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The Oldest Profession In The World: Yea Or Nay

Harmless Prostituution. I'm

  • For it

    Votes: 16 64.0%
  • Against it

    Votes: 6 24.0%
  • Having other thoughts

    Votes: 3 12.0%

  • Total voters
    25

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Religious and safety considerations aside, what are your thoughts about a woman or man having sex for money? That is, having sex for money that would in no way adversely affect the person.
I am concerned it will either do nothing better than marriage or make things worse. To me if you are going to make the sex trade public and legal, then its only worthwhile to do so if it helps to decrease STD's (more than marriage does) and/or helps to decrease the trade in sex-victims (more than marriage does). The sex trade clearly doesn't provide everything that a marriage does, so show that there is a benefit to risking the way things work now. I have concerns.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
Nay. Using other people's bodies for selfish purposes is simply wrong. And getting them to agree to it for money or whatever else, doesn't change that fact.
How about if they want you to use their body in exchange for money, which is what I'm talking about?
It's like people wanting you to use their body to model clothes, or massage your back in exchange for money.

.
 

Milton Platt

Well-Known Member
As I see it. there is no way it does not adversely affect the person. Besides the risk of physical disease, there are the emotional ramifications which occur because the person is being used solely as an object for physical gratification with no interest or regard to the whole person. I believe it is detrimental to both individuals because sexual relations are meant to involve much more that the physical.

if one would hold out for a job that would never possibly have any detrimental effects, then one would never hold a job of any kind.
Manual labor of all kinds can cause physical injury. Desk jobs come with stress and sometimes with a monthly pay that is not based upon hours put in or value added.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Most likely not the oldest profession, but nonetheless it needs put in context of human history, and not morality and ethics. The morality is not the main issue, because by and large most prostitutes are victims in one way or another of the patriarchal culture they must survive in. Actually apart of a social caste system in most cultures.

Hunters and gatherers are the oldest professions.
Prostitution may pre-date man:
Female Chimpanzees 'Sell' Sex For Fruit
 

Milton Platt

Well-Known Member
I am concerned it will either do nothing better than marriage or make things worse. To me if you are going to make the sex trade public and legal, then its only worthwhile to do so if it helps to decrease STD's (more than marriage does) and/or helps to decrease the trade in sex-victims (more than marriage does). The sex trade clearly doesn't provide everything that a marriage does, so show that there is a benefit to risking the way things work now. I have concerns.

those are valid considerations. I believe it has been demonstrated that a regulated sex industry helps reduce STD’s in the population, because sex workers must be tested regularly tomshow they are not infected. This means that ultimately, they are more likely to use protection, hence not become a carrier. This is not true of a prostitute on a street corner today.

The sex trade is not supposed to provide everything a marriage does. It does provide a sexual outlet. The same cannot be said of all marriages.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
I am concerned it will either do nothing better than marriage or make things worse.
What it does to a customer's life is irrelevant; I cannot be responsible if a woman comes into my jewelry store and blows her husbands paycheck on some stupid bauble. And I would never be so stupid as to question the possible consequences of buying the bauble.

To me if you are going to make the sex trade public and legal, then its only worthwhile to do so if it helps to decrease STD's (more than marriage does) and/or helps to decrease the trade in sex-victims (more than marriage does)
So what if it doesn't increase or decrease STDs and/or helps to decrease the trade in sex-victims? Gotta tell you, going to my barber certainly does neither one, nor does buying a Starbuck's Caffe latte, so why should any of this responsibility fall on a prostitute?

The sex trade clearly doesn't provide everything that a marriage does,
Of course it doesn't, and it would be foolish to believe that any particular activity provides the very same thing that some other activity does.

so show that there is a benefit to risking the way things work now. I have concerns.
As my OP clearly pointed out, there is no risk. "having sex for money that would in no way adversely affect the person."
 

PureX

Veteran Member
How about if they want you to use their body in exchange for money, which is what I'm talking about?
Paying themselves to masturbate? :eek:

No matter how you cut it, using someone else's body just to pleasure yourself is wrong. Paying them doesn't change that because it doesn't mitigate the selfishness of it. And the fact that they wouldn't do it for free only underscores the abusive nature of it.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
What it does to a customer's life is irrelevant; I cannot be responsible if a woman comes into my jewelry store and blows her husbands paycheck on some stupid bauble.


So what if it doesn't increase or decrease STDs and/or helps to decrease the trade in sex-victims? Gotta tell you, going to my barber certainly does neither one, nor does buying a Starbuck's Caffe latte, so why should any of this responsibility fall on a prostitute?


Of course it doesn't, and it would be foolish to believe that any particular activity provides the very same thing that some other activity does.

As my OP clearly pointed out, there is no risk. "having sex for money that would in no way adversely affect the person."
I guess I didn't understand the OP.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Paying themselves to masturbate? :eek:

No matter how you cut it, using someone else's body just to pleasure yourself is wrong. Paying them doesn't change that because it doesn't mitigate the selfishness of it. And the fact that they wouldn't do it for free only underscores the abusive nature of it.
There are all sorts of activities that people would not do for free. What makes prostitution different?
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
those are valid considerations. I believe it has been demonstrated that a regulated sex industry helps reduce STD’s in the population, because sex workers must be tested regularly tomshow they are not infected. This means that ultimately, they are more likely to use protection, hence not become a carrier. This is not true of a prostitute on a street corner today.
That is true, but its still a change from a marriage system to a marriage + sex trade system. At this time the sex trade is a big secret. When you make it public then it affects marriage more. There is a difference in believing that marriage is exclusive and believing it is one of multiple outlets. Its a very big change. Is the decrease in STD's really that significant? How will marriages be affected, and will the overall affect on STD's be to increase or decrease long term? Someone might be able to make some Mathematical models that predict what will happen, but I can't say what will happen. I suppose a prediction model could be made. There might be enough data available to make an educated guess at the overall systemic impact. It will still be a guess.

The sex trade is not supposed to provide everything a marriage does. It does provide a sexual outlet. The same cannot be said of all marriages.
That is a very strong point.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
No matter how you cut it, using someone else's body just to pleasure yourself is wrong.
Why?

Paying them doesn't change that because it doesn't mitigate the selfishness of it.
What selfishness is that? I don't regard paying for a product or service to be an act of selfishness. Do you feel it's selfish to ask a barber to cut your hair and then pay him for it? What it comes down to is an exchange of assets.

And the fact that they wouldn't do it for free only underscores the abusive nature of it.
Yeah. all those people who go around cutting hair for a price should be locked up, and by yesterday no less.

.
 
Last edited:

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
I guess I don't see prostitution as being more degrading than many other jobs. Let's face it, most jobs are not paying to get the 'whole person'. What they want is a warm body that can run a cash register, drive a truck, pick up trash, or do whatever else those hiring want done.

In fact, I would go further. Most jobs are a form of prostitution: they pay you to do a service. Period. They don't care about you as a person, or your intellectual and spiritual growth. If prostitution is considered to be degrading, why are all of these other jobs not considered to be so also?

As for morality, there is obviously a power difference, but which jobs don't have such? As long as diseases aren't spread and everyone agrees to the contract on the table, I'm not sure what morality has to do with this. Sometimes people do what they need to do to get buy, whether it is sex for money, or calling people at dinner time out of the blue for a paycheck. That latter job seems far less moral to me.
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
.

Religious and safety considerations aside, what are your thoughts about a woman or man having sex for money? That is, having sex for money that would in no way adversely affect the person.

(Some of the words here have been put in bold because some respondents are missing these key qualifications)



View attachment 27544
money has an influence
the women would likely refrain if no money changes hands

and

I saw a science documentary.....someone watching primates in detail
seems the females do prostitute themselves

they parade back and forth in front of the alpha male
when they think they have his attention
they stop.....look over their shoulders and raise up on their toes
lifting their heels

ever see that?
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
I don't believe prostitution is harmless. Besides the disease potential which is ever present, it's ultimately degrading sometimes in spite of appearances.


There are many jobs where you get paid because they are degrading enough or unpleasant enough you wouldn't do them unless you get paid. Somehow, cleaning bathrooms isn't seen as degrading. Why not?
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
I do not buy it, they also hunt and gather. What is called social cooperation is not prostitution, because you do not have a defined class among Chimps that are prostitutes, nor do chimps define prostitutes separate from other female chimps..
That article indicates it might have been an evolved behavior. Of course prehuman prostitution would be quite different from modern prostitution.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
No matter how you cut it, using someone else's body just to pleasure yourself is wrong. Paying them doesn't change that because it doesn't mitigate the selfishness of it. And the fact that they wouldn't do it for free only underscores the abusive nature of it.
That sounds awfully Puritan.
But it's OK with me so long as you don't try to prevent others from freely engaging in prostitution.

Btw, no one ever offered to pay me.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
There are many jobs where you get paid because they are degrading enough or unpleasant enough you wouldn't do them unless you get paid. Somehow, cleaning bathrooms isn't seen as degrading. Why not?
You asked.
(OK, you didn't....but you should've.)
 
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