumer who wants sex to be not only erotic but also ethical. Belinda Brooks-Gordon of Birkbeck, University of London, and the author of The Price of Sex: Prostitution, Policy and Society argues that there is a big demand for this.