{"podcast":{"title":"Practical Stoicism","slug":"practical-stoicism-4733608","podcast_index_feed_id":4733608,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/stoicism/","website_url":"https://stoicismpod.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/064c0245-d727-4773-9e51-eca3a79af386/PRACTICAL-1-1-2.jpg","author":"Tanner Campbell","episode_count":25,"summary":"Stoicism the pursuit of perfect moral character. If this is not what you understand the objective of Stoicism to be, then you do not understand Stoicism properly. If you would like to understand Stoicism properly, you should join Stoic author and public philosopher Tanner O. Campbell, every week, right here, to explore various aspect of Stoicism from an orthodox, but practical perspective. Practical Stoicism is 100% independently owned, entirely ad-free, and produced by a real live human being who knows what he's talking about.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-06T22:19:35.628543+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608"},"episode":{"title":"Is Sex Work Un-Stoic?","slug":"is-sex-work-un-stoic","published_at":"2026-02-01T16:33:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608/is-sex-work-un-stoic","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608","url":"https://stoicism.captivate.fm/episode/is-sex-work-un-stoic","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/9124ebe4-10b1-4e8d-b14c-fb18efd2681a.mp3","summary":"I am a public philosopher, it is my only job. I am enabled to do this job, in large part, thanks to support from my listeners and readers. You can support my work, keep it independent and online, at https://stoicismpod.com/members Looking for more Stoic content? Consider my 3x/week newsletter \"Stoic Brekkie\": https://stoicbrekkie.com Musonius Rufus Discourse 12: https://archive.org/details/MUSONIUSRUFUSSTOICFRAGMENTS In this episode, I respond to a candid listener email asking about the Stoic position on sex work. The question is not framed with hostility or judgment, and for that reason I take it seriously. This is not an episode condemning women, sex workers, or anyone’s personal choices. It is an attempt to think clearly and Stoically about consent, justice, harm, and choice. I begin by clarifying what the listener is actually asking. He is not asking whether men are wrong to engage sex workers, but whether women selling sex is unjust from a Stoic perspective. That distinction matters. Stoicism is not interested in purity rules or guilt. It is interested in whether actions are chosen rationally, freely, and without injustice. I then address my own bias. I do not like sex work as a practice, largely because I am skeptical that it is ever entirely free from coercion, manipulation, or long-term harm. I make that bias explicit so it can be accounted for rather than hidden. A Stoic answer requires setting personal discomfort aside and asking whether something is unjust, not whether it feels distasteful. To explore the classical position, I turn to Musonius Rufus and his extremely restrictive views on sex. Musonius argues that sex is only justified within marriage and only for procreation. I explain why I find this position impractical, overly rigid, and inconsistent with…","meta_description":"I am a public philosopher, it is my only job. I am enabled to do this job, in large part, thanks to support from my listeners and readers. You can support…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1178,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/practical-stoicism-4733608/episodes/is-sex-work-un-stoic/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/practical-stoicism-4733608/is-sex-work-un-stoic.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}