Legalizing Prostitution

I. Prostitution is said to be one of the worlds oldest professions. Those who proclaim this as a job call it sex work. There is a great debate on whither this type of behavior is ethical and acceptable in American society. Many believe it to degrade women in all forms. Others believe it to be a form of liberation. Sex work does not only pertain to women working as prostitutes but also to men but that is rarely the case. Prostitution can best be described as receiving compensation for any sexual act. When deciding on whither the idea of legalizing prostitution is ethical you must go through the steps of deciding if there should be an ethical standard and how does this standard apply to the situation at hand. You can look at prostitution through a “Utilitarian” looking glass by deciding whether to legalize it will cause a greater good to the masses or you can look at it through, “The Rights's Approach” by deciding to protecting the rights of those morally effected by this. One can look at the theories of the “Fair Approach” by deciding that prostitution should be moral because we are all created equal and should not look down on any occupation because of our sense of skewed morality. Last but not least on can use the “The Virtue Approach by stating that it should or should not be legalized by the concept of it providing a greater a better humanity.
Those who believe it to be unethical most likely come from a religious background. They believe that promiscuity is a disgrace to the body and should be treated as a sanctuary. “Do you know that you people are gods temple and that the spirit of God dwells in you (Bible).” Many Christians believe the promiscuity is wrong premarital sex is wrong and should not be justified with compensation. They are taking the Virtue approach. Not all believe those who believe prostitution to be unethical are Christian. Some believe that my legalizing prostitution it will open a gate to predators to abuse more women. “The renaming may clean up the image of prostitution, but it doesn’t end the violence and exploitation (Hughes).” Many women’s rights organizations believe that legalizing prostitution would be counter productive to the fight against human trafficking.