The concept of prostitution is one that causes a visceral revulsion in conventional Western morality – a symptom of which is how the many colloquial terms for a prostitute, such as ‘whore’, or ‘harlot’, are commonly used as denigratory pejoratives towards women. Although a persistent phenomenon throughout human history , it remains difficult to view prostitution in an objective light – various cultures have alternately tried to ban it on religious or moralistic grounds, or stigmatise it under a “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” sort of veneer which was a barely-tolerated but necessary evil of society. It is interesting to note that despite an increasingly secularised attitude towards sexual relationships, as seen in society’s increasing tolerance of homosexuality or pre-marital sex, prostitution retains much of its social stigma. Faced with the strong reactions which the concept of prostitution tends to elicit in common moral viewpoints, any discussion of the topic must be prepared to look beneath these reflexive attitudes, examine the motivations and justifications for such attitudes, and, hopefully, come to a more informed judgment on the morality of prostitution, or lack thereof that is not founded in mere blind adherence to dogmatic social norms.For the purposes of this essay, I have defined prostitution in the strictest sense of the word, that is, the sale of sexual intercourse for the purposes of pleasure(this obviously omits surrogate mothers). While potentially ambiguous examples of the above exist both in reality(for instance, sexual surrogates as a form of impotence therapy) and possibility(such as what Adeney and Weckert term “symmetrical virtual sex” ), to simplify discussion I will confine this essay to a discussion of the morality of prostitution as it is understood – old-fashioned, physical sexual intercourse sold purely for pleasure. I will also ...
