According to the religious, marriage is the answer. So let me see,
if a 20something year old Anna Nicole Smith marries a 90 year
old billionaire and walks off with hundreds of millions, thats
ok, as they were married.

But if an honest working girl charges for her services, she is
to be condemned. Personally I have more respect for the working
girl, for her honesty!

Marriage today, is after all big business. Divorce settlements
of 170$ million are talked about in the press. Thats not exactly
peanuts. Thats business. So where did all the love go?

At the end of the day, we can once again turn to nature for some
answers. Yes males enjoy their bit of nookie (just blame it on
testosterone) and yes females want resources to feed the offspring.

Go back to our primate cousins, even they swap sex for resources.

So its been going on for a long time and its not about to end
tomorrow.

Pericles, I have to say I'm delighted by your turn of phrase - not to mention your logic.

Desipis: "Just because religious people see some unbreakable link between sex, love and spirituality doesn't mean that link exists for everyone."

That just about says it all, with respect to whatever inane perspectives the god squad wish to bring to this subject. It always amuses me that those who know least about the practice of sex seem to always be the most stridently vocal about it.

Nice article, Lesie Cannold.

A very good article. No doubt we all have our own views on the relationship between sex and work. What is being addressed here is the concept of work being sex as opposed to sex being work. The latter no doubt provides emotional gain and security and quite possibly, is what sustains many relationships. The former however is much more black and white: a verbal agreement of service for cash.

My own line of thought tends to agree that as long as the service provider is engaging in the industry with autonomy and choice, then who am I to rationalise, reason or make judgement upon somebody else’s decision? If however, the clarity of “choice” and autonomy begin to fall into shades of grey, I will recognise that this is an issue in need of empathy and assistance and to be addressed at a societal level to avoid harm and prevent marginalisation(Politicisation and criminalisation are far from adequate). People are independent and have free- will, sometimes these traits fail us and that is ok. Feeling without strength does not imply weakness.

Sells I must ask, how is it obvious that prostitution is injurious both physically and emotionally; moreover, how is it just as obvious that it cuts the woman off from a “normal” life as both wife and mother? Normality is subjective and the assumption that it is “normal” for a woman to be either a wife or a mother (in your definition, tis both) is huge and inadvertently places all of us who aren’t, into the socially constructed boundaries of “abnormality”. This only perpetuates the idea of different as ‘deviant’ and leaves middle- aged, middle- classed, white male academics (and yes there are exceptions) in their unwarranted and harmful position of power

Good subject! Sex is nothing to be ashamed of. Rape and other sex related crimes have been reduced because of the call girl "industrial" world. Where would some of you be with out them. Think about it.
Women have the right to do with their bodies as they please, but they do have a responsibility when disease is a killer. Commonsense, with laws and penalties for those who bring harm to others.

I agree with Sells that our moral compass is not pointing north if morality, an elusive, non-universal concept at best, can be evoked as a guideline for regulating the behaviour of prostitues and their clients.

The author proposes that women who are (rational) moral agents, accept both the rights and responsibilities that accompany their choices and have a right to sell as long as they go about it in ways that don't unfairly burden the community.

Despis mentioned the lack of information on how this harms the community. I'd also like to know what the rights and responsibilities of a prostitute really are for according to the article, it boils down to good citizenship through not being a public nuisance.

The mode of employment is justified using ethical egoism, pure self-interest, with a few exclusions and no morality in sight. There is no mention of a responsibility to wear a condom rather than spreading disease, nor should prostitutes moralise themselves out of a job by not being the agents of adultery or corrupting morals that others live by.

A secular morality that chooses the lesser evil of minimising the burden on community through moving the trade indoors is a failure of public conscience. The NT offers a thorough guideline for behaviour, and the question of prostitution is not morally unresolvable in the light of Jesus' teachings. We all stand at the foot of the Cross in relation to sin. Of course, Pericles, the lesson for Christian morality is not to stand in judgement. Particularly when, as so many gleefully point out, Christians can be found in brothels as customers.

But we don't need to judge or gloat (although the temptation is certainly there). Aquinas noted that morality is known to all those whose behaviour is subject to moral judgement whether or not they know of the revelations of Christianity. We need to approach this real social issue with humility, understanding and compassion.

katie0: "We all stand at the foot of the Cross in relation to sin".

Just go away. We're not interested.

That's what I say to telemarketers and godbotherers. If they don't respond accordingly, that's when I tend to get a little rude.