Development & Political Issues: Is prostitution a trade?

‘EVERYONE TRADES SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR BODY SO WHY NOT SEXUAL ACTIVITY?’

Human beings use several ways to find the means for existence. Electricians, plumbers, farmers, and carpenters use their hands to earn money for a living. Similarly, some women and women have sold their bodies sexually in return for money and other favors in order to prolong their existence. These people who sell their bodies sexually are called “prostitutes”, and the practice is known as “prostitution”. Therefore, just like the other means of sourcing money are allowed, then prostitution should also be allowed. Legally prostitution has been allowed in some countries. However, the discussion in this essay focuses much on the moral value of prostitution than its legality, since the legalization of an act cannot take away its morality.

Prostitution is defined as the “practice of engaging in sexual activity for immediate compensation in money or other valuable resources, in which affection and emotional investment are minimal or absent and in which the selection of partners is relatively indiscriminate” (Childress, 513). Prostitution occurs among heterosexuals and homosexuals. This essay focuses on the former and much emphasis is on women prostitution. Some have justified prostitution on the basis that all human beings, being autonomous are at liberty to use their bodies in what ever way they want, as long as they do not interfere with others. Another reason has been the need to address economic problems resulting from unemployment. Prostitution on the other hand, has been condemned because it devalues human dignity, it breeds diseases and therefore a threat to public health and it devalues sex for its intended purpose. The first part of this essay discusses the pro-prostitutionists arguments, seconded by the anti-prostitutionists arguments. This essay holds that prostitution is immoral and this will be objectified in the following discussion.

To begin with, prostitution is justified on the basis that all human beings are autonomous. They have the freedom to do as they will, but they should respect the freedom of others (Jones, 50). In prostitution there is a mutual agreement between the client and the prostitute. Their act does not have any harm on others. Therefore, since there is a rule which grants liberty to individuals to do what they like, provided it does not harm others, then prostitution is moral as it complies with the stated rule. Prostitution is like any other business where we have a willing seller and a willing buyer (Barcalow, 210). A customer purchases a commodity, such as soap from a shop and the owner sells that commodity in order to extract some profits. So is the case with prostitution, the client asks sexual services from a prostitute in order to relieve his sexual desires in return for money. Since both clients and prostitutes act autonomously and respect the freedom of others in there transactions, then prostitution is moral.

Secondly, it is claimed that prostitution provides a solution to the higher rates of unemployment, especially among African women and in other developing nations (Sheldon, 243). In many developing nations, women have responsibilities to provide their children with basic needs such as food, shelter, clothes and education. Since most women are unemployed, and therefore have low or no sources of income, these women may resort to prostitution in order earn money to maintain their families.

Moreover, there have been cases where a young girl who is an orphan has duties to take care of her younger brothers and sisters. As a result, that girl has to enter into prostitution as an alternative means of raising the needed resources. In this case the girl is more comfortable when she sells her body sexually (Barcalow, 210,). She has the money to buy food, clothes and other basic needs. Therefore, from a utilitarian perspective, the happiness obtained by being a prostitute in a situation where you have no any other means of earning a living outweighs the unhappiness of not being a prostitute in the same circumstances. Therefore, one may conclude that prostitution is moral, as the principle of utility only requires the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain in any action performed (Pojman, 371). This however is a narrow application of utilitarianism.

Though, pro-prostitutionists present such arguments as justifications for the activity, an analysis of these arguments shows that the justifications are flawed. They involve a narrow understanding of human rights and ethical theories.

Firstly, the arguments based on autonomy are weak. Though individuals are at liberty to do whatever they want, they have no liberty to destroy themselves. Moreover, individual freedom is controlled by the society. Kant in his moral theory said that no one should treat himself as a mere means to an end only (Rosenstand, 231). Prostitutes treat themselves as mere means to end their own miseries, a thing which is immoral because they use their autonomy to destroy themselves. They reduce themselves to mere tools. Moreover, Kant said that though in life we often use other people’s services, we should not reach an extent of disrespecting and reducing others to mere tools for our own comfort (Rosenstand, 231). In prostitution, the client takes advantage of the prostitute’s poverty and uses her as a tool for their own comfort. Her dignity as a human being is disregarded. Therefore prostitution is immoral both to the client and the prostitute.

Secondly, to argue that prostitution is like any other trade where we have a willing seller and willing buyer is to commit a fallacy of weak analogy. The act of prostitution is like selling oneself into slavery where an individual is not autonomous. The slaves are not treated as free rational beings; they are treated as mere means to satisfy the owners. On the other hand, in other trades, for example, where MTL Wanderers buys a player from BIG Bullets, the player still retains his autonomy. It is the skill which is bought not the individual person, the player still retains his autonomy. Prostitution involves selling the whole body just as in slavery. There is no any skill which a prostitute can claim to be selling. So to lose personal autonomy and dignity in return for money is like treating oneself as a mere means to an end, which according to Kant’s categorical imperative is immoral (Rosenstand, 231). Thus, though there is a mutual agreement between client and a prostitute, that agreement is immoral and invalid, since in that agreement the prostitute is used merely as a means to the client comfort.

Additionally, it has been mentioned that most prostitute are women with severe economic problems (Sheldon, 243). However, poverty can not justify prostitution. Given other means of attaining their needs, the women could not enter into prostitution. That is, though any one has a right to do whatever they like, few women enter into prostitution as matter of exercising that right. These women are driven by desperation (Barcalow, 243).

Fourthly, prostitution must be discouraged because it is threat to public health. Prostitutes are at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), because most of their clients refuse the use of condoms (Dearborn, 408). Prostitutes lack power in sexual negotiations because of the money they receive. In this case, prostitutes are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other related diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea, and Chlamydia. There clients are also likely to pass these infectious diseases to their marriage partners. As a result a government loses a lot of money and resources managing and treating the diseases. The money and the resources could be diverted to other projects like constructing roads, bridges, boreholes and subsidizing farm inputs, which could benefit more people. Thus, prostitution as a business works to the disadvantage of the public good. According to utilitarianism, an act is morally right if it maximizes happiness of the greatest number of people, not only the individual happiness (Birsch, 54). Prostitution only benefits the client ant the prostitute and therefore from utilitarian perspective it is immoral. Though HIV/AIDS could still spread in the absence of prostitution, the act must be condemned because it fuels the spread of the disease.

Moreover, even though prostitution was to be monitored, dangers could still be there. Diseases like HIV/AIDS have a window period at which they may not be detected, but can be transmitted to others. The tests are not reliable; hence clients are still at risk of contracting the diseases. Thus though there are some successes in countries that have legalized and monitored prostitution, dangers still persist (Dearborn 408). The monitoring of prostitutes is difficult especially in developing nations that always have few health centers and limited medical personnel’s required for those regular tests.

Prostitution among women also leads to the risk of contracting cervix cancer. It is argued that cancer of the cervix is rare in women who have had little or no hetero-sexual intercourse, and it is positively related to the number of male sexual partners a woman has (Doyal, 77). Therefore to enter into prostitution is to expose oneself to such risks. It is better to be poor than be rich and feel pain of such a long illness which is also expensive to cure. Of course the other professions are also risky, but it’s just a matter of weighing the risks. For example the risks in a teaching profession are few than in prostitution. Therefore from a utilitarian perspective prostitution is immoral. The principle of utility requires pleasure obtained from an action to outweigh its pain (Pojman, 371). Prostitution fails to a certain extent.

Lastly, prostitution is a profession without dignity. Prostitutes are oftenly beaten up or even murdered. There are vulnerable to several abuses because their business is done secretly, making it difficult to be monitored. These abuses rarely happen in other professions. People do not view the other professions with such a critical perspective as they do with prostitution. This means there is something intrinsically wrong with prostitution. It is not the act of sex or the money paid which is immoral in prostitution, but the intention of having sex and the means of getting the money. If sex is done in order to express love, then it is moral. But if done with the intention of getting money, then it is amoral. Kant in his moral theory said an action is to be judged by its intention, a morally upright action is done out of the good will (Rosestand, 225).

Following this discussion it can be observed that prostitution fails to satisfy the ethical theories of Kantian deontology and utilitarianism. Therefore I can conclude confidently and explicitly that prostitution, no matter the reasons are, is immoral and must be discouraged at all times.

In conclusion this essay has discussed the reasons for and against prostitution. The reasons justifying prostitution include the practice of individual autonomy and the need to address social-economic problems. Prostitution is condemned from both Kantian and utilitarian perspective. From the Kantian perspective it has been observed that the client uses the prostitute just as a mere tool for his own comfort. The prostitute too uses her own body as a mere means to end her own miseries. For these reasons prostitution is immoral. From a utilitarian perspective it has shown that prostitution brings more harm than good to the public. It does not maximize the happiness of the greatest number of people, and therefore it is immoral.

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