Question Is prostitution wrong? Clearly, it's illegal in some countries. But is it really immoral or wrong? Surely prostitution may, in some limited set of cases at least, even maximize average utility, or involve consenting adults who agree to being used by one another, or one by the other, as "mere" means. What is the relevant difference, in principle, between a one night stand and an instance of prostitution? Or between paying for sex and paying for a cab-ride home for one's sex-partner after a one night stand (or paying for a meal or drinks beforehand)?

Accepted:
March 13, 2008

Comments

It's hard to believe that prostitution, as such, is wrong. There would seem to be cases in which this could be an unobjectionable voluntary exchange of services in which both parties are free to make the exchange. In such cases, it's not clear why engaging (or serving as) a prostitute would be any more objectionable than engaging (or serving as) a massage therapist. If so, there could be morally permissible cases of prostitution.

But, of course, many cases are not like this. In many places in the world, many prostitutes are forced into sexual slavery, against their will, at a young age. Even where prostitutes were not forced by others into prostitution, many choose prostitution out of economic necessity, as someone might choose to sell a kidney out of economic necessity. Many who choose prostitution find themslves working for pimps that are abusive and don't allow easy exit from the profession. In conditions such as these, the sellers of sex may not be acting freely or, if freely, with a fair opportunity to do otherwise. If so, there may be reasons not to purchase sex from such sellers. And, of course, there are often moral problems on the buyer's side too. Many consumers of prostitution are, like Eliot Spitzer, married or in otherwise monogamous relationships. In such cases, prostitution contributes to infidelity, which, I assume, is a morally bad thing.

So even if prostitution can be morally okay, it often isn't. This could be relevant to the policy question, which you do not ask, about whether prostitution should be legal and, if so, under what conditions. Of course, the fact that something can be done badly doesn't always mean that it should be forbidden. So the fact that sometimes prostitution is morally problematic doesn't mean that it should always be criminalized. Regulation is always an alternative to prohibition. But if moral problems attending an otherwise innocent transaction are common or systematic enough, this could be a reason for forbidding some or all sex trade, even if such a prohibition would capture some innocent transactions within its net. But that's a big and difficult policy debate.