Prostitution

The trade or profession of selling a person’s body as a means to generate earnings may certainly well be one of civilization’s earliest form of business. While this practice has been carried out in diverse cultures over the eons, each society regards prostitution under a different light. Whereas some groups consider the act an aberrant behavior which needs to be mitigated, other nations have held that prostitution is an acceptable trade which benefits the society it serves. The underlying problem in respect to prostitution involves the ethical and moral elements on which the topic is hotly debated. Religion has provided the foundation for many traditional moral systems throughout history. Thus, for many moralists, prostitution is a frowned upon act. Since morality plays a big role in establishing the laws and legal systems of a society, prostitution has remained largely an illegal trade in countries where pervasive religious attitudes establish the law of the land. However, prostitution is still often tolerated to a certain extent by those cultures which have deemed it an illegal profession. Ultimately, from a utilitarian ethical model, if the act of prostitution serves to benefit a greater number of people than the act will harm, then prostitution should be legalized.

In some old societies, prostitution has been deemed a normal part of daily life. In Ethics class, for example, it was discussed that in ancient Babylon, temple prostitution was a necessary and typical custom. The temple of Ishtar instructed that every woman had to serve at the temple at least once in her life; each had to sleep with a stranger and contribute the earnings to the temple. At the time, Ishtar was considered the goddess of fertility. Through the act of temple prostitution, the people of Babylon could come to dedicate their love to their goddess. Although this may seem unconscionable to many today, temple prostitution was a tradition which assisted to promote the temple during those times. In effect, the act worked to benefit the greater good of the people in that era than harm them. Thus, under utilitarian fundamentals, temple prostitution in Babylon cannot be considered unethical.

The Greeks also instituted temple prostitution, especially renown is the temple of Aphrodite located in Corinth. However, there is a vital difference in the implementation of prostitution between the Babylonians and the Greeks. Where in Babylon, the prostitutes were commoners who gave their bodies for the service of their religious beliefs and of their own will, temple prostitutes in Greece were temple slaves. Greek prostitutes were not free, and were thus bound by the laws of the time to serve the temple, however unwilling they may be. Since coercion and exploitation was involved, it is hard to demonstrate that the temple prostitution in Greece has moral justification. From an ethical position, Greek prostitution may have instead, caused more harm than the good it created.

Through consideration of these examples, it is apparent that the act of prostitution cannot be justified collectively. Furthermore, by utilizing Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, the act of prostitution cannot function as a morally correct principle because it cannot be universalized; it would be unreasonable if all individuals in the world were to become prostitutes. Nevertheless, utilitarian ethical rules still allow for prostitution to be appropriate in those circumstances where the act works to benefit the greater good for the greatest number of people, even at the cost of the few individuals who may be harmed by it.
In terms of contemporary society, the field of prostitution has become a well-established profession. Especially for the upper echelons of society, escort service, a euphemism for up-scale prostitution, has become a prominent, albeit enigmatic indulgence for moneyed individuals worldwide. Patrons compensate the escorts generously, and those in the profession contend that their job is no less dignified than other forms of employment. Escorts commonly have higher education backgrounds and have acquired the accepted demeanor in conduct and appearance to suit their clientele. Even though high-class escorts do not necessarily represent all the forms of prostitution available in modern society, it is an indication that our society currently views prostitution as a morally acceptable profession when conducted within a certain type of framework.

The profession of selling one’s body for economic gain has existed since the creation of human societies. Although this occupation has been criticized by many throughout history, it has nevertheless pervaded across all continents and cultures. Under the doctrine of utilitarianism, it is ethical to state that so long as the practice of prostitution serves to provide a greater good to most of the members of a society, such that the benefit outweighs the cost, then prostitution should be legalized. However, if the practice of prostitution becomes a detriment to a society as a whole, and a greater number of people are harmed rather than can benefit from the act, then prostitution should be outlawed in that society. In the end, it is for each particular culture to determine what is appropriate, in terms of whether or not to legalize prostitution, for their unique situations.