The Moral Battle Behind Prostitution

The Moral Battle Behind Prostitution

Prostitution has long been a hotly debated topic as to whether or not it should be legalized. This profession that has existed for millennia was and still is viewed as an activity for degrading people, mostly women. In recent years, with the feminist movement gaining momentum and gender equality beginning to take root, many women have fought harder than ever to get rid of prostitution. However, they do not realize that some of their fellow females actually want or need that job, either for survival or simply taking pleasure in such activities. When considering the legalization of prostitution, one should move away from what people outside of the profession see as moral wrongs and instead place oneself in the position of prostitutes and realize the good that would come from legalizing the job field for the sake of those who fall into that work category.

It can be argued that prostitution actually leads people astray from their morals because it encourages aggression towards women and tempts people to commit adultery. However, it is not only the fault of the woman that adultery occurs; the man is also guilty for giving in to his desires and/or abusive tendencies. The prostitute in these cases is considered more in the wrong because of the widespread prejudice most hold against her profession when, in fact, she is merely offering her services to any who want them. The negative aura surrounding prostitution can also be traced back to the fear of uncontrolled passion that women can both elicit and exhibit, according to Martha Nussbaum:

The view boils down to the view that women are essentially immoral and dangerous and will be kept in control by men only if men carefully engineer things so that they do not get out of bounds. The prostitute, being seen as the uncontrolled and sexually free woman, is in this picture seen as particularly dangerous, both necessary to society and in need of constant subjugation (287).

Women, as explained from this perspective, hold power that frightens those who wish to keep in control of society. In order to control this threat, the stigma on females was established. As a result, this added on to the bias against prostitutes who were now seen as undignified women besides figures of temptation. If the stigmas were removed, prostitution could potentially be seen as a normal career just like working in factories, teaching, or being a maid/butler (Nussbaum). After all, people have come a long ways from the Renaisssance age, and today’s generation is more used to overtly sexual language or expressions compared to the past, as exemplified by how fashion and advertising content have changed over the years. Under such circumstances, it would not be difficult for prostitution to break past its old image and grow to become accepted, just as people gradually embraced the professions of singing, dancing, acting, etc. as time