Is prostitution immoral?

Question

I don't believe it is, provided everyone involved is a consenting adult and they use protection.

Sex is the most natural and powerful of human drives. If somebody wants to make a living having sex, and somebody else wants to have sex with that person, who cares?

For myself I wouldn't fool around with a prostitute or be one. And I don't support marriages falling apart or anything, but you can hardly blame that on prostitution.

I'd really like a logical refutation based on something besides Biblical morality.

Answer 1

My concept of morality regarding prostitution boils down to one issue: is anyone hurt in the transaction?

Sex, in and of itself, is not immoral. I don't believe that promiscuity is necessarily immoral either.

Everytime I go out on a date, I'm spending money on a person. I may even be giving gifts. I'm not specifically buying sex directly or may not be overtly thinking of sex, but perhaps indirectly I am. But even so, the sexual encounters I have are pursued mutually by both of us. In other words, the assumption is that we will both enjoy sex at the same emotional level. I don't think I would enjoy sex with someone who is emotionally detached, but that doesn't mean I think it's wrong to have sex that way.

To me the greater question is why is the person a prostitute? Sometimes it's out of economic necessity--they're poor. Other reasons may not be as savory such as feeding a drug habit or being forced into prostitution. Are they choosing prostitution as an easy way to make big money or are they choosing it as the only way they can make money? In poor countries, the latter is the case.

I have not heard of a single case where a person chooses prostitution because she (or he) enjoys having indiscriminate sex with people they have not chosen freely. Even the way they have sex is determined by the other person. Only a masochist would choose that. I suppose it's possible that the prostitute could be so detached from the act that it's strictly business and nothing else. There is evidence to indicate that prostitutes over time become desensitized to the sex act and that they can only see others as exploiters. They are losing a significant part of their humanity when that happens. The customer, too, may change his attitudes. He may view others to be used for his personal pleasure without any regard to their needs, their desires or even their consent. I believe then that hurt occurs.

When you say you would not be a prostitute or use the services of one, you must have some misgivings about the profession even though those issues may not be moral ones.

I cannot conclude that prostitution is immoral in all circumstances, but in many cases, it is.

Answer 2

The immorality of it comes from the seedier side of prostitution. In many countries, it is legal, and they have worked out ways to regulate it. When it is legal, it is easier to manage. Consider how it is in Nevada. We hardly hear any problems about it from Nevada because the women usually CHOOSE to work that way. It can be a very high paying profession for a young woman.

The immorality of it comes from the criminal side. Human trafficking, drugs, criminal organizations that use the women, a woman can be put in an unsafe situation and be physically abused. The dangers of prostitution are many.

At its base though. If you have two consenting adults, one who is willing to pay the other for a service provided. There is nothing immoral about that. That is just a business transaction.

Answer 3

Immorality is really based on a person's belief system. No act is immoral unless you believe it to be so. Prostitution itself is a hard situation to judge, in the situation you speak of, i.e. two consenting adults, no one gets hurt, etc. Sure, its probably good thing. Unfortunately, so often its not like that though. Many women are forced into prostitution. So often addiction plays a part in prostitution. Violence and rape are also very prevalent. Prostitution as a whole, in my opinion, represents some of the most negative aspects of modern society.

Answer 4

Lets use a more neutral example like drinking. In the 1920's and early 30's alcohol was prohibited and people went to back alley speakeasies to grab a drink of bathtub gin. The situation was criminalized, the booze was often impure, the ancillary habits (sex, drugs and gambling) flourished in a crime-ridden setting, and things were in a million ways very bad. If you repealed alcohol prohibition, but kept the speakeasies going and the mob still controlled the industry, legalizing it does nothing to solve the problem. Legal prostitution in places like Nevada, still involves exploiting the women so the "ranch" makes most of the profits, still involves women being at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, and does not stop the illegal form of prostitution from still taking place in Nevada, which involves drugs, pimps, violence and extortion. I support legalizing prostitution, but there are a lot of problems with it still, and more needs to be done to figure out how to safeguard women in this industry.

Answer 5

No, I cannot refute you because I agree. To heck with the morality stuff. Prostitution should be legal, workers checked, protected sex and taxed. There should be prostitutes available for women too.

Answer 6

Isn't it really love (the act of love , sincere feel of oneness like that of Hydrogen and oxygen in the molecule of water "intimate union " the intense desire so great that we want to be so close to one another that the penetration and exchange of divine elixirs of god ) that should matter the exchange of funds is only the completion of the transaction Actually it is either before or after the act.!!! and should not be clubbed with the act as such.
So there is no prostitution or immorality .!!!

Answer 7

Maybe the better question is is poverty immoral because it is the driver behind prostitution although some prostitutes might do it for other reasons. Informative articles can be found using words " prostitution drivers" without the quote marks.

Answer 8

Some women prostitute themselves to get a man any way so what is the diffrence. I guess its the way its done. Some marriages have fallen apart because of prostitution.

Answer 9

whos to say whats immoral. theres sex for love and theres recreational sex. no one really has the right to govern that. people are going to do what they want to anyway. there are more pros than cons to legalizing prostitution. its just one of the many things our government wont admit being wrong to. there is no logical refutation.

Answer 10

I don't think it's necessarily immoral, just unsafe. Besides, what is dating? The only thing separating some relationships from prostitution is that the "payment" comes in the form of gifts. :)