Human nature = "Ignorance is bliss" If someone does not feel degraded, their self-esteem is okay.
Human nature = able to fool myself for a long time, until the crud finally hits the fan.
It's about a lot more than "feelings" and "self-esteem". If you reduce it to that, you're the one who's self-deluded.
And I have no idea what kind of "conservative" denies that an act can be objectively degrading in and of itself, regardless of how the parties think they "feel" about it.