But our focus today is prostitution in many but not all of its varieties. There are a lot of male and transsexual prostitutes too. And there are some female customers, too. But in the overwhelming majority of cases prostitutes, male or female, service the sexual desires of men. I think it's a mistake to suppose that all customers of prostitutes are pathetic or perverse. Normal guys with normal sexual desires frequent prostitutes too. Prostitution is a complex, multi-faceted thing.
But it is legal in a lot of countries -- some of which might surprise you. And some which might not surprise you -- Australia and most of Western Europe. Aside from the issue of legality, prostitutes work under lots of different social and economic conditions. Some walk the streets, plying their trade in cars or back alleys. Others work in brothels or fancy hotels. Others have secretaries, appointment books, and well-heeled regulars. One position on prostitution is that none of this really makes a moral difference.
The institution of prostituion is wrong, evil even, a gruesome reminder of the second-class status that women have traditionally had and still suffer from around the world. Others are sold into prostitution by their own families. Many are lured into it under false pretenses, these days, in Europe and in America, often as part of some illegal immigration scheme. And there is the fact that many prostitutes work for pimps, who rake in the profits, while the sex workers do the dirty and often dangerous work.
Would prostitution be immoral, under these circumstances? Some would argue that it would still be immoral. It turns them into objects. It is intrinsically different from other forms of manual and intellectual labor. But we treat each other as objects in many situations. Suppose I stop and ask you for directions. One might well suppose that sex is different.
It should be a two way street. Prostitution makes it a one-way street. It turns what should be intimate and mutual into something cold and mechanical. Certainly, at its best, consensual non-commercial sex may be a two-way street, intimate, mutual, and rewarding in spiritual ways to both parties. But lots of sex falls short of this, even when no money is involved. Guys get sex all the time by convincing women that they care. So we have two positions. One holds that prostitution is inherently degrading and of necessity involves objectionable objectification, and so is wrong, even if conducted in a way that is safe for and non-exploitative of the prostitute.
