Self-ownership and autonomy from the perspective of Wendy McElroy

The article analyzes the evolution of the principle of self-ownership as a foundation of modern agency and protection against dominion. Drawing on the individualist feminism of Wendy McElroy and the thought of John Locke, the author shows the transition from hierarchical social structures to the recognition of the individual as the sole disposer of their own body and life. A key point of reflection is the distinction between selling the results of one's labor and the alienation of agency itself. In the context of the sexual industry, self-ownership serves as a barrier against total subordination, defining freedom not only as the right to act, but primarily as the absence of a primary right of third parties to dispose of another human being. The text emphasizes that consent to specific acts does not abolish the inalienable dignity and integrity of the person.