Prostitution is often referred as the oldest profession in our
society. According to Oxford Dictionary, prostitution is defined as practice or
occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment and usually
provided as underground service. Prostitution is a controversial topic with a
faction of the society arguing that the ancient trade should be legalized
whereas the opponents insist that prostitution should be an illegal business
because it is unethical. Throughout this modern day society, the act of
prostitution is seen as controversial in respect to different ethical point of
views in a society. Not surprisingly, the ethical issue of prostitution have
been often debated and claimed as morally unacceptable by the society.
According to Morning Sentinel News (2012), the news headline in Kennebunk, is
concerning to the prostitution cases raises ethical issues for media. From my point
of view, rather than take the usual approach of simply asserting prostitution is
immoral and unethical, I will consider the various plausible reasons as to why
it should be considered immoral and also argue that, under certain conditions,
it can be just as morally acceptable as other forms of job.
Today, the
comparison between the different views of prostitution brings up interesting
arguments related to the ethical issue. In this case, different
countries have various moral judgments or stands and views about legalizing
prostitution. According to ProCon.org (2011), countries like Singapore,
Germany, France, Uruguay and United Kingdom (included Scotland) had legalized
prostitution. In the contrary, countries like Thailand, North and South Korea,
Cambodia, South Africa and also China (included Taiwan) do not agree in
legalizing prostitution. Simultaneously, there are countries legalizing
prostitution 50 percent which is meant tolerate to prostitution issue.
Countries like Malaysia, Japan, Sweden, Australia, and also United State (not
included Nevada) are legal gray countries which is 50 percent legal. The
booming of sex industry brings out red light areas which is the concentration
of prostitution. Some of the famous red light areas are Amsterdam of
Netherlands, Mumbai of India, and Hamburg of Germany. There is frequently a
question mark for the community whether to legalize prostitution or the
opposite due to the moral and ethical issues concerning to this sex industry. This
day and age, prostitution should be legalized because it reduces violent
crimes, increase tourists and increase taxable income. According to Durbin
(2005), legalization prostitution would be a great idea which will benefit the
government and also the society.
An
Analysis of Legalizing Prostitution as an Ethical Business
Nowadays,
different legal employments practice different similar working environments and
conditions as well. Various workplaces are varying in the diverse environments
which are the results from management differences, business owner’s perceptions,
occupational regulations as well as informal cultures among the employees. Similarity,
prostitution is an ethical form of business where it own similar challenges as
other legal professions. Prostitution dominates the beneficial effects towards
the society and country as an ethical business.
The
prostitution business could not be regarded as unethical because dangers
experienced by illegalized prostitutes in form of abuses and violence are
reduced if the business is legalized. There is no doubt that legalizing
prostitution would better protect the sex workers from being abused and
assaulted by pimps and ‘johns’. In the mean time, violent crimes which are
associated with the prostitution such as homicide, rape, and robbery will
dramatically decrease with this legalization. Moreover, legalized prostitution
business would be considered ethical because the sex workers would not go
through police harassment, possible sexual violence and injuries, fines as
well as incarcerations.
An Analysis of Legalized Prostitution as an Unethical Business
The reason of why the prostitution is an immoral and unethical in
our society is that it tends to involve human trafficking which is a crime
against humanity. According to Kulish (2007), opponents respond that legalizing
prostitution would give rise to human trafficking, where the demand for
prostitutes will also multiply. Peoples are tending to believe legal
prostitution may lead to expansion of sex industry, which result in the
increase of street prostitution and child prostitution. Also, legalized prostitution
will never succeed in combating human trafficking but give rise to human
trafficking. Yet, it is generally
accepted that legal prostitution is morally wrong to the society and devalue
all of our moral standards and sacred act. In most cases, people do not freely decide to
be a prostitute. Most the sex workers who are being trafficked from all over
the world are recruiting or receiving through the use of force and coercion for
sexual exploitation. They are being treated like slaves and survive under
control by traffickers. Every day, sex workers are taking risks of being
mistreated, tortured or even killed while they are working. Rape and robbery
toward sex workers are the apprehension to them. Pimps and traffickers are like
sexual predators to the sex workers. Further, pimps and traffickers often look
for drugs such as heroin and cocaine to abuse the sex workers which will cause
to the increase of drug overdose deaths. Besides that, pimps will also dominate
the earnings of sex workers. In another word, the traffickers are the nightmares
in their life. Thus, it is a fact that slavery is alive and well around the
world in this modern society which strongly emphasize on human rights. Such coercion
and force is clearly immoral, especially the sort that involves slavery.
Over and above, prostitution is a service in which a majority of
male clients are in relationships with other women, and possibly even married,
which brings up a completely different ethical issue. The prostitution service
essentially creates conveniences for men to cheat on their spouse by just paying
to have sex with a stranger. From my point of view, I would likely suggest this
issue would be considered immoral and unethical for several different reasons. First
of all, cheating is considered as an unethical and immoral intention by the
society. As a result of cheating to the spouse, this could possibly lead to
divorce and rupture of family relations. Furthermore, prostitution service may
lead to the spread of Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD) between sex workers as
well as the clients. The spread of STD is inevitable during the sexual intercourse
with a prostitute. As a result, there is a real possibility for the spread of
STD from the sex worker to the man, and ultimately to his spouse. In the end of
the day, the man is cheating and may caused harm by spreading STD to the
spouse. Thus, it is an important risk and ethical issue associated with the
prostitution service that should not be overlooked.
Likewise, reason of why prostitution is regarded as immoral or
unethical by the society is that it is supposed to be degrading to the sex
workers. Peoples in the society argued that having sex with others for the
intention of money is inherently degrading. In most cases, this interpretation
is true. From my point of view, treating someone as mere sexual object is an
action where shows no respect to their worth as a human being. Thus, the view
of accepting the legal prostitution by the society is challenging.
Conclusion
Despite the justifications provided that legalized prostitution
help to eradicate the negative and unethical problems associated with the sex
industry, the prostitution business still remains an unethical because of lack
of human dignity, exploitative work conditions, trading human sexuality for
money and the moral decadence associated with engaging in sexual acts with
multiple partners. The societal standards disregard sex business as an immoral
and unethical engagement, which should be avoided in this modern society. Actions
from religious and government institution should come together in enhancing awareness
and empowerment of the society against the ills and injustices experienced in
sex industry. Besides, efforts from related parties could help in eliminating
the sex business through minimizing the population of sex workers in the
society. 