Paste your essay in here…Forrester Hukle
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Phil 314
04/13/2017
Is Prostitution Morally Defensible?
Essay Topic:
Prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment. By law, this occupation is illegal (in majority of the United States) and parts of society views prostitution as an immoral occupation. Prostitution being immoral means that it is not conforming to accepted standards of morality. Which essentially means that society frowns upon this occupation, but why? In this paper, you will learn some history behind why prostitution could be considered immoral, some arguments for and against prostitution, and then why I feel that prostitution is morally defensible and essentially could be an occupation looked up upon, instead of down upon.
Defending Position:
I propose to defend the position that prostitution is morally defensible. I will be using Nussbaum, Gauthier, and Schwarzenbach as my credible sources to help give my argument some backbone and clarity. These three philosophers are well known in this area of study and they all provide very good and different information on this topic that will be very beneficial to defending prostitution.
In my paper, I plan on addressing arguments, objections, and responses to those objections so we can get a full view on if prostitution is really morally defensible or not. In this draft, I will outline those arguments, objections and responses so the main points will be easily presentable in the final essay.
Argument Outline:
• I plan to argue that prostitution can be morally defensible. I will show analogies where professions take money for the use of their body, just like prostitution does. I feel like this is a great way to show how society views some common professions that are essentially the same type of job and show that it can be moral/accepted.
• I plan to argue why prostitution would be morally accepted if it was legalized.
• I plan to show why prostitution became stigmatized. I feel that this will give the back story to why prostitution needs to be defended and why people question if it’s a moral occupation.
• I plan to argue that prostitution gains more then it losses, which will show why it should be looked up upon, instead of down upon.
Objections Outline:
I will show some objections to why prostitution should not be defensible which include:
1. Prostitution is immoral. (because of non-reproductive sex)
2. Prostitution involves health and/or violence risks.
3. The prostitute is “controlled” by others.
4. Prostitution can make it harder for people to be able to be in a committed relationship.
5. The prostitute alienates her sexuality on the market. (accepts a fee or a trade for sexual services) (essentially meaning giving up an important part of who someone is).
6. The prostitutes’ activity is shaped by male dominance of women.
Responses to Objections Outline:
1. Prostitution isn’t immoral because of non-reproductive sex because many people see non-reproductive sex as being morally permissible, and I don’t find that objection strong enough to take on the argument.
2. If the United States would legalize prostitution, then it would get the health care and supervision (regulations) that it needs. This could be compared to professional fighting, where fighters endure bodily harm, but since it has health care and regulations it is not illegal or immoral. I feel the need for the health care and regulations outweigh the need for it to be illegal, because people still do jobs that involve health risks.
3. A way around a prostitute being controlled by someone else is to involve contracts. Contracts would lay out the agreement in front of the patron and prostitute, and if both agreed to the terms, then they would both have control in the activities that take place.
4. I don’t see the proof that one relationship can make someone not become committed. Those who want to be in a committed relationship will be in a committed relationship and will be able to tell the difference for a committed or not committed relationship. Also, I think since prostitution is an occupation, that the prostitute will be able to have her “work” life and her “personal” life.
5. Since prostitution is an occupation, I will compare it to other occupations that give up an important part of themselves, but are still able to keep that important part. Some examples include a professional fighter, they give their bodies (let’s just use fist for this example) they go out there and punch and punch while on the job, but once the job (fight) is over, they still have their fist to do whatever they want with it in their free time. You could find a comparison in a lot of occupations. I think alienation would be resolved if prostitution were legal and more people saw it as a moral occupation, because then the social conditions would be more accepting for the people involved with prostitution. For the exchanging the service for money, artist do that with their paintings, singers do it with their songs, and writers do it with their books. I don’t see anything wrong with selling something close to you for money if that is what you want to do.
6. First off, I don’t feel it is morally right to just ban prostitution because it has “traditionally” been male dominated. If that were the case, then marriage would be illegal. I think a way around this, just like the other objections would be to legalize prostitution because it would gain the law to protect the prostitutes from bad things such as extortion, violence and give them their civil rights.
Annotated Bibliography:
Nussbaum, M. (1998). “Whether from Reason or Prejudice”: Taking Money for Bodily Services. The Journal of Legal Studies, 693-723.
Nussbaum’s paper offers her views on prostitution. Her focus is on moral matters and the legalization of the occupation. She uses analogies to argue for the decriminalization of prostitution. She also mentions why prostitution became stigmatized, and she responds to arguments for why prostitution should be criminalized. One of her most important arguments is that any residual reluctance to normalizing prostitution is based in an unjustifiable prejudice. I am using this reference because Nussbaum is well respected in this area of study and she has valid points in her analogies and arguments that I think will be useful in my paper.
Gauthier, J. (2011). Prostitution, Sexual Autonomy, and Sex Discrimination. Hypatia,26(1), 166-186.
Gautheir has done a lot for the field of philosophy, and he is well educated and well known in this area, which is why I plan to use him as a reference. He argues that decriminalization and regulation would stop (or at least lessen) forms of exploitation and abuse, while not eliminating the sexual marketplace where sex workers work for a living. I will be using Gautheir to work off of Nussbaum’s work, to show a better understanding of prostitution and by analyzing prostitution with female sexuality.
Schwarzenbach, Sibyl. "Contractarians and feminists debate prostitution." Prostitution and pornography: philosophical debate about the sex industry. Stanford, CA: Stanford U Press, 2006. 209-39.
Sibyl Schwarzenbach is a feminist philosopher who has done multiple works involving the topic of prostitution. Schwarzenbach argues for legalization because she thinks it will end prostitution as we know it and it will move us towards an “erotic therapy”. She believes at this point the prostitute would be respected for her wealth of sexual and emotional knowledge. For this reason I think she will be able to help my paper show that prostitution can be look at not only as an accepted occupation in our society, but one that is looked up to for knowledge in the area of sex and emotions.