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Prostitution, Exploitation and Taboo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2009

Karen Green
Karen Green
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
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Extract

It is so generally accepted that prostitution is immoral, that this is one of the least discussed of all ethical issues. Few serious philosophical treatments of the subject have been published. Of these, at least one, Lars Ericsson's, ‘Charges against Prostitution’, throws into stark relief the apparent inconsistency of our community attitudes. For it demonstrates that, from the point of view of the simple free market liberalism, to which many subscribe, there is nothing immoral about prostitution. The prostitute is a free agent who sells his or her services on the market at the going price. Why should the exchange of sexual services for money be more unsavoury than other exchanges of fee for service? The desire for sexual gratification is natural, as is the desire for food. So prostitution must be morally on a par with catering. Yet it is hemmed about by restrictions. Prostitutes are social outcasts, they may be pitied but are more often vilified and despised. From the liberal point of view, the moral disgust aroused by prostitution can only be the expression of an archaic and irrational taboo.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy , Volume 64 , Issue 250 , October 1989 , pp. 525 - 534
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1989

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References

1 Ericsson, Lars, ‘Charges against Prostitution: An Attempt at a Philosophi cal Assessment’, Ethics 90 (1980), 335–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 See for instance, Millett, Kate, The Prostitution Papers (New York: Ballantyne, 1973), 135Google Scholar, and Bickford, Anne, ‘“Working”; an Interview with Betty M’, in Daniels, Kay (ed.), So Much Hard Work, (Sydney: Fontana, 1984).Google Scholar

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13 DrGreenwald, Harold, The Elegant Prostitute (New York: Ballatine Books, 1958)Google Scholar, includes a number of cases of prostitutes who express similar sentiments of deprivation.

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16 I am indebted to Peter Singer for this observation.